A groundbreaking volume that brings together art, philosophy, theology, and the sciences to explore a new research area: art seeking understanding
In this cutting-edge collection, scholars working in the fields of philosophical aesthetics, religious and theological aesthetics, and empirical and neuroaesthetics come together to investigate aesthetic cognitivism, a theory about the value of the arts. According to this theory, art isn’t merely a source of delight, amusement, pleasure, or emotional catharsis; rather, art can be a source of knowledge and understanding.
To test the theory, the authors address a range of complex questions, such as:
- Is there an empirically demonstrable connection between art and understanding vis à vis spiritual reality?
- What distinctive cognitive value does engagement with art generate?
- How does participation in artistic activities stimulate spiritual understanding and growth?
- If art’s primary function is to facilitate understanding, then what is the role of beauty? Is it an unrelated aim, or is it essential to understanding?
- What advantages, if any, does beautiful art have over non-beautiful art with reference to understanding?
These and other questions are taken up here by a diverse research community that includes artists and art researchers, philosophers and theologians, and scholars in the psychological, cognitive, and social sciences. Together, they are developing empirical and experimental studies of the cognitive significance of art with respect to spiritual realities and the discovery of new spiritual information. Their work will be of particular interest to scholars and practitioners in the fields of religion, theology, and art who value innovative interdisciplinary research and discovery.
Contributors
Garrick V. Allen, Marlene Sophie Altenmüller, Alejandro Bahena-Rivera, Bahador Bahrami, Jonathan Berger, Julio Bermudez, Christopher R. Brewer, Kutter Callaway, Eileen Cardillo, Anjan Chatterjee, Alexander P. Christensen, Kelly James Clark, Guy Dammann, Ophelia Deroy, Lexi Eikelboom, Jamal J. Elias, Alejandro Erut, Julie J. Exline, Stacie Friend, Caleb Froehlich, John Gibson, Mario Gollwitzer, Carlos Miguel Gómez-Rincón, Madeleine E. Gross, Faiz A. Hashmi, Marina Iosifyan, Zorana Ivcevic, Alison Jack, Robin M. Jensen, Cristine H. Legare, Elizabeth Mason, Valerie van Mulukom, Yoshio Nakamura, Kate Nevin, Fiona Newell, Carl Plantinga, Kelsie G. Rodenbiker, Christoph Scheepers, Elisabeth Schellekens, Jonathan W. Schooler, David Shepherd, Zachary Taylor, Pablo P. L. Tinio, Joshua A. Wilt, Brendan Wolfe, Judith Wolfe, Taylor Worley
Christopher R. Brewer (1980–2025) served as principal advisor for the Templeton Religion Trust’s “Art Seeking Understanding” grant-making strategy. He also served as executive producer of the “At the Threshold: Theology on Film” series. He wrote Understanding Natural Theology: Mapping the Terrain of Recent Approaches and edited the essay collection Art Seeking Understanding: Conceptual, Empirical, and Experimental Approaches.
