Religion, Art, Ritual: The History of Concepts, the Operation of Power, in Art-Making as Spiritual Practice (Eds. Eikelboom & Newheiser), 2025. By David Newheiser

https://www.academia.edu/143190323/Religion_Art_Ritual_The_History_of_Concepts_the_Operation_of_Power_in_Art_Making_as_Spiritual_Practice_Eds_Eikelboom_and_Newheiser_2025?rhid=37247656739&swp=rr-rw-wc-145779231&nav_from=cfdaeb8a-727c-407b-9151-0ec4439ee7e5 This chapter examines the history of the concepts of religion, art, and ritual. In some places, these concepts are so familiar that they have become invisible. Yet however obvious they seem, this framework developed at a particular time, in a particular place. As we understand them today, art and religion emerged in early modern Europe in parallel with a new institution, that of the secular state. It is no accident that the link between art and religion is a source of unease: they were created to be incompatible. By retracing the path that brought us here, the author argues that we needn’t be bound by our predecessors’ anxieties, for these concepts are ripe for reinvention. ...