This is a talk on Religious Symbolism and Sacred Art given at King’s College University in February 2015 by Jonathan Pageau, Orthodox liturgical artist and editor of the Orthodox Arts Journal.
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Sacred Symbol, Sacred Art
The rediscovery of ancient Christian symbolism and the worldview which flows from the web of its analogies can be a source of new life for the Christian artist. This symbolism is not only present in the content and message, but in the forms, the mediums and the very uses of art. Christian art can be a true and honest engagement within the contemporary world, one which neither ignores the visual and conceptual revolutions of the last centuries nor attempts to paste the Christian message on forms and aesthetics which negate this very message..
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Jonathan Pageau
Source
Je viens tout juste de terminer le visionnement de la video de votre conférence. Très impressionné tant par vos propos que par votre oeuvre. C'est par le biais de mon intérêt pour Jordan B. Peterson que j'ai été mis en contact avec vous. J'attends impatiemment la suite, et j'espère un jour voir vos oeuvres
Profound about the connection between love and the logos! Beautiful and simple at the same time. The transition to the trinity was perfect.
The verses of Christ bringing the sword, and Christ as dividing the sheep from the goats, . has always been somewhat difficult for me, but your shared thoughts were very interesting.
To understand symbol as pondering in the heart, was also new for me.
Nice lecture!
Subbed. Your chat with Jordan Peterson was excellent.
Got here from your "Metaphysics of Pepe" video. I thought this talk was really fantastic, and feel like you've given some information I've been yearning for for a while. (I'm struggling to find much beyond hyper-sentimentality in the religious environment I'm surrounded by, unfortunately.) As a creative person, I especially appreciated your contrast of modern art with pre-20th century art, and analysis of modern Christian art as being fundamentally misguided in attempting to emulate the deconstructionist/shallow nature of the former. You may have inspired me to try a few new approaches in my projects!
Looking forward to any other talks or analysis you're planning – I'm sure that I'll greatly benefit from them! All the best.
Thanks for the talk. Your conversation with Jordan Peterson was amazing also. Wondering where can i get more of the ideas you exposed here, e.g. books or something else…
in all fairness if i follow the logic you're teaching, that imagem of christ that you classified as a fool carry the simbolism you're explaining all along. the left eye that is looking to the "earth" or to the chaos of humanity is wide open and the right eye that should be looking to the sublime or divine is shut close, the eye of order and the eye of chaos.
About 50 percent of artists are left handed.
here is a reaction to your talk:
https://youtu.be/Kn_i8BlVsY8
What you are doing – as an artist and a thinker – is wonderful and important. The issues need a conversation which may, at last, be beginning.
well done. as with any preacher worth his salt, you managed to link many simple and sometimes unrelated things and contort their meaning to support your ideology…. you get an A+ in the 'snake oil' class
I wish there were more professors like you and Jordan Peterson at university. Thank you for putting your work on YouTube. Your work has had a great positive impact on my life. I go to a Pentecostal church and live in California so you can image the contradictions my worldview comes in contact with. You have reconciled many on the questions I have had about religion particularly regarding science vs religion. Thank you and God bless.
Fantastic talk, thank you so much for this. I am just discovering these ideas for myself and my own work is starting to become more focused and purposeful. Thank you for sharing this!
I am so damn grateful for your videos Bwana Jonathan. Mungu akubariki sana.
29:00
Outstanding
What's interesting about the interpretation of the icon of Christ, specifically the difference in the eyes, as the lowered brow symbolizing judgment or the sword and the other a symbol of mercy, is how this connects with something that Jordan Peterson often mentions which is an idea he derived from Jung, that idea being that God rules with two hands, the hand of mercy, and the hand of justice. This seems to run well with the interpretation of the expressions in the eyes of Christ that you provide
I kept on getting this image in my mind near the end of his lecture of modern mankind feeding this big bonfire, feeding it with our souls in sacrifice for the big spectacle being produced by this magnificent fiery of fire we are witnessing, all unaware that we are loosing a very important part of ourselves for this one expedient moment.
Fascinating. God is not phenomenological, and this was common knowledge among Christians! Atheists are using a straw-man argument. Is God real? Indeed he is the only thing that is. I am that I am……..Nordic mythology has an additional depth when you know the ancient meanings of their names, and a remarkably similar Genesis story to ours and the Sumerians. People forget our Bible has "giants" or "men of renown" like the Norse "Ice Giants". It's the "Giants" genetic line that were supposed to wiped out in the bloody part of the OT. A war on the decendants of the Fallen Angels. Noah was selected not for his righteousness, but he was "perfect in his generations", genetically pure……….. I learned to stay away from Nordic Shamanism because I found that a meme of Odin-ism had turned into a mind virus, getting me to think in terms of strength rather than brotherly love, and undermining my negotiation skills………Never cared for modern art, now I have a well articulated explanation. Thanks
Brilliant. Wish I had known about this. Just down the street from me too 🙁
As a Catholic and an artist I really appreciate what you're doing
guys I think I'm Jesus…
Jonathan Pageau Are you implying that the substitution of 'symbol' for reality is an organic development of our collective logos? If you are, please consider the words of Pope Leo in a letter to Flavian regarding 'heretical' beliefs in 451AD:
"….They (heretics) do not refer to… sayings …nor to… letters… nor even to… gospels…but instead rely on observational experience…"
Plato wrote something to the effect of: "Arithmetic is useful because it discourages reasoning by direct observation" in The Republic a full millennium earlier.
I would argue that the substitution of symbology for direct observation, like the triumph of Picasso over Renoir, or that of Eminem over Tchaikovsky was not 'something that naturally happened' over time.
If it had been known that the left hemisphere corresponds from the neck down to the right side of the body and vice versa, would early Christians have reversed the appearance of Jesus's eyes..?
Thank you Jonathan, your videos are helping me consolidate my unlearning of my art school ‘education’.
Love your videos, man. Hope you write some books about all those things so it get better to study.
And keep on the work. Love from Brazil.
Jonathan's youtube channel is my favorite.
Excellent talk!