CALL FOR PAPERS

I will be speaking at this conference in November. Have some thoughts about art? Go on, send it in...


Epiphanies of Beauty: The Arts in a Post-Christian Culture
November 18-20, 2004
University of Notre Dame
Sponsored by the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture


“Even beyond its typically religious expressions, true art has a close
affinity with the world of faith, so that, even in situations where
culture and the Church are far apart, art remains a kind of bridge to
religious experience.”—Pope John Paul II, Letter to Artists


Pope John Paul II addressed his 1999 Letter to Artists “to all who are
passionately dedicated to the search for new ‘epiphanies’ of beauty, so
that through their creative work as artists they may offer these as gifts
to the world.” In using the word “epiphany,” the Holy Father drew
attention to art as the manifestation, or “shining forth,” of the glorious
beauty of God’s creation. Accordingly, as the pope says elsewhere in the
letter, beautiful works of art serve as “a kind of bridge to religious
experience,” and thus as a genuine source of moral, spiritual and cultural
renewal.


The Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture’s fifth annual fall
conference will examine the variety of ways in which the fine arts can
help build a more genuinely Christian civilization in an era that is ever
more deeply post-Christian in its character. Our first triennial series
culminated in proposals on how to build a genuine culture of life, and
last year’s conference reflected on the renewal and formation at the heart
of such a culture. This conf! erence will focus our reflection on the fine
arts and their place in a culture of life.


We welcome the submission of abstracts drawing on a wide range of moral
and religious perspectives and academic specialties. Possible themes to be
explored are:


- art as cultural formation
- the relationship between art and religion
- the various Christian approaches to art
- the place of art within a culture dominated by mass media
- the economics of contemporary art
- the distinction between artistic excellence and moral character
- the Catholic novel
- art’s reflection of the beautiful
- the place of aesthetics in contemporary philosophy
- past and current movements within the arts
- historical figures in the arts
- the arts and popular culture
- the arts as a means of political expression
- new developments in the arts
- new social and political initiatives involved with the arts
- in-depth examinations of particular techniques and works of art


The Center is especially interested in attracting to the conference as
many working artists as possible, both to speak from their own experience
as artists and to illustrate their commitment to their crafts through live
performance and exhibition.


One-page abstracts for individual papers should include name, affiliation,
address, and e-mail address (if available). Session presentations will be
limited to twenty minutes. Proposals for live performances, panel
discussions and artist-meets-critics sessions are also encouraged.


Deadline for submissions is July 30, 2004. Notification of acceptance
will be mailed by August 31, 2004. One-page abstracts, along with your
full contact information, should be emailed to ndethics@nd.edu or mailed to:


Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture
Epiphanies of Beauty
1047 Flanner Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556


Up-to-date conference information can be found on our web site: http://ethicscenter.nd.edu.

Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture
1047 Flanner Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Tel: 574.631.9656
Fax: 574.631.6290
Email: ndethics@nd.edu
Web: http://ethicscenter.nd.edu