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 [email protected] 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: [email protected]

Web: http://ethicscenter.nd.edu