ASC211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Anzac Day, Deakin University
Deakin University ASC211 Religion and Social Change Trimester One 2018
Week Eight - Literature, Justice and the Sacred
Religion and the arts
• Religion was largely dismissed by the arts community - of arttist, scholars and critics during modern
times - given that modern arts were largely seen as secualr
• Pre-modern art associated with religion and the spiritual
• Changed in post-modern/late modern times
• Interest in environment, non-Christian religions, ethics, virtue and mystery
… i literature, e hae to look ot outards to sstes, ut iards to the founding power of
the reatie iagiatio ad its apait to trasfor ad illuiate our sese of the sared
and its effects (Jasper 2011, p.10).
…the ord poet is fro the greek ork eaig to ake or reate ποιέω). In Scotland in the
Middle ages, poets ere alled akers. Certail ithi Christiait, ad i other traditios as
ell, god aloe is the aker of all thigs… I pursuig his or her oatio, therefore, a poet is, i
a real sense, trespassing on holy groud, laiig to e doig that hih is aloe gods
prerogative. The vocation of the poet is therefore at once most sacred and profoundly
sarilegious… Jasper , p..
The word sacred embraces the long history of human desires for (and against) ultiate eaig… it is
capable of delineating the unsystematic experiences of individuals and communities, their everyday,
ordinary, earthed, embodied yearnings which many human beings do not, cannot or will not seek to offer a
name.
.…as e eter the so-called post-religious era (for some a hopeful descriptor, but not a highly factual one
given the palpable reality of religions, take them or leave them, in the world today) there have never been
more green shoots sprouting around the possibilities of sacredness.
I see these shoots growing in the cracks and fissures of war zones, around old temples and churches, and in,
for some, the most counter intuitive of places in Western culture: contemporary music; the environmental
movement; the voices of Indigenous peoples and their honouring of the land and ancestors; in the banalities
and witticisms of advertising; in film and graffiti. This pervasiveness can be viewed with hope. It is a hope
that the sacred yearnings of humanity are capable of slipping the traces of mere violence, as well as the
strangulation by systemic or institutional rigidity, and that they such yearnings blossom through all human
experience (McCredden 2010, vii)
The Sacred
Sacredness is in the eye of beholders, and receivers, and unbelievers; it is in our face in popular music, film,
political debates, literature, music; it is at ANZAC day gatherings, Sorry Days and Bridge crossings, and yes,
ee at the footall… ho perasie is the sared i eerda ultures? MCredde , i.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Week eight - literature, justice and the sacred. Interest in environment, non-christian religions, ethics, virtue and mystery. I(cid:374) literature, (cid:449)e ha(cid:448)e to look (cid:374)ot out(cid:449)ards to s(cid:455)ste(cid:373)s, (cid:271)ut i(cid:374)(cid:449)ards to the founding power of the (cid:272)reati(cid:448)e i(cid:373)agi(cid:374)atio(cid:374) a(cid:374)d its (cid:272)apa(cid:272)it(cid:455) to tra(cid:374)sfor(cid:373) a(cid:374)d illu(cid:373)i(cid:374)ate our se(cid:374)se of the (cid:858)sa(cid:272)red(cid:859) and its effects (jasper 2011, p. 10). The (cid:449)ord (cid:858)poet(cid:859) is fro(cid:373) the greek (cid:449)ork (cid:373)ea(cid:374)i(cid:374)g to (cid:373)ake or (cid:272)reate (cid:894) ). The vocation of the poet is therefore at once most sacred and profoundly sa(cid:272)rilegious (cid:894)jasper (cid:1006)(cid:1004)(cid:1005)(cid:1005), p. (cid:1005)(cid:1004)(cid:895).
