Religion as Art

Steven Loza explores how the iconic aspects of religion transcend mere symbolism with a collection of essays that examine the arts and their relationship to religious belief in three cultural areas of the world: the Mexican mestizo belief in the Virgen de Guadalupe, the West African Yoruba religion's base in a divination system of orishas, and the Sufi sect of Islam's musical/textual practices of devotional ecstasy to God. The essays included here were originally presented at the 2004 international conference "Towards a Theory for Religion as Art: Guadalupe, Orishas, and Sufi," organized by the Arts of the Americas Institute at the University of New Mexico. While they reflect the interdisciplinary design and dialogue of the conference, the essays also reveal that many of the arts are conceptualized cross-culturally, ranging from visual art and poetry to music and dance, and offer comparative studies of their relationships to society, politics, and culture in general. Contributors to Religion as Art: Gregory A. Cajete, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Timothy Canova, Chapman University, Orange, California Martinus Cawley, Guadalupe Trappist Abbey, Lafayette, Oregon Francisco Crespo, University of California, Los Angeles Lorena Diaz Nunez, Centro Nacional de Investigacion, Documentacion e Informacion Musical, Mexico City Akin Euba, University of Pittsburgh Francisco Miranda Godinez, Colegio de Michoacan, Mexico Juan Gomez-Quinones, University of California, Los Angeles Linda B. Hall, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Clarence Henry, University of Kansas Ray Hernandez-Duran, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Teresa Marrero, University of North Texas Orlando Ricardo Menes, University of Notre Dame Margaret Montoya, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Charles Moore, Long Beach State University, California Luis A. Payan, University of Texas, El Paso Stafford Poole, C.M., Los Angeles A. J. Racy, University of California, Los Angeles Joe Sando, Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico Janice Schuetz, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Robert Stevenson, University of California, Los Angeles Sylvia Tan, University of California, Los Angeles Maria Williams, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque"