A religious revival

CSM reports A religious revival in a city of secular art
The Museum of Biblical Art treats works by artists of faith with respect and credibility, reflecting a change in the art world.

To an art world deeply skeptical of religious sentiment, the paintings displayed at the Museum of Biblical Art here must seem startling. The fact that this newly opened museum exists in New York at all signifies a change in the compass that orients how art is viewed. "We're witnessing a worldwide religious revival in response to 9/11," says Norman Girardot, a folk-art specialist and professor of religious studies at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. Since the terrorist attacks, "We've all woken up and realized we have to take religion seriously."

A very welcome change. Does this mean that the Secular Humanists and the AntiChristian Liberty Union (ACLU) will let us celebrate Christmas?

The current climate has sparked an upsurge in apocalyptic art, according to Rebecca Hoffberger, director of Baltimore's American Visionary Art Museum. "These are unusually tumultuous times. We're witnessing epic biblical scenarios like the tsunami and wars - which media coverage look at as faith against faith." Religion has become more visible in both culture and politics, and the cultural trend toward secularization is showing signs of reversing direction. In the United States, "With the rise of the religious right and the current administration, there's been a reorientation between cultural and religious forces," says Brent Plate, assistant professor of religion and visual arts at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. "A new era is opening up to visual art on the conservative end of things."

Hallelujah!!!

Evangelical fervor isn't exactly new. One-quarter of Americans consider themselves evangelical Christians. In the South, "evangelicalism has been strong all along, although it's been demeaned by the liberal press and looked at as something to be put down," says Ann Oppenhimer, president of the Folk Art Society of America in Richmond, Va. The inaugural exhibition, "Coming Home! Self-Taught Artists, the Bible, and the American South," explores the influence of evangelical Christianity on 73 folk artists. By posting biblical texts beside paintings and sculptures that function as visual sermons, the artists "are proclaiming the word of God as found in the Bible," says curator Carol Crown, associate professor of art history at the University of Memphis, where the exhibition originated.