Page 176 - KNJIGA SAŽETAKA

INOVACIJE I IZAZOVI U OBRAZOVANJU I SESTRINSKOJ SKRBI - KNJIGA SAŽETAKA

Possibilities of Access to Religious Contents in Fine Arts –

Examples of Application in Religion Classes

Christianity has never been confused about defining the purpose of art: it is a tool that reminds
us of what is really important (the presentation of the gospel message), and its ultimate goal is
to make us better people (more like Christ) by reminding us. From the very beginning,
Christianity has used artistic forms as carriers of Christian content, from simple artistic forms
that become Christian symbols (fish, anchor), through the depiction of content from the Old
and New Testaments, and later from the lives of martyrs and saints, which served those who do
not know read all the way to the legalization of the veneration of holy images at the Second
Council of Nicaea in 787. Despite this, the majority of believers, especially in the West, remain
either uninterested in religious content in fine art or in a superficial approach. In order for the
fine arts to fulfill this noble purpose of promoting the Christian message and virtues, it should
be approached in the way that the Christian East treats icons.
An icon in the Greek language means a picture, but it is not an ordinary picture, it encourages
prayer and invites interaction, asks a question, seeks an answer, activates thinking, arouses
feelings. But in order to establish a relationship, someone has to teach us how to read pictures,
give us instructions for use. Museums don't do that, interpreting pictures is probably
sacrilegious for them. They didn't teach us that even in school, through the analysis of poems
we also discovered "What did the poet want to say?", we didn't analyze the works of art,
possibly in terms of style and technique, not in terms of content.
Examples of using works of fine art in teaching: sonsideration (meditation) of the image (Henry
Ossawa Tanner, "Angels Appeared to the Shepherds" , William Holman Hunt, "The Light of
the World"); interpretation of the painting/sculpture (Donatello, „Mary Magdalene“,
Velazquez, „The Surrender of Breda“); problematic approach (Self-portrait vs. selfie).
Examples of teaching units in which the image is the dominant methodical tool: 1) Jesus hrist -
real god and real man (1st grade): the painting "Christ in the desert" by Ivan Kramskoj, which
emphasizes the humanity of Jesus, can serve as motivation, in the central part, especially for
explaining the definitions of the Council of Chalcedon, there is a very suitable icon of Christ
the Savior; 2) The question of god before the experience of suffering and evil (4th grade): to
create the problem situation of the picture "Patient Job", for synthesis Salvador Dali's
„Crucifix“.

Key words: fine art, teaching of religious studies, image meditation, methodical means

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