|
|
The Relationship between God's Revelation and the Human Experience of Beauty as a Challenge to Religious Education
BLAŽEK IŇOVÁ, Veronika
This dissertation deals with a theological reflection on the relationship between the supernatural sphere of God's revelation and the natural realm of its human finding in the beauty of the created world and in the visual arts. We thus approach the question of the relationship between the sacred and beautiful theoretically from several theological and aesthetic perspectives so that we can subsequently apply these findings to contemporary practice in the field of religious education. The main theoretical background that inspired our work is theological aesthetics, especially the work of one of its main representatives, Hans Urs von Balthasar, who in his trilogy "Herrlichkeit: Eine theologische Ästhetik" presented a unique way of theological thinking about the relationship between beauty and other degrees (good and truth) of recognizing the sacred reality in the profane world. The aim of the qualitative research presented here was then to empirically find out whether one can really experience transcendence through beauty, and if so, how does one perceive this experience? The research was divided into two parts, which correspond to different target groups. In the first part, the research was conducted using the method of interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) and the data obtained by in-depth interviews with five visual artists. The second part of the research examined the modalities of perception of the beautiful and sacred according to high school students, using the method of grounded theory (GTM) and analysis of photographic data. The didactic method presented here, which leads its listeners from the perception of created and artistic beauty through the goodness of interpersonal relationships to the realization of the meaning of life, which can culminate in accepting the ultimate knowledge of the Truth, which is Christ, was called "Astonish-Experience-Transform." This didactic "transcendental" model is an application of empirically obtained data and theoretical conclusions and can be applied in religious education, catechesis, and pastoral care as a dynamic element of human experience that can open the way for the seeking person towards God's Love.
|
guest ::
