A arte no contexto protestante-luterano: perspectivas e desdobramentos históricos

Abstract

The research presented below analyzes art in the Protestant Lutheran context. The path followed seeks to recover the historicity of the figurative artistic representations within the first Christianity, as well as their developments in the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation, having as a perspective the Theology of Art, based on the thinking of Paul Tillich. One understands that the images which emerged with the first Christian communities are only later designated as Christian art. The use of this art foments the formulation of theological positions which transit between their permanence/existence and their prohibition/destruction depending on the historical context. In this way, the development of this art should be interpreted based on theology and its insertion in the social, political, economic and cultural scenario. For such, an important historical period is situated in the Renaissance movement and in the humanist mentality instituted in the Protestant Reformation. Within this scenario profound cultural and intellectual transformations are presented as well as influences and directions of sacred and religious art with echoes in modern history. Therefore, an important aspect is the issue of the return to the sources, especially to the Biblical texts, which once again raises the issue of art and its figurative artistic representations, in many cases associated with an idolatry perspective and intrinsically connected to the theological discussions. The proposal elaborated based on Tillich, to (re) signify art as a theological source, as a revelation of the Sacred, illuminates some theological aspects of Christian art which remained hidden in the Protestant Lutheran imagery. This reflection on art for the Protestant Lutheran context takes on a new perspective to dialog with the artistic-cultural manifestations. The Tillich theological approach to art provides a recovery regarding the historical gap in relation to the artistic representations and presents itself as a possibility to interpret the esthetic and cultural experiences based on the creative otherness of the divine.