The discussion in this paper sets out from two thoughts, one a straightforward empirical observation, the other a worry. The observation is that many who do not believe in God nevertheless regard certain pieces of religious music, such as Bach’s B minor Mass, as among the greatest works of art. The worry is that there must be something compromised or incomplete in the atheist’s experience of such works. Taken together, these thoughts would seem to point to the sceptical conclusion that (...) the high regard in which many atheists hold works such as the B minor Mass must itself be compromised, or in some way unwarranted. The majority of the paper is devoted to clarifying the initial worry through the investigation of a series of (failed) attempts to avoid the sceptical conclusion, before — at the end of the paper — we argue that, for at least one sort of atheist, there is, after all, a mode of engagement with great religious music that might afford an experience of it which would underwrite his judgement that the work is, indeed, great. (shrink)

Este trabajo pretende explicar una paradoja característica de nuestro tiempo: que el arte contemporáneo, aunque desacralizado por obra del laicismo moderno y la extensión de la razón ilustrada a todos los ámbitos de la vida, sigue conservando muchos de sus antiguos fundamentos sacros. Esta sacralidad es analizada aquí desde tres puntos de vista distintos, cada uno de los cuales se corresponde con un elemento del proceso artístico entendido como proceso comunicativo: el artista, la obra propiamente dicha y la experiencia estética. (...) La conclusión es la misma en los tres casos analizados: la pervivencia de lo sagrado en la dimensión artística, a pesar de su debilitamiento o completa desaparición en la dimensión ideológica general dentro de la cultura occidental. (shrink)