Religion and Folk Art: Reflections on Key Concepts in Folklife Studies

Abstract

Focusing on Roman Catholicism and Protestantism in the transatlantic world, this paper surveys the development of folk art studies in relation to both organized religion and folk spirituality in Europe and America. Details will be provided on just how these two major Western traditions differ in their attitudes to the arts. After a discussion of the post-Vatican II aesthetic, liturgical, and devotional rapprochement of the two traditions, the lecture closes with the usual professorial suggestions for further research.