Inheritance and development of national elements in contemporary Chinese, American and Russian oil paintings

When speaking of semiosis of the visual art it is worth noting that it can be considered also in the aspect of semantics, which studies relation of sign elements to the world. Semantic side of an image is related to theory of art content, meaning of creation, spirituality, in particular, the symbol theory. Together with forming the idea of painting as a source of literature data and accordingly understanding of a painting in traditional literature paradigm as source of learning the outside world. The authors of the article demonstrate solidarity of oil painting in the stylistic understanding of the integrity of the image perception through the method of knowledge. In particular, the connection between figurativeness and semeiotics, which arises in the process of painting learning on the basis of literature researching and forming of artistic taste. In the article, it is shown that development of figurativeness in art should be based on art methods, in which literature is defined. Authors clarify that this is the main difference between Chinese painting and similar cultural forms. Practical application of research may be: to form educational programs and develop in integral image of artistic development.

Reading Hopkins after Hubble: The Durability of Ignatian Creation Spirituality

The Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins already demonstrated a special sensitivity to nature as a young Anglican. But his conversion to Catholicism, followed by his formation as a Jesuit, nurtured a creation spirituality that moved him from the rather cold view of the cosmos typical of his Victorian era to a vibrant sense of God intimately revealed in nature. This new sense of being a creature involved in an intimate personal relationship with the Creator comes from Hopkins' appropriation of the creation spirituality of Ignatius of Loyola. After reviewing the evolution of worldviews from the medieval synthesis melded with the Newtonian mechanical model (the Victorian picture) to our contemporary cosmic “story,” this article then samples poems that illustrate the creation spirituality that Hopkins absorbed from Ignatius' vision. This vision is remarkably in tune with the new sense of the place of the human creature in the cosmic story that the sciences now tell regarding the emergence of matter, life, and persons.

Ecology: Its relative importance and absolute irrelevance for a Christian: A Kierkegaardian transversal space for the controversy on eco-theology

The controversy about the importance of eco-theology or creation spirituality seems to be in a deadlock. Those who support it and those who oppose it do not even seem to be able to communicate with one another. On the one hand, Celia Deane-Drummond, for example, writes in her Eco-theology (2008:x): ‘I find it astonishing that courses on eco-theology do not exist in many university departments of theology and religious studies.’ Matthew Fox desperately asks in his Creation spirituality (1991:xii): ‘Need I list the [environmental] issues of our day that go virtually unattended to in our culture?’ On the other hand, evangelical Christians are known for their ecological ‘blind spot’ (Davis 2000), until recently at least. Pentecostal proponents of the prosperity gospel preach a consumer-lifestyle for all Christians, which is not very eco-friendly (cf. Kroesbergen 2013). Even in more mainline Christianity we find, for example, the well-known theologian Robert Jenson who writes in his Systematic theology: Volume 2 (1999:113, n. 2): ‘Recent waves of “creation spirituality” are simply apostasy to paganism. And it is such unguarded, even unargued judgement that is required of the church.’ We find eco-theologians, who do not understand that not everyone agrees with them on the one hand, and opposing theologians, who do not even feel the need to argue against them on the other hand. What would be needed to re-open communication between those in favour of eco-theology or creation spirituality, and those opposed to it?