نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسنده English
This article, with a focus on the views of contemporary traditionalists - particularly Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, and Frithjof Schuon - examines the position of sacred art as an alternative to modern and secular politics. Traditionalists, relying on the concept of the perennial philosophy (ḥikmat al-khālida), argue that sacred art is not merely an aesthetic phenomenon but an objective manifestation of the divine order and a reflection of political structures rooted in tradition. Through its symbolic language, this art serves as a bridge between the celestial realm (ʿālam al-malakūt) and the terrestrial world (ʿālam al-mulk), guiding society toward a transcendent order.
In contrast, modern art is subjected to radical critique as an instrument that legitimizes the projects of secularism, humanism, and individualism. The article demonstrates how sacred art can function as a discourse of resistance against cultural colonialism and the crisis of meaning in the modern age, possessing the capacity to redefine the relationship between politics, religion, and society.
Employing a descriptive-analytical method and through case studies of art and architecture in contemporary Iran (including the architecture of the Imam Reza (AS) Shrine, coffee-house painting, and revolutionary calligraphy), the article argues that sacred art is not a museum relic but a living language for articulating a civilizational alternative to the crises of the modern world.
کلیدواژهها English
