Liberal Religion and Modern Art

While reading “Paths to the Absolute” by John Golding I was struck by the points laid out in the June 13, 1943 letter written by Mark Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb. This letter responds in five points to a critic who “expressed bafflement at their work.”

1) To us art is an adventure into an unknown world which can be explored only by those willing to take risks
2) This world of the imagination is fancy-free and violently opposed to reason
3) It is our function as artists to make the spectator see our way, not his…
4) …We favor the simple expression of the complex thought…
5) It is a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints so long as it is well painted.
Pg 155-157

What struck my most about these points is their similarity to what a modern, liberal Christian might argue are the foundations of his belief.

1) While it may take effort, faith is an effort to explore those issues and areas of life which will perpetually remain unknown
2) Religion cannot be based on the limits of human logic, but is founded in faith in the unknown.
3) A religious belief is to be personal, and non-conformist. In order to maintain this, it is crucial that a believer not express the religion that others hope to see in him—and only that to which he truly subscribes.
4) Religion is based on a (“simple devotion” as the Bible calls it, but more accurately a) simple belief in the complex world of religious dogma.
5) It is not a matter of the details that form the belief, but the belief itself that is important