Sacraments: A New Understanding for a New Generation Book

This book is mentioned by many people in the arts, however I would only recommend it for people who are well- formed and with good critical skills. Greeley's field is sociology and the impetus for this book comes from a survey of people from different religious backgrounds and their views including the arts. Of the sociology or statistics, I cannot comment for accuracy, I will here concern myself with the presuppositions and conclusions. To begin Greeley presents a distorted version of the Catholic theological principle that the sense of the faithful cannot really contradict the Magisterium. On this ground he supports things like contraception, ordination of women and other matters. On the other hand he upholds the tradition of transcendence in Sacred Music and architecture. No bongo masses for him. His compelling central argument is that the Liturgy is the root of Catholic imaginative powers, the more involved a Catholic is in the Liturgy ( attendance at mass included) the more open he is to the arts. This, I think, is worthy of exploration. Catholics are fed on images and metaphors and narratives from the cradle. (Who said: nothing exists in the intellect that did not exist in the senses first?) I find Greeley's use of Catholic filmmakers to discuss community very enlightening. Maybe the Liturgy is communal because communion/relating is human. Greeley references a variety of modern Catholic artists which is fun, but I don't always think he is correctly analyzing the works. His analysis of Bernini's statue led to an interesting discussion on pornography around here. (I think limiting ecstasy to only the sexual context is reductionist) I think Greeley is a charitable and intuitive researcher but he is much too focused on how Catholics relate to each other and too little concerned with how we relate to God. Artists know that creativity is irrigated by limitations. I can be more creative in a monochromatic painting or in a haiku. Form forces one to recognize meaning. By trying to liberate Catholicism from the loving limits of the Church, Greeley is actually campaigning to limit its creative powers.