Art Seeking Understanding

Art Seeking Understanding, Christopher R. Brewer, editor. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802885166) 2025.

Summary: A compendium of 23 research project essays studying aesthetic cognitivism funded by the Templeton Religion Trust.

Many of us engage in creating or perceiving artistic works for the sense of delight or pleasure they give us. But can they also be a source of understanding, even of spiritual insight? That is the basic question behind this book, which explores aesthetic cognitivism. This is the theory that art may be a source of understanding and knowledge. The Templeton Religion Trust, following the direction of Sir John Templeton, has offered grants exploring the intersection of science and spirituality in a number of areas of academic inquiry. Art Seeking Understanding brings together scholars working in the fields of philosophical aesthetics, religious and theological aesthetics, and empirical and neuroaesthetics, offering project grants exploring a range of questions:

• Is there an empirically demonstrable connection between art and understanding vis à vis spiritual reality?
• What distinctive cognitive value does engagement with art generate?
• How does participation in artistic activities stimulate spiritual understanding and growth?
• If art’s primary function is to facilitate understanding, then what is the role of beauty? Is it an unrelated aim, or is it essential to understanding?
• What advantages, if any, does beautiful art have over non-beautiful art with reference to understanding? (p. 3)

This book is a compendium of 23 essays summarizing the various projects and the results and outputs they have achieved so far. Rather than try to summarize each project, I will highlight a number, summarizing some of the striking aspects of the research I noted.

Kutter Callaway’s “Measuring the [Im]measurable” project highlighted a challenge many researchers faced of developing research methodologies that yielded quantifiable results in addressing research questions. Researchers used everything from subject reports to Virtual Reality, and wearable EEG equipment to register effects of artistic engagements.

Researchers studied engagement with a variety of media: architecture, film, literature, visual art, stained glass, and Islamic art. In addition they considered questions like whether the setting made a difference in understanding, whether beliefs of the subjects affected understanding, and the differences between individual and communal experiences.

Some of the results that stood out to me:

• In-person versus digital engagement with works of art was more impactful.
• Architecture matters, with some sites inspiring awe while others promoted learning.
• Communal reflection increases insight and moral understanding in the film context.
• One factor in the experience of music that is architecturally-related are the different acoustics of different settings.
• There is a “mirror” aspect to the understanding of art creators and viewers.
• Art fluency up to a certain point is important in understanding.

As in other areas of research, one of the themes was that research led to generating new questions, and further research agenda.

If I were to offer one criticism, for a book on art and aesthetics, the focus was on “telling” rather than showing. There were very few diagrams and no images, which may have reflected cost and space considerations. Templeton’s Art Seeking Understanding website provides much more visual content. It could have been helpful to have QR codes linking essays to project videos, which may have enhanced understanding.

That said, the book is a valuable introduction to cognitive aesthetics as well as to a host of researchers doing good work exploring the possibilities for spiritual understanding through art. Since many of us couple artistic work with other forms of cognitive material, this work may be very fruitful in enhancing communication and understanding of spiritual content.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.