The Art of the Faithful Heart: A Comparison of Classical Christian and Islamic Art Traditions

Abstract

When a translation of a text is complete, the presentation of the text should, as much as possible, avoid any influence that could reduce the impact or acceptability of the contents of the text. This is especially true of faith-critical texts, whether they are of Christian or Islamic origin. The study and comparison of different art traditions can help us reduce the possibility of such unfortunate influences. Since Christians and Muslims have very different assumptions even about the nature of God (or Allah) as he reveals himself through sacred writings, it is not surprising that Christians and Muslims also have very different art traditions. The paper first introduces the principles of classical Western Christian art and of classical Islamic art, since these traditions were approximate contemporaries. It then compares differences in color symbolism, important symbols in each faith tradition (including Islamic calligraphy), and in the forms and functions of traditional architecture.