Mormonism, Empathy, and Aesthetics

This book analyzes the role that the physical body plays in foundational Mormon doctrine, and claims that such an analysis reveals a model of empathy that has significant implications for the field of Mormon aesthetics. This volume achieves three main goals: It elucidates the Mormonism's relationship with the body, it illuminates Mormonism’s traditional approaches to understanding and appreciating art, and it suggests that the body as Mormonism conceives of it allows for the employment of an aesthetic framework rooted in bodily empathy rather than traditional Christian or Mormon moral values per se. In support of this argument, several chapters of the book apply Mormonism’s theology of the body to paintings and poems by contemporary Mormon artists and writers.  An examination of those works reveals that the seeds of a new Mormon aesthetic are germinating, but have yet to significantly shift traditional Mormon thought regarding the role and function of art.

"Gary Ettari makes an important contribution to Mormon Studies. Little or nothing has previously been done on Mormonism and aesthetics, which is particularly strange given Mormonism’s doctrinal emphasis on embodiment. Ettari’s book initiates a discussion that has long been wanting, bringing together questions of metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics against the background of the Latter-day Saint history of ideas." (James E. Faulconer, Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University, USA)

 

"At the heart of Gary Ettari’s examination is an embodied aesthetics grounded in a transformative empathy. Ettari begins with the unique though not unparadoxical 'Mormon' (pertaining to the religion of and culture surrounding members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) theology of the body. This theology posits an embodied God, a God whose creation includes humans who are not only embodied, but who are embodied so that they may become like their God. To this analysis Ettari adds a thorough examination of the cultural configuration of the arts. This analysis, drawing upon the widest range of thinkers in this tradition, reveals the curious paradox of a culture that embraces corporeality and yet is often suspicious of both the arts and embodiment. Ettari’s suggested resolution for a harmonized view of the arts and embodiment is empathy. In what is perhaps this work’s most compelling contribution, Ettari brings his insights about theology, aesthetics, and empathy to bear on the specific work of poets and visual artists. Just as the analysis grounds theology and aesthetics in empathy, so Ettari grounds his analysis in the specific works of the poets Lance Larsen and Kimberly Johnson and visual artists Walter Rane and Trevor Southey. As Ettari’s examination sheds new light on the work of four potentially underrecognized artists, the work of those artists reveals both the tensions and possible resolutions at the heart of an aesthetics and theology grounded in empathy. Not only does this scholarly work provide significant contributions to the body of knowledge relative to a particular culture and its theology and aesthetics, but it also expertly demonstrates how interdisciplinary scholarship can provide insights that no single approach or discipline ever could". (Shawn Tucker, Elon University, author of Humility: A Practical Approach)

 

"Thoughtful, well-researched, and illuminating, Mormonism, Empathy, and Aesthetics makes a significant contribution to the growing field of Mormon art scholarship. Ultimately, Ettari paints a hopeful view of the potential for Mormon art to embrace an expansive aesthetic, visualize Mormonism’s uniquely material and relational theology, and foster both a sense of shared humanity and a closeness with the divine." (Jennifer Champoux, Northeastern University, USA)

 

Gary Ettari is Associate Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.  He has published on such varied topics as the role of the reader in Edmund Spenser’s sonnets, the commodification of the body in Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike, and Mormon aesthetics.