A Study on Relation Between Religious Experience and Aesthetics Experience Narrated By Schleiermacher and Martin

James Alfred Martin, a contemporary philosopher and thinker of religion, seeks to illustrate the connection between religious and aesthetic experiences in different centuries by reviewing these experiences in historical periods and proposing different theories. This connection is discussed in a discursive context. In addition to addressing the concepts of art and religion, this discourse deals with the extent to which religion can play a key role in determining aesthetic criteria and creation of works of art as well as the decisive role of art in human religious experiences. This study also examined the existing theories, including the thoughts of the German philosopher, Schleiermacher, and his various definitions of religion, the religious experience, art, and the discourse between these concepts by reviewing the history of the discussion.
To answer the aforementioned question, this study discussed that, according to James Alfred Martin, this discourse ultimately leads to a single goal, which is a perception of the true reality. The reason is, as much as aesthetic experiences are derived from participatory-sensory perception of beauty between the audience and the work of art, religious experiences of human beings have deep sensory foundations.