Art, Faith, and Social Change: The Role of Religious Aesthetics in Contemporary Global Activism

چکیده

This article presents a qualitative metasynthesis of the intersection between religious aesthetics and socio-political activism across global contexts from 1990 to 2022. While scholarship has separately examined religious art and faith-based activism, the integration of these domains—specifically how religious visual, musical, performative, and architectural aesthetics function as catalysts for social change—remains undertheorized. Drawing on 48 peer-reviewed studies spanning Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, and Indigenous religious traditions, this metasynthesis identifies five primary aesthetic-activist modalities: (1) iconoclastic rupture, where the destruction or subversion of religious imagery protests institutional power; (2) sacramental embodiment, where ritual performance and bodily practices enact resistance; (3) prophetic visuality, where religious iconography is repurposed to denounce injustice; (4) sonic mobilization, where devotional music and chant are deployed in protest movements; and (5) architectural reclamation, where sacred spaces are transformed into sites of sanctuary and political assembly. Findings reveal that religious aesthetics are not merely decorative accompaniments to activism but generative forces that shape collective identity, emotional resonance, and moral framing. Key tensions emerge between institutional co-optation of activist art and grassroots iconoclasm, as well as between globalized aesthetic forms and local religious sensibilities. The analysis further identifies a significant gap: scholarship disproportionately focuses on Christian and Islamic contexts, with fewer studies examining Hindu, Buddhist, or Indigenous religious aesthetics in activism. The study concludes that religious aesthetics operate as a distinctive register of political action—neither reducible to instrumental propaganda nor to autonomous art—offering unique resources for affect, memory, and transcendence in social movements. Implications for religious studies, art history, and political theory are discussed.