Abstract

Martland’s purpose in this book is to show how religion and art share a common function rather than to show how they are distinct. They both reveal and create the significance of our lives and our world. In order to explain how they do this, Martland devotes a relatively substantial amount of space to a discussion of his approach. He makes it clear that he is not concerned with attempting an objective description of the achievements of art and religion and a comparison of their features. Nor is he concerned with analyzing the activities of art and religion in order to compare alleged essences. As his title indicates, he focuses on how art and religion are the same in function. His account of how they function is prescriptive. Selection and characterization of the data, then, are governed by a thesis. If it is objected that such a study is consequently circular, we are reminded that we cannot make observations without employing some interpretive frame of reference.