The propagation of awe: public relations, art and belief in Reformation Europe

Public relations scholarship, so positivistically oriented, has shown little interest in history and the arts. While public relations may or may not be a science, few scholars would deny that PR is an art. The crystallizing potency of the arts, throughout history, offers communication scholars a largely unexplored source for theory development. This metahistorical essay explores the origin of public relations as the propagation of awe, i.e., the strategic use of art, both high and vulgar, as a tool of opinion formation. The essay's focus is on the patronage, objectives and messages of art in the Catholic and Protestant reformations, the prolonged and conflictual era which some historians identify as the origin of modern public opinion. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.