Elisabetta Sirani of Bologna (1638-1665) was one of the most innovative and prolific artists of the Bolognese School. Not only a painter, she was also a printmaker and a teacher. Based on extensive archival documentation and primary sources - including inventories, sale catalogues and her work diary - Elisabetta Sirani provides an overview of the ......
"It is a well-known fact that The Isenheim Altarpiece has in the past been seen as having central significance as a 'medium for healing' by the Antonites. To what extent this function has taken hold again in our 'modern' times can be seen not only in the steadily growing numbers of visitors, but also in the fact that this book had to be ......
This book introduces a new way for thinking about, creating, and viewing art. Rudolf Steiner saw his task as the renewal of the lost unity of science, the arts, and religion; thus, he created a new, cognitive scientific and religious art in anthroposophy. The implications of his act --recognized by such diverse artists as Wassily Kandinsky and ......
Classical Tazhib from Ottoman to Contemporary Times
Islamic Art of Illumination presents an amazing mixture of classical Turkish illumination patterns and their contemporary interpretations. It illustrates how illumination, also known as the art of tezhip, was applied to various articles during the Ottoman period, including pictures, royal edicts and insignia, tiles, chests, gun holsters, shields, ......
Speaking Sculptures in Late Medieval Europe explores medieval sculptors' motif of the open mouth. Too often dismissed as an illusionistic artistic device, or as an affective ploy to foster the emotional response of the viewer, 'speech mode', as it is called in this book, is here shown to have a deeper significance as an agent of engagement and ......
Examples of sexual violence and mentions of it appear with a disturbing level of frequency in the literature of early Christianity. This collection of essays explores these occurrences in canonical and noncanonical Christian texts from the first until the fifth centuries CE. Drawing from a range of interpretive lenses, scholars of early ......
Death and rebirth was of vital importance to early Christians in late antiquity. In late antiquity, death was all encompassing. Mortality rates were high, plague and disease in urban areas struck at will, and one lived on the knife's edge regarding one's health. Religion filled a crucial role in this environment, offering an option for those who ......
Theology and Hospitality in the Work of Theaster Gates
The book argues that the projects of Chicago artist Theaster Gates are theological sites, places to encounter God and his truth concerning place, people, and things. By exploring Gates's practices, attention is drawn to God's own work of care, reconciliation, and vivification. Hence, Gates' hospitality points to God's hospitality.
Christian Art, Identity, and Community in Late Antique Italy
Building the Body of Christ argues that monumental Christian art and architecture played a crucial role in the formation of new religious identities in late antique Italy. Bishops and their supporters employed the visual arts to articulate and encourage specific beliefs, practices, and values that shaped the emerging institutional church.
Art As Witness argues for the integration of arts-based research with theology and religious studies to make urgent social justice themes easily accessible for education, advocacy, and public witness. Several case studies engage the arts with immigration, biblical studies, political protest, HIV/AIDS, gender equity, racial justice, and more.
The Art of Empire contends that the art and imagery of Late Antiquity requires a deeper understanding of the context of the imperial period before and after Constantine. The chapters treat an aspect of the relationship between early Christian art and the rituals, practices, or imagery of the Empire.
Bruce W. Longenecker presents a variety of material artifacts to illustrate that Christians made use of the cross as a visual symbol of their faith long before Constantine appropriated it to consolidate his power in the fourth century. The cross served as a visual symbol of commitment to a living deity in a dangerous world.
The Hymn Texts and Translations of F. Samuel Janzow
The career of F. Samuel Janzow (1913-2001) was marked by roles as pastor, professor, and scholar. In all of these he served with great humility, from shepherding a small congregation in London during the blitz, to teaching countless college students, to his many editorial contributions to Lutheran Worship (1982). An ordained Lutheran pastor with a ......
The Hymns, Carols, and Translations of Henry L. Lettermann
Henry L. Lettermann (1932-96) served as professor of English at Concordia Teachers College, River Forest, Illinois, from 1959 to 1988 where his talent for poetry became readily apparent. From 1979 to 1987 he served as a member and secretary of the Hymn Text and Music Committee which produced Lutheran Worship in 1982. His original texts, ......
This book demonstrates the thesis that the central event of history called the Gospel event (the Son of God s incarnation, life, death, damnation, and resurrection for our salvation) has had so profound an impact on our world that it has spilled beyond the bounds chosen by God to contain it and convey it, namely divine revelation, the Holy ......
Examining how God and eventually Christ are portrayed in early Christian art, Jensen explores questions of the relationship between art and theology, conflicts over idolatry and iconography, and how the Christological controversies affected the portrayals of Christ. Since much of this art comes from ancient Rome, she places her analysis in the ......
