Early Christian Attitudes Toward Images
Title | Early Christian Attitudes Toward Images PDF eBook |
Author | Steven Bigham |
Publisher | |
Total Pages | 240 |
Release | 2004 |
Genre | Art |
ISBN | 9780974561868 |
For all iconophiles, that is, those who accept the dogma of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, but especially the Orthodox who claim that the icon has a sacramental and mystical character, it is naturally disquieting to hear the claim that the early Christians were aniconic and iconophobic. If this claim is true, the theology and the veneration of the icon are seriously undermined. It is, therefore, natural for iconophiles to attempt to disprove the thesis according to which the early Christians had no images whatsoever (aniconic) because they believed them to be idols (iconophobic). It is equally natural for iconophiles to want to substantiate, as much as this is possible, their deep intuition that the roots of Christian iconography go back to the apostolic age. This study weakens the notion and credibility of the alleged hostility of the early Christians to non-idolatrous images, providing a more balanced evaluation of this question.
From Idols to Icons
Title | From Idols to Icons PDF eBook |
Author | Robin M. Jensen |
Publisher | Univ of California Press |
Total Pages | 269 |
Release | 2022-09-13 |
Genre | Art |
ISBN | 0520345428 |
"From Idols to Icons tells the fascinating history of the dramatic shift in Christian attitudes toward sacred images from the third through the early seventh century. From attacks on the cult images of polytheism to the emergence of Christian narrative iconography to the appearance of portrait type representations of holy figures, this book examines the primary theological critiques as well as defenses of holy images in light of the surviving material evidence for early Christian visual art. Against the assumption that fourth- and fifth-century Christians simply forgot or ignored their predecessors' censure and reverted to more alluring pagan practices, Robin M. Jensen contends that each stage of this profound change was uniquely Christian. Through a careful consideration of the cult of saints' remains, devotional portraits, and pilgrimage to sacred sites, Jensen shows how the Christian devotion to holy images came to be rooted in their evolving conviction that the divinity was accessible in and through visible objects. Even the briefest glance at a museum's holdings or an introductory textbook demonstrates how profoundly influential this belief would be on the course of Western art for the next fifteen hundred years"--
Understanding Early Christian Art
Title | Understanding Early Christian Art PDF eBook |
Author | Robin M. Jensen |
Publisher | Routledge |
Total Pages | 233 |
Release | 2013-04-15 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 1135951772 |
Understanding Early Christian Art is designed for students of both religion and of art history. It makes the critical tools of art historians accessible to students of religion, to help them understand better the visual representations of Christianity. It will also aid art historians in comprehending the complex theology, history and context of Christian art. This interdisciplinary and boundary-breaking approach will enable students in several fields to further their understanding and knowledge of the art of the early Christian era. Understanding Early Christian Art contains over fifty images with parallel text.
The Early Christian Attitude to War
Title | The Early Christian Attitude to War PDF eBook |
Author | Cecil John Cadoux |
Publisher | Legare Street Press |
Total Pages | 0 |
Release | 2022-10-27 |
Genre | |
ISBN | 9781016726696 |
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
The Image of Christ in Russian Literature
Title | The Image of Christ in Russian Literature PDF eBook |
Author | John Givens |
Publisher | Cornell University Press |
Total Pages | 393 |
Release | 2018-05-29 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 1609092384 |
Vladimir Nabokov complained about the number of Dostoevsky's characters "sinning their way to Jesus." In truth, Christ is an elusive figure not only in Dostoevsky's novels, but in Russian literature as a whole. The rise of the historical critical method of biblical criticism in the nineteenth century and the growth of secularism it stimulated made an earnest affirmation of Jesus in literature highly problematic. If they affirmed Jesus too directly, writers paradoxically risked diminishing him, either by deploying faith explanations that no longer persuade in an age of skepticism or by reducing Christ to a mere argument in an ideological dispute. The writers at the heart of this study understood that to reimage Christ for their age, they had to make him known through indirect, even negative ways, lest what they say about him be mistaken for cliché, doctrine, or naïve apologetics. The Christology of Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Mikhail Bulgakov, and Boris Pasternak is thus apophatic because they deploy negative formulations (saying what God is not) in their writings about Jesus. Professions of atheism in Dostoevsky and Tolstoy's non-divine Jesus are but separate negative paths toward truer discernment of Christ. This first study in English of the image of Christ in Russian literature highlights the importance of apophaticism as a theological practice and a literary method in understanding the Russian Christ. It also emphasizes the importance of skepticism in Russian literary attitudes toward Jesus on the part of writers whose private crucibles of doubt produced some of the most provocative and enduring images of Christ in world literature. This important study will appeal to scholars and students of Orthodox Christianity and Russian literature, as well as educated general readers interested in religion and nineteenth-century Russian novels.
Backgrounds of Early Christianity
Title | Backgrounds of Early Christianity PDF eBook |
Author | Everett Ferguson |
Publisher | Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |
Total Pages | 676 |
Release | 2003 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 9780802822215 |
New to this expanded & updated edition are revisions of Ferguson's original material, updated bibliographies, & a fresh dicussion of first century social life, the Dead Sea Scrolls & much else.
Christian Attitudes Toward the Jews in the Middle Ages
Title | Christian Attitudes Toward the Jews in the Middle Ages PDF eBook |
Author | Michael Frassetto |
Publisher | Taylor & Francis |
Total Pages | 242 |
Release | 2007 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 0415978270 |
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