Sacred Discontent


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Artists and prophets


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Egon Schiele saw himself as a visionary and prophetic artist, Frantisek Kupka forged an abstract style of painting infused with spiritist principles, Joseph Beuys called under the rubric social sculpture for social change due to creative actions, and Friedensreich Hundertwasser was an ecological crusader whose spiral paintings were holistic in essence. These pioneering artistic attitudes and developments would have not come about without contact with several prophets. Some of these were artist-naturists, others were modern-day Christs, while still others saw themselves as social revolutionaries of a kind. Their relevance for modern art remains a largely untold story. Today, their names Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach, Gusto Gräser, Gustav Nagel, as well as Friedrich Muck-Lamberty and Ludwig Christian Haeusser have almost been forgotten.




Painting with God


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The Prophets


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Best Book of the Year NPR • The Washington Post • Boston Globe • TIME • USA Today • Entertainment Weekly • Real Simple • Parade • Buzzfeed • Electric Literature • LitHub • BookRiot • PopSugar • Goop • Library Journal • BookBub • KCRW • Finalist for the National Book Award • One of the New York Times Notable Books of the Year • One of the New York Times Best Historical Fiction of the Year • Instant New York Times Bestseller A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence. Isaiah was Samuel's and Samuel was Isaiah's. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. But when an older man—a fellow slave—seeks to gain favor by preaching the master's gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. Isaiah and Samuel's love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation's harmony. With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr., fiercely summons the voices of slaver and enslaved alike, from Isaiah and Samuel to the calculating slave master to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. As tensions build and the weight of centuries—of ancestors and future generations to come—culminates in a climactic reckoning, The Prophets fearlessly reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love.




The Prophetic Call


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Prophets of the Hood


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At once the most lucrative, popular, and culturally oppositional musical force in the United States, hip hop demands the kind of interpretation Imani Perry provides here: criticism engaged with this vibrant musical form on its own terms. A scholar and a fan, Perry considers the art, politics, and culture of hip hop through an analysis of song lyrics, the words of the prophets of the hood. Recognizing prevailing characterizations of hip hop as a transnational musical form, Perry advances a powerful argument that hip hop is first and foremost black American music. At the same time, she contends that many studies have shortchanged the aesthetic value of rap by attributing its form and content primarily to socioeconomic factors. Her innovative analysis revels in the artistry of hip hop, revealing it as an art of innovation, not deprivation. Perry offers detailed readings of the lyrics of many hip hop artists, including Ice Cube, Public Enemy, De La Soul, krs-One, OutKast, Sean “Puffy” Combs, Tupac Shakur, Lil’ Kim, Biggie Smalls, Nas, Method Man, and Lauryn Hill. She focuses on the cultural foundations of the music and on the form and narrative features of the songs—the call and response, the reliance on the break, the use of metaphor, and the recurring figures of the trickster and the outlaw. Perry also provides complex considerations of hip hop’s association with crime, violence, and misogyny. She shows that while its message may be disconcerting, rap often expresses brilliant insights about existence in a society mired in difficult racial and gender politics. Hip hop, she suggests, airs a much wider, more troubling range of black experience than was projected during the civil rights era. It provides a unique public space where the sacred and the profane impulses within African American culture unite.




The Art of Prophesying


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In The Art of Prophesying, Puritan William Perkins (1558-1602) teaches how to preach the Word with "studied plainness," not relying on technique or soaring flourishes of oratory, but rather by unleashing the majestic power of the unencumbered Word of God. Unlike so much of the milquetoast preaching heard today, Perkins teaches how to utilize the Scripture in all its capacities: for teaching correct doctrine, for reproof and correction, and for training the godly in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). This type of preaching changed lives during Perkins' lifetime, and it has the same effect today. Includes a biographical preface by Benjamin Brook. Scripture references (from the ESV) are embedded in the text as hyperlinks--no internet connection required.




The Return of the Chaos Monsters


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Gregory Mobley plunges beneath the Bible's surface to reveal its "backstories" -- the tales that constitute the backbone of the people Israel and of the body of Christ. Viewing the Bible as "essentially, relentlessly story," Mobley provides an easy-to-understand sevenpart thematic overview of the Bible that guides readers through the drama of the Hebrew Bible, highlighting the interconnectedness of biblical stories. Each story is a variation on a single theme -- the dynamic interplay between order and chaos. Intriguing Ancient Near Eastern myths, personal anecdotes, and popular cultural references from movies, musical theater, and writers ranging from Dr. Seuss to William Blake pepper the book throughout. Arresting chapter and section titles such as "It's Love That Makes the World Go 'Round" and "Lord Bezek's Big Toes" capture the imagination, and Mobley's own lyrical, energetic writing style -- exercised on vibrant biblical material -- propels the reader forward. Readers will find his enthusiasm contagious!




The Art Prophets


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In The Art Prophets, Richard Polsky introduces us to influential late twentieth-century dealers and tastemakers in the art world. These risk takers opened doors for artists, identified new movements, and resurrected art forms that had fallen into obscurity. In this distinctive tour, Polsky offers an insightful and engaging dialog between artists and the visionaries who paved their way. Table of contents Ivan Karp and Pop Art Stan Lee and Comic Book Art Chet Helms, Bill Graham, and the Art of the Poster John Ollman and Outsider Art Joshua Baer and Native American Art Virginia Dwan and Earthworks Tod Volpe and Ceramics Jeffrey Fraenkel and Photography Louis Meisel and Photorealism Tony Shafrazi and Street Art




Lives of the Prophets


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In Lives of the Prophets: The Illustrations to Hafiz-i Abru’s “Assembly of Chronicles” Mohamad Reza Ghiasian analyses two extant copies of the Majmaʿ al-tawarikh produced for the Timurid ruler Shahrukh (r. 1405–1447). The first manuscript is kept in Topkapı Palace and the second is widely dispersed. Codicological analysis of these manuscripts not only allows a better understanding of Hafiz-i Abru’s contributions to rewriting earlier history, but has served to identify the existence of a previously unrecognised copy of the Jamiʿ al-tawarikh produced at Rashid al-Din’s scriptorium. Through a meticulous close reading of both text and image, Mohamad Reza Ghiasian convincingly proves that numerous paintings of the dispersed manuscript were painted over the text before its dispersal in the early twentieth century.