Imaging the Divine


Book Description

Baugh traces the development of the Jesus-film and through critical film and theological analysis show us the limitations of this genre. Baugh analyzes several important and often prize-winning films showing how each film-maker has created a valid and often complex and challenging metaphor of the Christ-event. He questions many of the traditional approaches to religious film, and offers a new approach and new criteria for the appreciation and judgment of these films.




Imaging the Early Medieval Bible


Book Description

A unique exploration of the beginnings of biblical illustration and decoration.




Imaging the Bible


Book Description

Imaging the Bible examines how 'reading' the Bible visually can help us appreciate the intricacies of the biblical narrative and shows how the stories of the Bible have been interpreted visually within specific traditions. The Bible is seen as not merely a book of doctrine but as the main source of inspiration of the arts in Western Europe. The book introduces the reader to the broad and inclusive range of ways that the Bible has been interpreted in the arts - from the earliest Christian art through the medieval period and the Renaissance and up to the twentieth century. Written for non-specialists and assuming no previous knowledge of art history, this is an ideal introduction to Biblical art for students and for the general reader. The contributors are: Andreas Andreopoulos (Lampeter); Clyde Binfield (Sheffiled); Sarah Boss (Lampeter); Laura Carnavale (Bari, Italy); Nicholas Davey (Dundee); Peter French (Melbourne, Australia); John Harvey (Wales); Heidi Hornik (Baylor, Texas); and, John Morgan-Guy (Lampeter).




The St Cuthbert Gospel


Book Description

The St Cuthbert Gospel (formerly known as the Stonyhurst Gospel) is the earliest intact European book and a landmark in the cultural history of western Europe. Now dated to the early eighth century, the manuscript contains a beautifully written copy of the Gospel of John in Latin and is famous for the craftsmanship and condition of its contemporary decorated leather binding. Found in Cuthbert's coffin when it was opened in Durham Cathedral in 1104, the Gospel was acquired for the national collection in 2012 after a major fundraising campaign. This new collection of essays is the most substantial study of the book since the 1960s. It includes detailed commentary on Cuthbert in his historical context; the codicology, text, script, and medieval history of the manuscript; the structure and decoration of the binding; the other relics found in Cuthbert's coffin; and the post-medieval ownership of the book.This book significantly revises the existing scholarship on one of the British Library's most recent acquisitions which is now one of its greatest treasures.




Imaging the Story


Book Description

"Tell all the Truth but tell it slant." (Emily Dickinson) This course follows the contours of the salvation story through the lens of the arts. Putting visual art and poetry in conversation with the Bible, it seeks to engage the imagination. Rather than analyzing the narrative, the reader is invited to behold it and respond to it through "making"--either verbally or visually. At times, the church has treated the imagination like an embarrassing relative. Yet the Bible is image-rich, drawing widely on the imagination, and we are each made in the image of the creator God. It is time to bring the imagination out of the corner! "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Eph 2:10 NIV) Whether following it as a group or reading it alone, this course book will appeal to anyone with an interest in the salvation story and the arts. It is particularly for those who feel permission is needed to pick up a paintbrush--or any other creative medium--just for the love of it.




Imaging the Word


Book Description

The passages from the Bible included in Imaging the Word were selected from the Revised Common Lectionary, which is a listing of Bible readings for congregational life, worship, and preaching to be used throughout the church year. For each week and selected festivals, the readings often include passages from the Hebrew Scriptures, including the Psalms, and a portion of a Gospel and one other Christian scripture.




Four Portraits, One Jesus, 2nd Edition


Book Description

To Christians worldwide, the man Jesus of Nazareth is the centerpiece of history, the object of faith, hope, and worship. Even those who do not follow him admit the vast influence of his life. For anyone interested in knowing more about Jesus, study of the four biblical Gospels is essential. The second edition of Four Portraits, One Jesus has been updated throughout to meet the needs to today's students. It is a thorough yet accessible introduction to the four biblical Gospels and their subject, the life and person of Jesus. Like different artists rendering the same subject using different styles and points of view, the Gospels paint four highly distinctive portraits of the same remarkable Jesus. With clarity and insight, Mark Strauss illuminates these four books addressing the following important areas: First he addresses the nature, origin, methods for study, and historical, religious, and cultural backgrounds of the Gospels. He then moves on to closer study of each narrative and its contribution to our understanding of Jesus, investigating things such as plot, characters, and theme. Finally, he pulls it all together with a detailed examination of what the Gospels teach about Jesus' ministry, message, death, and resurrection, with excursions into the quest for the historical Jesus and the historical reliability of the Gospels. This textbook together with its workbook, video lectures, and laminated sheet gives students everything they need for a thorough and enriching study of Jesus and the Gospels.




Performing the Gospels in Byzantium


Book Description

Tracing the Gospel text from script to illustration to recitation, this study looks at how illuminated manuscripts operated within ritual and architecture. Focusing on a group of richly illuminated lectionaries from the late eleventh century, the book articulates how the process of textual recitation produced marginalia and miniatures that reflected and subverted the manner in which the Gospel was read and simultaneously imagined by readers and listeners alike. This unique approach to manuscript illumination points to images that slowly unfolded in the mind of its listeners as they imagined the text being recited, as meaning carefully changed and built as the text proceeded. By examining this process within specific acoustic architectural spaces and the sonic conditions of medieval chant, the volume brings together the concerns of sound studies, liturgical studies, and art history to demonstrate how images, texts, and recitations played with the environment of the Middle Byzantine church.




Images of Salvation in the New Testament


Book Description

"The New Testament does not develop a systematic doctrine of salvation," writes Brenda Colijn. "Instead, it presents us with a variety of pictures taken from different perspectives." Students of the New Testament and of theology will both find their vision broadened and their understanding deepened by this rich, informative study. As the author seeks to understand their implications for people of faith, she uncovers how New Testament images provide the building blocks of the master story of redemption.




In His Image


Book Description

Sometimes we ask What is God’s will for my life? when we should really be asking Who should I be? The Bible has an answer: Be like the very image of God. By exploring ten characteristics of who God is—holy, loving, just, good, merciful, gracious, faithful, patient, truthful, and wise—this book helps us understand who God intends for us to be. Through Christ, the perfect reflection of the image of God, we will discover how God’s own attributes impact how we live, leading to freedom and purpose as we follow his will and are conformed to his image.