The Pathos of the Cross


Book Description

This volume traces how theologies and the arts of the Baroque period stressed the "pathos" of Christ's death on the cross as the means of salvation, and invited believers to an emotional response that binds them to Christ's saving act.




The Folly of the Cross


Book Description

The Folly of the Cross is the fourth book in Richard Viladesau's series examining the aesthetics and theology of the cross through Christian history. Previous volumes have brought the story up through the Baroque era. This new book examines the reception of the message of the cross from the European Enlightenment to the turn of the twentieth century. The opening chapters set the stage in the transition from the Baroque to the Classical eras, describing the changing intellectual and cultural paradigms of the time. Viladesau examines the theology of the cross in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the aesthetic mediation of the cross in music and the visual arts. He shows how in the post-Enlightenment era the aesthetic treatment of the cross widely replaced the dogmatic treatment, and how this thought was translated into popular spirituality, piety, and devotion. The Folly of the Cross shows how classical theology responded to the critiques of modern science, history, Biblical scholarship, and philosophy, and how both classical and modern theology served as the occasions for new forms of representation of Christ's passion in the arts and music.




The Beauty of the Cross


Book Description

From the earliest period of its existence, Christianity has been recognized as the "religion of the cross." Some of the great monuments of Western art are representations of the brutal torture and execution of Christ. Despite the horror of crucifixion, we often find such images beautiful. The beauty of the cross expresses the central paradox of Christian faith: the cross of Christ's execution is the symbol of God's victory over death and sin. The cross as an aesthetic object and as a means of devotion corresponds to the mystery of God's wisdom and power manifest in suffering and apparent failure. In this volume, Richard Viladesau seeks to understand the beauty of the cross as it developed in both theology and art from their beginnings until the eve of the renaissance. He argues that art and symbolism functioned as an alternative strand of theological expression -- sometimes parallel to, sometimes interwoven with, and sometimes in tension with formal theological reflection on the meaning of the Crucifixion and its role insalvation history. Using specific works of art to epitomize particular artistic and theological paradigms, Viladesau then explores the contours of each paradigm through the works of representative theologians as well as liturgical, poetic, artistic, and musical sources. The beauty of the cross is examined from Patristic theology and the earliest representations of the Logos on the cross, to the monastic theology of victory and the Romanesque crucified "majesty," to the Anselmian "revolution" that centered theological and artistic attention on the suffering humanity of Jesus, and finally to the breakdown of the high scholastic theology of the redemption in empirically concentrated nominalism and the beginnings of naturalism in art. By examining the relationship between aesthetic and conceptual theology, Viladesau deepens our understanding of the foremost symbol of Christianity. This volume makes an important contribution to an emerging field, breaking new ground in theological aesthetics. The Beauty of the Cross is a valuable resource for scholars, students, and anyone interested in the passion of Christ and its representation.




The Christ who Embraces


Book Description

Jacob Joseph's book, The Christ who Embraces: An Orthodox Theology of Margins, explores the intersection of Orthodox Christian mission and caste dynamics among St. Thomas/Syrian/Orthodox Christians in India. It defines a liturgical touch or embrace in the context of 'untouchability,' where people identify as equal without discrimination, reflecting the inseparable unity of Christ's transcendental (divine) and immanent (human) nature.




The Wisdom and Power of the Cross


Book Description

The Wisdom and Power of the Cross is the fifth and final entry in Richard Viladesau's well-regarded series on the theology of the cross, from the historical crucifixion of Jesus to the present day. Continuing his analysis of theological history through cultural contexts, this volume correlates theoretical approaches with artistic representations, showing the relation of theoretical to imaginative approaches. The Wisdom and Power of the Cross examines modern and contemporary thought and images, which look at the cross in the light of modern historical and scriptural studies, science, and the novelties of modern and post-modern art and music. Viladesau here considers how the passion of Christ has been thought about by theologians and portrayed by artists in the modern world. Contemporary art and music reveal the lasting power of traditional images of the passion, as well as new possibilities for expression. The Wisdom and Power of the Cross surveys both traditional approaches to soteriology and revisionist theologies that take up the challenge of the meaning of the cross today, in light of critical historical studies and modern science, providing new understandings of traditional concepts like "original sin" and "redemption". Through his in-depth exploration of the interweaving of aesthetic and conceptual theology, Viladesau once more deepens our understanding of the foremost symbol of Christianity and its role in salvation history.




Feasting on the Gospels--John, Volume 2


Book Description

Feasting on the Gospels follows up on the success of the Feasting on the Word series with all new material on the most prominent and preached-on New Testament books, the four Gospels. With contributions from a diverse and respected group of scholars and pastors, Feasting on the Gospels covers every single passage in the Gospels, making it suitable for both lectionary and nonlectionary use. Moreover, these volumes incorporate the unique format of Feasting on the Word, with four perspectives for preachers to choose from for each Gospel passage: theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical.







The Crucifixion of the Warrior God


Book Description

A dramatic tension confronts every Christian believer and interpreter of Scripture: on the one hand, we encounter images of God commanding and engaging in horrendous violence: one the other hand, we encounter the non-violent teachings and example of Jesus, whose loving, self-sacrificial death and resurrection is held up as the supreme revelation of God’s character in the New Testament. How do we reconcile the tension between these seemingly disparate depictions? Are they even capable of reconciliation? Throughout Christian history, many different answers have been proposed, ranging from the long-rejected explanation that these contrasting depictions are of two entirely different ‘gods’ to recent social and cultural theories of metaphor and narrative representation. The Crucifixion of the Warrior God takes up this dramatic tension and the range of proposed answers in an epic constructive investigation. Over two volumes, renowned theologian and biblical scholar Gregory A. Boyd argues that we must take seriously the full range of Scripture as inspired, including its violent depictions of God. At the same time, we must take just as seriously the absolute centrality of the crucified and risen Christ as the supreme revelation of God. Developing a theological interpretation of Scripture that he labels a “cruciform hermeneutic,” Boyd demonstrates how Scripture’s violent images of God are completely reframed and their violence subverted when they are interpreted through the lens of the cross and resurrection. Indeed, when read through this lens, Boyd argues that these violent depictions can be shown to bear witness to the same self-sacrificial character of God that was supremely revealed on the cross.




Heart of the Cross


Book Description

Theologies have often pointed to the cross as a place of suffering and sacrifice, while feminist critiques have frequently argued against interpretations of the cross as patriarchal valorizing of suffering. Wonhee Anne Joh points toward a new interpretation of the cross as a place of love, where God and humanity come together in a surprising way. Interpreting the cross as performing a double gesture that has a subversive effect, Joh argues that the cross works simultaneously to pay homage to and to menace complex oppressive powers. Utilizing the Korean concept ofjeong, Joh constructs a theology that is feminist, political and love-centered, while acknowledging the cross as source of pain and suffering. Joh's innovative vision is a call for political love that is stronger than powers of oppression.




The Crucified God


Book Description

This work on the significance of the crucifixion takes death, despair and dreadfulness with total seriousness and relates these to a liberating hope of redemption through divine agony and suffering.