Representation Of Christ Research Articles

Steine und Fußspuren Christi auf dem Ölberg Zu zwei ungewöhnlichen Motiven bei Darstellungen der Himmelfahrt Christi

The writer considers two unusual and hitherto largely overlooked motifs found in medieval representations of Christ's Ascension (stone blocks and footprints on the Mount of Olives) and links them to a tradition of honoring the footsteps of Christ in Jerusalem.

The Perfectionists and the Weather: The Oneida Community's Quest for Meteorological Utopia, 1848–1879

has always been-and, modern environmentalism notwithstanding, there no doubt remains-much about environment that people would willingly alter if they could. Visions of perfect earthly future have routinely incorporated reconstructed earth. Not least have they described transformation of features so often and so stubbornly unsatisfactory in many ways as weather and climate. Writers in classical antiquity who tried to imagine terrestrial paradise purged its weather of everything dangerous or merely disagreeable, from extreme temperatures and tempestuous winds to overcast skies. Early Christian representations of Garden of Eden gave it same mild and moderate climate as medieval Europeans ascribed to Land of Cockaigne: There is no heat or cold, water or fire, wind or rain, snow or lightning, thunder or hail. Neither are there storms. Rather, there is eternally fine, clear weather ... It is always wonderfully agreeable May. Two geographers who made study of utopian novel found that genre characteristically presents weather as either an equable given or something totally under man's control., But there is second and quite different way in which meteorological utopia can be sought. It does not depend on perfecting of elements by divine or natural favor or by human effort. It tries to make weather unobjectionable without altering it physically. What will be abolished in this kind of paradise is not weather that people think bad, but their reasons for thinking it bad. The causes of complaint lie not in weather itself, it is assumed, but in human beings, their attitudes, and their social and technological arrangements. If those attributes and arrangements are reformed, dissatisfaction with weather would disappear.. An unnamed character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Blithedale Romance (1852) expresses this point of view. He and several companions are riding through surprise April snowstorm to join newly founded utopian community outside of Boston. He reproaches narrator, Miles Coverdale, for grumbling about weather. They can never consider themselves regenerated men, he admonishes Coverdale, until they feel as thankful for a February northeaster as they do for the softest breeze of June.2

Review: Christ among the Medieval Dominicans. Representations of Christ in the Texts and Images of the Order of Preachers

Christ among the Medieval Dominicans. Representations of Christ in the Texts and Images of the Order of Preachers Kent Emery, Jr Joseph Wawrykow xvi + 561 (Notre Dame Conferences in Medieval Studies, 7.) University of Notre Dame Press 1998 Hardback$80 0 268 00831 0 Paperback$45 0 268 00836 1

Kent Emery Jr., and Joseph Wawrykow, eds., Christ among the Medieval Dominicans: Representations of Christ in the Texts and Images of the Order of Preachers. (Notre Dame Conferences in Medieval Studies, 7.) Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1998. Pp. xvi, 561 plus 103 black-and-white figures; black-and-white frontispiece and tables. $80 (cloth); $45 (paper).

Kent Emery Jr., and Joseph Wawrykow, eds., Christ among the Medieval Dominicans: Representations of Christ in the Texts and Images of the Order of Preachers. (Notre Dame Conferences in Medieval Studies, 7.) Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1998. Pp. xvi, 561 plus 103 black-and-white figures; black-and-white frontispiece and tables. $80 (cloth); $45 (paper).

Christ Among the Medieval Dominicans: Representations of Christ in the Texts and Images of the Order of Preachers. Edited by Kent EmeryJr and Joseph Wawrykow. Notre Dame Conferences in Medieval Studies 7. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1999. xvi + 561 pp. $80.00 cloth; $45.00 paper.

Christ Among the Medieval Dominicans: Representations of Christ in the Texts and Images of the Order of Preachers. Edited by Kent EmeryJr and Joseph Wawrykow. Notre Dame Conferences in Medieval Studies 7. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1999. xvi + 561 pp. $80.00 cloth; $45.00 paper.

Christ among the Medieval Dominicans: Representations of Christ in the Texts and Images of the Order of Preachers ed. by Kent Emery, Jr., Joseph Wawrykow

Christ among the Medieval Dominicans: Representations of Christ in the Texts and Images of the Order of Preachers ed. by Kent Emery, Jr., Joseph Wawrykow

Christ Among the Medieval Dominicans: Representations of Christ in the Texts and Images of the Order of Preachers edited by K. Emery & J. Wawrykow University of Notre Dame Press, Southbend IN, 1998. Pp. xvi + 561, $80.00 hbk.

Review in this ArticleCHRIST AMONG THE MEDIEVAL DOMINICANS: REPRESENTATIONS OF CHRIST IN THE TEXTS AND IMAGES OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS edited by K. Emery & J. WawrykowMIRACULA SANCTI DOMINICI MANDATO MAGISTRI BERENGARII COLLECTA. PETRI CALO LEGENDAE SANCTI DOMINICI, edited by Simon Tugwell OP Monumenta Ordinis Praedicatorum HistoricaFROM WITHOUT THE FLAMINIAN GATE: 150 YEARS OF ROMAN CATHOLICISM IN ENGLAND AND WALES, 1850–2000 edited by Alan McClelland and Michael Hodgetts Darton, Longman and ToddTHE UNKNOWN POPE: BENEDICT XV (1914–1922) AND THE PURSUIT OF PEACE by John F. PollardPHILOSOPHER AT WORK by Yves Simon, edited by Anthony O. Simon

The Representation of Christ in the Apses of Early Christian Churches

In this paper, I address the evolution of the pictures in the main apses of early Christian churches. Considering the data gathered by Christa Ihm, I propose a new evolutionary classification of these pictures. We have no secure evidence of such images before the last third of the fourth century. At this time, images of Christ acquired a new meaning emphasizing his divinity. I concur with T. Mathews's thesis that Christ is represented as God and not as emperor; my affirmation introduces some nuances to this position. In funeral art, the change is exemplified by the replacement of images of Christ performing miracles by images like the central scene on Junius Bassus's sarcophagus and the so-called Traditio Legis. It is related to discussions from the end of the Arian controversy about the relation between the Father and the Son. The issue of anthropomorphism, which arose in Jerusalem by the end of the century but was particularly vexed in Egypt, gives indications of the relation between representation and ...

Christology crossing boundaries: The threat of imaging christ as other than a white male

In this paper I explore the psychological origins of resistance to multiple representations of Christ, particularly those which cross gender and racial boundaries. I suggest that the image of a white-male Christ, often internalized at a young age, becomes part of psychic structure. Imaging Christ as other than a white male forces crossing of racial and gender boundaries which serve to maintain self-concept as either identified with or different from the internalized Christ.

Chrétiens dans la première guerre mondiale. Actes des Journées tenues à Amiens et à Péronne les 16 mai et 22 juillet 1992 Edited by Nadine- Josette Chaline

BOOK REVIEWS 457 volume will cover the momentous political and religious events of 1870 and 1871. M. Patricia Dougherty, O.P. Dominican College ofSan Rafael Chrétiens dans la première guerre mondiale. Actes des Journées tenues à Amiens et à Péronne les 16 mai et 22 juillet 1992. Edited by NadineJosette Chaline. [Histoire religieuse de la France, 4.] (Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf. 1993. Pp. 201. 135 F.) The religious history of World War I in France has in the past focused on the importance of the war in mitigating the church-state conflicts that were so much a part ofprewar politics. Although two ofthe essays in this collection deal with the interplay of politics and religion in wartime, most concentrate instead on the beliefs and practices of ordinary soldiers, chaplains, and civilians . The authors call on a variety of sources—diaries, letters, newspapers, literature—to illuminate the experiences of their subjects, and a number of them make excellent use ofimages as well. The holy cards, photos, and stainedglass windows reproduced in this book make it a rich visual source for anyone interested in the cultural history of World War I. In her introduction Nadine-Josette Chaline notes both the religious revival that accompanied the outbreak of the war and the religious doubts that were sometimes provoked by the havoc that followed. Although the essays are not grouped by the editor according to theme or method, they do fall into rough general categories. Brigitte Waché and Jean-Marie Mayeur deal with the delicate political situation of Catholics who sought to remain loyal to France and the universal Church. Waché reviews the career ofDenys Cochin, the Catholic deputy from Paris whose participation in the cabinet between 1915 and 1917 symbolized the union sacrée;Jean-Marie Mayeur shows how French Catholics interpreted and sometimes opposed the peace initiatives of Pope Benedict XV, when they were judged insufficiently sympathetic to French interests. The prestige of the papacy, considerable after a century of intensifying ultramontanism , was no match for the nationalist sentiments of French Catholics. The most original contributions in this volume are those which show the links between nationalism and Catholicism in the devotional rather than the political domain. According to Annette Becker, the devotions popular with the soldiers reveal a "spirituality of the front" that sometimes aroused the suspicions of a clergy concerned about the taint of superstition. With the help of holy cards, which flowed back and forth between families and the front, soldiers invoked the standard symbols of nineteenth-century Catholicism— the cross, the Virgin, the Sacred Heart—in seeking to understand and alleviate their suffering. Becker's essay is a sensitive reading of soldierly devotions, but 458 BOOK REVIEWS the state of the evidence does not allow her to make any firm statements about the extent to which these were diffused throughout the armies. Becker avoids a functionalist perspective, never asking how these devotions might have assisted politicians and generals in the work of keeping soldiers fighting in the field. Many of the devotional images described by Becker show up also in Jean-Pierre Blin's piece on the stained-glass windows designed to commemorate the war. Artists worked suffering soldiers and scenes from the front into their representations of Christ, Mary, and the saints, but realistic details with which the dying were portrayed (uniforms, weapons, etc.) contrast with an idealized death without the blood and dirt of war. According to Blin, the artists and their patrons had agreed to "tacit self-censorship" (p. 172) in the face of the inadmissible realities ofwar. Frédéric Gugelot's case study of Henri Ghéon illustrates how Catholic devotions and liturgy, combined with the powerful example of practicing Catholics and the omnipresence of death, could contribute to the conversion ofunbelievers. Ghéon's memoirs, analyzed closely by Gugelot trace his progress from a prewar estheticism and a close friendship with André Gide, to the reception of communion on the front at Verdun on Christmas Eve, 1917. Two essays deal with the role of the chaplaincy in the war. Chaline contributes a valuable article on the struggles and partial successes by the French clergy to reach the front in...

The Language of Images: the Rise of Icons and Christian Representation

One has to be brave to return to the subject of Byzantine Iconoclasm, a subject which, we may feel, has been done to death. But the division in Byzantine society which lasted off and on for over a century, from 726 to the ‘restoration of orthodoxy’ in 843, was so profound that any Byzantine historian must at some time try to grapple with it. This is especially so if one is trying to understand the immediately preceding period, from the Persian invasions of the early seventh century to the great sieges of Constantinople by the Arabs in 674-8 and 717. It is well recognized by historians that this was a time of fundamental social, economic, and administrative change, which coincided with, but was by no means wholly caused by, the loss of so much Byzantine territory to the Arabs. However, the connection, if any, of this process of change with the social and religious upheaval known as Iconoclasm still leaves much to be said; indeed, no simple connection is likely in itself to provide an adequate explanation. In this paper I want to explore further some of the background to the crisis, without attempting here to provide a general explanation for Iconoclasm itself. I shall not venture beyond the first phase of Iconoclasm, which ended with the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, and after which the argument is somewhat different. Indeed, I shall be focusing here not even on the period known as ‘first Iconoclasm’, but mainly on the preceding period, when the issues inherent in the controversy were already, and increasingly, making themselves felt. Though we shall inevitably be concerned with some of the arguments brought against icons by their opponents, it is the place of images themselves in the context of the pre-Iconoclastic period which will be the main issue. Finally, while I want to offer a different way of reading the rise of icons, I do not pretend that it is the only one, or even possibly the most important. I do suggest, though, that it can help us to make sense of some of the issues that were involved.

Religious Propriety versus Artistic Truth. The Debate between Friedrich Rochlitz and Louis Spohr about the Representation of Christ in "Des Heilands letzte Stunden"

Religious Propriety versus Artistic Truth. The Debate between Friedrich Rochlitz and Louis Spohr about the Representation of Christ in "Des Heilands letzte Stunden"

A Note on the Disappearance of the Good Shepherd from Early Christian Art

The image of the Good Shepherd was by far the most popular representation of Christ in the Church's first four centuries. In his article on the subject in the Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, Henri Leclerq gives more than three hundred examples, dating to the beginning of the fifth century, and his list is by no means exhaustive. In the first half of the fifth century, however, the Good Shepherd suddenly vanishes from Christian art in both East and West, with perhaps a few relatively insignificant exceptions, to be replaced by the images of Christ as teacher and as king—images that had become increasingly important in the iconography of Christ over the course of the previous hundred years. The Good Shepherd did not reappear upon the scene until well into the Middle Ages. What was responsible for its disappearance?

The Incarnation: An Exchange

You clearly enjoyed writing about The Myth of God Incarnate and I have enjoyed reading your review. I am sure you are right that if we are to get any further with the problems that the book raises, deeper insight into the doctrine of God is called for. But perhaps I should have said if I am to get any further, because you don't seem to think the book does raise any real problems for you; its problems are pseudo-problems, arising out of a fundamental misunderstanding, and in the light of a truer doctrine of God they will all simply melt away. The fact that you offer so quick-acting a panacea tends to make me suspicious and to discourage me from pursuing the road you propose for me. I want to tell you why I feel the problem is not patient of quite as ready a solution as you suggest. Let me begin with the parallel with eucharistie doctrine since you find that a useful one. If I understand you aright, you are convinced that the consecrated elements are the real body and blood of Christ; you are open to different ways of understanding that but can clearly distinguish theories which are saying the same thing in a new way from ones which see the elements as mere representations of Christ's body and blood. I amnot clear how you would understand 'real' here in terms of that 'clear analysis or critique of religious language' that you rightly desiderate. But the main issue between us is that I start from a different point. What I am convinced of is that the elements are spoken of as the body and blood of Christ and that that way of speaking of them conveys something of deep spiritual importance. What I would want to know from you is not only what you mean by the 'real' bit, but also how you know it in advance of any particular understanding. But since this is only a parallel and not the substantive issue, I must move on. For the same sort of thing is true in the case of the incarnation. Your starting-point is the knowledge that 'Jesus was ... a man who was God'. In starting there you are, of course, at one with so much of the best Roman Catholic scholarship and I tried to express my difficulty with taking that as the starting-point in my Remaking of Christian Doctrine pp. 42-3. And the way you develop your argument reinforces my sense of a fundamental dif-

Contemporary Japanese Theater: Symbolism In Shvsaku Endo's Ogon No Kuni

THE TIMEWORN IMAGE OF THE fumie (a representation of Christ or of the Blessed Virgin to be trampled on, used by persecutors of feudal Japan to discover hidden Christians), figures forth in a strikingly original way the intense dramatic conflict of forces-moral, political, racial, religious and psychological-that clash violently against one another in Shilsaku Endo's dynamic three-act tragedy ironically entitled ogon no Kuni (Land of Yellow Gold.) The play, which marked the well-known novelist's first excursion into drama, was first published in Bungei magazine's May, 1966 issue and produced by the Kumo players under the direction of Hiroshi Akutagawa from May 13 to 23 at Tokyo Municipal Centre Hall. With the adept use of symbolic realism reminiscent of Graham Greene's novels, particularly of The Heart of the Matter with its problem of pity versus moral obligation, and Th,e Power and the Glory with its hunted priest and Judas figure, near Nagasaki on K yilshil island, Mr. Endo places his drama of the human soul against a setting suggestive of corruption and death in a boggy strip of land (an epitome of seventeenth century Japan) surrounded by an oppressively silent sea, a land once dreamed of by Francis Xavier as a promised land of yellow gold, but where transplanted seedlings of foreign culture quickly decay in the lukewarm mire. The scene is set two years after the revolt of Shimabara (1637-8) during the Christian persecution under Iemitsu, the third Tokugawa shogun who ruled from 1623 to 1651. Although the main action of the play (the apostasy of Father Ferreira) is based on actual fact, Mr. Endo himself has stated (in a radio broadcast over NHK, May 29, 1966) that the scarcity of recorded historical data available left ample room for the full play of imagination. Thus the play is largely a creative work involving a study of mixed motives, depth psychology and situational morality.

When the Kingdom Comes Messianic Themes in Medieval Jewish Art

Students of medieval Christian art are all too familiar with Last Judgment scenes on the tympana of medieval Gothic cathedrals. The tympanum over the west portal of Bourges Cathedral is a good example in its awesome and dramatic depiction of the fate which awaited every Christian in the world to come. At the summit, Christ is seen enthroned on the seat of judgment, surrounded by angels, St. John and the Virgin. At the bottom, the resurrected dead rise from their tombs to appear before their judge. Below Christ is the chief actor in the drama of Judgment—St. Michael. With a balance suspended from his hand, he carefully weighs the deeds of every Christian to determine which soul is to be eternally damned to the tortures of hell on the left, and which is to enjoy the rewards of eternal bliss in paradise on the right. Such Christian representations need little explanation, but were I to ask how medieval Jewish art conceived the afterlife, my question might be met with some surprise, since it is common to find...

A Carolingian rock crystal from the Abbey of Saint-Denis at the British Museum

The engravings devoted to the Trésor in Dom Félibien's history of the abbey of Saint-Denis, in spite of their inaccuracy, are a precious source of information about the pieces, some extremely ancient, that composed that celebrated ensemble, unfortunately dispersed at the Revolution. On the plate by Nicolas Guérard, dealing with the third armoire, is pictured a reliquary consisting of two oval rock crystals, placed one above the other, in a rich gold setting (Fig. I). The crystal situated beneath, which is the larger one, is engraved with a representation of Christ on the Cross between the Virgin and St. John the Evangelist. We learn from Dom Félibien that in his time—his book was printed in 1706—this reliquary enclosed some remnants of the clothes of St. Louis, king of France.

The Original Porta Dei Mesi at Ferrara and the Art of Niccolo

The Porta dei Mesi1 on the south side of the Cathedral of Ferrara was destroyed between 1717 and 1736; yet a fairly good account of its original appearance is given in a number of descriptions dating from the time of its destruction. According to these sources — notably the writings of Borsetti, Baruffaldi, and Scalabrini2 — a double-storied porch rose in front of the portal; each story was supported by two columns which rested on the backs of lions and griffins respectively.3 A representation of Christ between two kneeling figures decorated the gable of the upper story, while a series of representations of the months lined the vault of the lower porch.4 The portal proper featured a tympanum with a representation of Christ standing on the asp and the basilisk. Scenes from the Old Testament in low relief were arranged about the portal;5 the figures of two warriors flanked the entrance.

Acts and the Roman Trial of Paul

The apologetic purpose of the Book of Acts has been frequently remarked, but I am not aware that this has been brought into connection with the historical situation in Acts 28, 30. Yet the object of presenting a defense of Paul before the Roman courts bears a curious relation to the analysis of the sources of the book. We are chiefly concerned here with the second half of the work, Acts 16–28, setting aside the “we-sections.” Notice the character of the narratives. First, there are the narratives which represent Paul as moving under the protection of Roman citizenship and of Roman officials, and his enemies as resorting to lawlessness: — Acts 16, 25–34; 19, 23–41; 21, 30–40; 23,10–35; 25, 1–5; 6–12; 28, 30–31. Secondly, there are presented the legal precedents for Paul's case, in narratives of his acquittal in lesser Roman courts: — Acts 16, 35–40; 17, 5–9; 18, 12–17; 22, 22–29; 24, 1–9; 22–23; 25, 13–27; 26, 30–32. Thirdly, the speeches recorded constitute a plea in Paul's defense: — Acts 17, 16–33, a defense of his message for the pagan mind; Acts 22, 1–21, a defense of his faithfulness to the Jewish God; Acts 24, 10–21, his fidelity to Jewish institutions; Acts 26, 1–23, his loyalty to the Jewish faith. Three of these speeches deal with the apostle's relations with Judaism, which also constitute the next topic. Fourthly, Paul is defended against the charge of participation in a religio illicita by the consistent representation of Christianity as a Jewish sect or party. Paul begins his work in the synagogues, meets frequent approbation among the Jews, and his enemies are represented as engaged in the partisan conflict in which the Roman government can take no interest: Acts 16, 1–3; 17, 11–13; 18, 2–8; 18–22; 18, 24–19, 8; 22, 80–23, 9; 28, 17–28.

Book Review: The Secret of the Cross: A Plea for a Re-presentation of Christianity

Book Review: The Secret of the Cross: A Plea for a Re-presentation of Christianity