Art as TheologyFrom the Postmodern to the Medieval
Andreas Andreopoulos
Series: Cross Cultural Theologies Hardback Price £50.00/$95.00 Paperback Price £18.99/$29.95 |    |
Description
This study attempts to bring together a number of ideas and problems from various parts of the academic spectrum. In the first part of the hypothesis the writer expounds the view that art lost its sacred character in the late Middle Ages. Theories of religious art from the ancient Jewish drama and the Greek tragedy to the Renaissance are examined, which illustrate two different kinds of relationship between art and religion, and the way they developed from Jewish art and Greek tragedy to the Byzantine icon and the medieval Cathedral. Patristic sources are used to explore the connection between art and religion.
The second part of the hypothesis is that contemporary philosophy and art, having witnessed the death of the author, are now registering the withdrawal of the work of art as an independent object, and a partial reversal of the Renaissance art paradigm (nevertheless nothing as radical as a move toward a “neo-medieval” paradigm). The withdrawal or “death” of the work of art and of art as a process, are discussed. The writer argues that contemporary art, popular and classical, is withdrawing as a distinct activity, giving its place to a growing religious awareness or practice. The fusion of the limits of art and life, that postmodernism theorized and practiced, is very consistent with the medieval view of the religious icon as a liturgical and spiritual entity.
This study attempts to bring together a number of ideas and problems from various parts of the academic spectrum. In the first part of the hypothesis the writer expounds the view that art lost its sacred character in the late Middle Ages. Theories of religious art from the ancient Jewish drama and the Greek tragedy to the Renaissance are examined, which illustrate two different kinds of relationship between art and religion, and the way they developed from Jewish art and Greek tragedy to the Byzantine icon and the medieval Cathedral. Patristic sources are used to explore the connection between art and religion.
The second part of the hypothesis is that contemporary philosophy and art, having witnessed the death of the author, are now registering the withdrawal of the work of art as an independent object, and a partial reversal of the Renaissance art paradigm (nevertheless nothing as radical as a move toward a “neo-medieval” paradigm). The withdrawal or “death” of the work of art and of art as a process, are discussed. The writer argues that contemporary art, popular and classical, is withdrawing as a distinct activity, giving its place to a growing religious awareness or practice. The fusion of the limits of art and life, that postmodernism theorized and practiced, is very consistent with the medieval view of the religious icon as a liturgical and spiritual entity.
Contents
1. Introduction
2. A Religious View of the History of the Arts
a. The religious background of art in the Jewish tradition and in Greek Philosophy
b. Icons: the Religious Art of the East
c. 'Mirrors' and Aesthetics in the Western Middle Ages
d. Conclusion
3.Anti-Leonardo
a. Historical Definition of the Function of the Religious Work of Art
b. Breaks with the Past
c. Post-Medieval Art and Thought
4. The 'Death of Art' in Postmodern Philosophy
5. The Religious Artist Today: From the Postmodern to the Medieval
6. Conclusion
Reviews
'Andreopoulos has accomplished a notable task. The book should be a resource for esthetic theology, hermeneutics, and ecumenism, perhaps in the classroom and certainly in the library.'
Ann K. Riggs, Earlham School of Religion, Richmond, Indiana, in Theological Studies 70/1, March 2009
Specifications
| ISBN-10 (Hardback) | 1845531701 |
| ISBN-13 (Hardback) | 9781845531706 |
| Price (Hardback) | £50.00/$95.00 |
| ISBN-10 (Paperback) | 184553171X |
| ISBN-13 (Paperback) | 9781845531713 |
| Price (Paperback) | £18.99/$29.95 |
| Publication Date | May 2007 |
| Pages | 224 |
| Size | 216 x 138mm |
| Readership | students and scholars |
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