ReVisioning: Critical Methods of Seeing Christianity in the History of Art: 10 (Art for Faith's Sake)

ReVisioning: Critical Methods of Seeing Christianity in the History of Art examines the application of art historical methods to the history of Christianity and art. As methods of art history have become more interdisciplinary there has been a notable emergence of discussions of religion in art history as well as related fields such as visual culture and theology. This book represents the first critical examination of scholarly methodologies applied to the study of Christian subjects themes and contexts in art. ReVisioning contains original work from a range of scholars each of whom has addressed the question in regard to a well-known work of art or body of work How have particular methods of art history been applied and with what effect? The study moves from the third century to the present providing extensive treatment and analysis of art historical methods applied to the history of Christianity and art. Romaine and Stratfords collection raises the question of how methodologies of art history--formulated within the secular context of modern academe--have failed and succeeded at understanding the Christian content of works of art. The question becomes urgent when the artworks under examination are also from the modern period and thus suffer from the doubling of denial of Christian content but the collection is also enriched by material from earlier periods of art. --Natasha Seaman Rhode Island College ReVisioning delivers on the nuanced promise in its subtitle; it sustains intellectual sophistication while it revises reconsiders and reimagines the rich threads in the fabric of critical Christianity. The more than fifteen thoughtful essays venture courageously into the space within academe too often dismissed suppressed or maligned--that is to say the space of the sacred. . . . Its essays spanning the history of artistic production from the medieval to the moderns in a mix of fresh critical perspectives go a long way to restore the relevance of mystery transcendence and dare it be said the sacred to what I hope is an ongoing conversation on theological aesthetics. ReVisioning is a courageous and long-overdue stake in the ground. --Ronald R. Bernier Wentworth Institute of Technology James Romaine Associate Professor of Art History and chair of the Department of Art History at Nyack College. He is the President of the Association of Scholars of Christianity in the History of Art (ASCHA). His recent scholarship includes Art as Spiritual Perception: A Festschrift for Dr. E. John Walford (2012) and contributing to the exhibition catalog Tim Rollins and K.O.S.: A History (2009). Linda Stratford Associate Professor at Asbury University. She is a board member of the Association of Scholars of Christianity in the History of Art (ASCHA) and has produced a number of publications and presentations that draw upon cross-disciplinary training in art history and aesthetics including a manuscript in progress Artists into Frenchmen a study of art and identity in modern France.