Invisible God - The Earliest Christians on Art

Zusatztext Some of the author's best discussions are those to be found within the general framework. He is an authority on early Christian lamps ... Likewise on the vexed question of the San Sebastiano site and its development there is a clear and helpful discussion. The learning displayed throughout is immense, and the organization of such a vast amount of material is achieved without sacrificing the clarity of structure which makes the book easy to read. It integrates the results of recent work in an impressive manner, mostly in the form of notes ... an interesting and informative book. Klappentext This revisionist study challenges the received opinion that in its earliest manifestations Christianity was a form of religiosity opposed both on principle and in fact to the use of pictures. Paul Corby Finney argues that the well-known absence of Christian pictures before A.D. 200 is due to a complex interplay of social! economic! and political factors! and is not! as is commonly assumed! a result of an anti-image ideology. The book documents the origins of Christian art based on some of the oldest surviving Christian archaeological evidence! and it seeks to show how the Christian products conformed to the already-existing pagan types and models. This study will interest scholars and students in the fields of church history! ancient history! archaeology! art history! classics! and historical theology. Zusammenfassung This treatise refutes the assumption that early Christians were opposed in principle to visual images and thus did not produce art. It shows that once Christians acquired legal status and were able to own property and places of worship, they started to produce art as decoration.

Product details

• Authors: Paul Corby Finney, Paul Corby (Associate Professor of Ancient Finney, Paul Corby (Associate Professor of Ancient History Finney, Finney Paul Corby
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.01.1994
• EAN: 9780195082524
• ISBN: 978-0-19-508252-4
• No. of pages: 348
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Art history; RELIGION / Christianity / History, ART / Subjects & Themes / Religious, RELIGION / Christianity / General, Christianity, History of Religion, History of Art, History of art: Byzantine & Medieval art c 500 CE to c 1400, Medieval style, Religious and ceremonial art, ART / History / European / Medieval