Judaism and the Visual Image
A Jewish Theology of Art
Published on 19. February 2009
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-8264-9498-6 (ISBN)
Description
The widespread assumption that Jewish religious tradition is mediated through words, not pictures, has left Jewish art with no significant role to play in Jewish theology and ethics. "Judaism and the Visual Image" argues for a Jewish theology of image that, among other things, helps us re-read the creation story in Genesis 1 and to question why images of Jewish women as religious subjects appear to be doubly suppressed by the Second Commandment, when images of observant male Jews have become legitimate, even iconic, representations of Jewish holiness. Raphael further suggests that 'devout beholding' of images of the Holocaust is a corrective to post-Holocaust theologies of divine absence from suffering that are infused by a sub-theological aesthetic of the sublime. Raphael concludes by proposing that the relationship between God and Israel composes itself into a unitary dance or moving image by which each generation participates in a processive revelation that is itself the ultimate work of Jewish art.
Reviews / Votes
"Judaism and the Visual Image is a timely and most welcome theological contribution to the burgeoning interest in Jewish art and aesthetics - as well as a much needed introduction of art and aesthetics into contemporary Jewish thought and philosophy. Moving from the book of Genesis through modern to postmodern Jewish thought and art, this work by Melissa Raphael pivots around embodied, gendered images of the Jewish people and of messianic dance that are at once aesthetically nuanced and ethically serious." - Zachary Braiterman, Associate Professor, Syracuse University, USA 'The escalating interest in Jewish art and aesthetics is disscussed in Raphael's book. The proffessor of Jewish theology at the University of Gloucestershire re-examines Genesis and the Creation, and aesthetics in contemporary Jewish thought and philosophy.' - Estelle Lovatt, Jewish Telegraph, 14/08/09. Raphael ends Judaism and the Visual Image by tantalizing readers with the possibility that a Jewish theology of art can ground a Jewish political theology, one that values the return to history as much as did Emil Fackenheim's work, yet is not necessarily attached to Zionism. May her next book come soon, and affordably. -- Journal of Religion This book builds on Raphael's previous publications Theology and Embodiment and The Female Face of God in Auschwitz but does not have an explicitly feminist theological agenda. Instead, Raphael applies a gender-aware lens to develop a Jewish theory of aesthetics. -- Katharina von Kellenbach, St. Mary's College of Maryland * Religion and Gender *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Laminated cover
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
518 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8264-9498-6 (9780826494986)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2009
1st Edition
Continuum Publishing Corporation
€38.49
Available for download
Person
Melissa Raphael is Professor of Jewish Theology at the University of Gloucestershire. She is the author of a number of influential studies, including "The Female Face of God in Auschwitz: A Jewish Feminst Theology of the Holocaust" (Routledge, 2003).
Content
1. Distrust of the Visual in Judaism; 2. Judaism and the Sacralization of Beauty; 3. The Ethical Dimension of Jewish Visuality; 4. Gender and the Visual in Judaism; 5. The Holocaust as a Visual Revelation; 6. Jewish History as a Sacred Dance.