Clothing Sacred Scriptures
Description
According to a longstanding interpretation, book religions are agents of textuality and logocentrism. This volume inverts the traditional perspective: its focus is on the strong dependency between scripture and aesthetics, holy books and material artworks, sacred texts and ritual performances.
The contributions, written by a group of international specialists in Western, Byzantine, Islamic and Jewish Art, are committed to a comparative and transcultural approach. The authors reflect upon the different strategies of »clothing« sacred texts with precious materials and elaborate forms. They show how the pretypographic cultures of the Middle Ages used book ornaments as media for building a close relation between the divine words and their human audience.
By exploring how art shapes the religious practice of books, and how the religious use of books shapes the evolution of artistic practices this book contributes to a new understanding of the deep nexus between sacred scripture and art.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Content
- Intro
- Preface
- Contents
- 1. Clothing Sacred Scriptures
- Part I: Religions of the Book
- 2. Bodies, Books, and Buildings
- 3. Concealed and Revealed
- 4. Adoring God's Name
- Part II: Textile Dimensions
- 5. Dressing and Undressing Greek Lectionaries in Byzantium and Italy
- 6. Clothing Sacred Scripture
- Part III: Multiple Objects
- 7. Relics in Medieval Book Covers
- 8. Jewish Writings and Holy Scripture in Christian Paintings in Spain during the Late Medieval Period
- 9. Wearing Devotional Books
- Part IV: Spatial Aspects
- 10. Observations on the Topological Functions of Color in Early Medieval Christian Illuminated Manuscripts
- 11. When Writers Dream ...
- 12. Devotional Re-enactment on the Way Through the Book
- Part V: The Performance of Sacred Scripture
- 13. The Ritual Display of Gospels in Late Antiquity
- 14. Books for Liturgical Reading?
- 15. Performativity and the Passion Narratives in Early Medieval Gospel Books
- 16. Aural-Visual and Performing Aspects of Illuminated Manuscripts for Liturgical and Ritual Use
- Epilogue
- Index of Names
- Index of Places and Manuscripts
- Image credits
