Judaism and the Visual Image

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. 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. * Religion and Gender *