Cardinal Hugh of St. Cher was a water walker. He was learned in both law and theology. His leadership skills were so outstanding that he quickly became a major superior in his Dominican Order. Having gotten word of Hugh’s talents, the pope made him a cardinal. The famed artist Fra Angelico placed Hugh in a crucifixion scene with the words “biblical interpreter” above his head. These words beautifully sum up what he was to generation after generation of biblical scholars and preachers till the sixteenth century. The Franciscan Cardinal St. Bonaventure (d. 1274) generously copied from Hugh’s Commentary on Luke without attribution. So did the Dominican Bishop St. Albert the Great (d. 1280). Producers of homily aids in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries filled their pages with nuggets from Hugh. What will you like about Hugh? First, he’s not in an ivory tower. He calls out his fellow prelates for being more interested in gold than in sharing God’s mercy with sinners and the poor. Second, he knows how to preach the text, breaking it down into memorable soundbites. Third, he knows and creatively adapts the Scriptures and tradition. Reading his commentary on Dives and Lazarus will not only activate your mind and warm your heart. Would you be surprised if it also were to trouble your conscience?

Spend some time with "the legends of the pulpit." For decades, pastors, teachers, and bible students have drawn from the wealth of wisdom found in the writings of preachers that have paved the way for our faith. Their graceful eloquence and gifted use of language remain unparalleled. A passion for God's Word and well tuned delivery of life-changing truths are clearly abundant throughout this series. AMG is pleased to present an inspiring collection that will become a timeless addition to your library.

No other source gives such an intimate portrait of this brilliant and strong minded individual, one of the four great doctors of the West and generally regarded as the most learned of the Latin fathers.

There have been numerous publications in the last decades on the Bible in literature, film, and art. But until now, no reference work has yet appeared on the Bible as it appears in Western music. In The Bible in Music: A Dictionary of Songs, Works, and More, scholars Siobhán Dowling Long and John F. A. Sawyer correct this gap in Biblical reference literature, providing for the first time a convenient guide to musical interpretations of the Bible. Alongside examples of classical music from the Middle Ages through modern times, Dowling Long and Sawyer also bring attention to the Bible’s impact on popular culture with numerous entries on hymns, spirituals, musicals, film music, and contemporary popular music. Each entry contains essential information about the original context of the work (date, composer, etc.) and, where relevant, its afterlife in literature, film, politics, and liturgy. It includes an index of biblical references and an index of biblical names, as well as a detailed timeline that brings to the fore key events, works, and publications, placing them in their historical context. There is also a bibliography, a glossary of technical terms, and an index of artists, authors, and composers. The Bible in Music will fascinate anyone familiar with the Bible, but it is also designed to encourage choirs, musicians, musicologists, lecturers, teachers, and students of music and religious education to discover and perform some less well-known pieces, as well as helping them to listen to familiar music with a fresh awareness of what it is about.

Reproduction of the original: Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama by E. Cobham Brewer

This is the first cultural history of Baroque Dresden, the capital of Saxony and the most important Protestant territory in the Empire from the mid-sixteenth to the early eighteenth century. Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly shows how the art patronage of the Electors fits into the intellectual climate of the age and investigates its political and religious context. Lutheran church music and architecture, the influence of Italy, the cabinet of curiosities and the culture of collecting, alchemy, mining and early technology, official image-making and court theatre are some of the wealth of colourful subjects dealt with during the period 1553 to 1733.