Engaging the Passion gathers an impressive array of scholars to survey how the death of Jesus has been portrayed and represented in Scripture, liturgy and music, literature, art and film, and theology and ethics—from the first to the twenty-first centuries. The contributors approach the passion from a variety of perspectives—diversely Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and secular. Their voices differ as well, from the challenging to the comforting and from the academic to the confessional. They address the faithful, the skeptical, and the curious.

Every year at Holy Week and Easter the Church, and indeed much of the secular world, focuses on the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. As Christianity came to dominance as the major religious faith in West, the descriptions of the Passion, Crucifixion, Death and Resurrection became the central and distinguishing images of the faith. Inevitably the Church made use of art to bring these dramatic scenes to the faithful - so welcome to many of course who could not read. The Passion is given its first really detailed depiction in Giotto's frescoes, completed about 1305, for the Arena Chapel in Padua, and also in Duccio di Buoninsegna's majestic altar piece paintings, the Maestà in Seina, installed in 1311. However, the death of Christ cannot be considered as something apart from his Resurrection. The victory of Christ is seen most lucidly in the new dawn light of Easter morning.The art represented in this book covers every aspect of the Passion cycle such as the Arrest, the Betrayal by Judas, the Appearance before the High Priest, the Flagellation, the Crowning with Thorns, the Ecce Homo presentation, the Carrying of the Cross, the Crucifixion and the Deposition, Lamentation and Entombment. Everything then moves into depictions of the glory of the Resurrection. The art represented is a very eclectic selection, ranging from the work of Matthias Grünewald and Michelangelo to Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock and Salvador Dali.

From the earliest period of its existence, Christianity has been recognized as the "religion of the cross." Some of the great monuments of Western art are representations of the brutal torture and execution of Christ. Despite the horror of crucifixion, we often find such images beautiful. The beauty of the cross expresses the central paradox of Christian faith: the cross of Christ's execution is the symbol of God's victory over death and sin. The cross as an aesthetic object and as a means of devotion corresponds to the mystery of God's wisdom and power manifest in suffering and apparent failure. In this volume, Richard Viladesau seeks to understand the beauty of the cross as it developed in both theology and art from their beginnings until the eve of the renaissance. He argues that art and symbolism functioned as an alternative strand of theological expression -- sometimes parallel to, sometimes interwoven with, and sometimes in tension with formal theological reflection on the meaning of the Crucifixion and its role insalvation history. Using specific works of art to epitomize particular artistic and theological paradigms, Viladesau then explores the contours of each paradigm through the works of representative theologians as well as liturgical, poetic, artistic, and musical sources. The beauty of the cross is examined from Patristic theology and the earliest representations of the Logos on the cross, to the monastic theology of victory and the Romanesque crucified "majesty," to the Anselmian "revolution" that centered theological and artistic attention on the suffering humanity of Jesus, and finally to the breakdown of the high scholastic theology of the redemption in empirically concentrated nominalism and the beginnings of naturalism in art. By examining the relationship between aesthetic and conceptual theology, Viladesau deepens our understanding of the foremost symbol of Christianity. This volume makes an important contribution to an emerging field, breaking new ground in theological aesthetics. The Beauty of the Cross is a valuable resource for scholars, students, and anyone interested in the passion of Christ and its representation.

Families are being destroyed and souls are being cast into hell because of soft and effeminate men. In Terror of Demons, Kennedy Hall provides the cure: traditional Catholic masculinity.

Found Theology is a book about how theology deals with newly-encountered (of 'found') material in time, and about the role of imagination in these encounters. The book is unusual and ground-breaking exercise in the interdisciplinary discussion of theology and the arts. Ben Quash brings together elements of doctrine, scripture, the fine arts and the experiences of everyday life. He looks closely at Christian artistic traditions via a number of case studies that represent a rich source of examples of the way that the new times properly stimulate new expressions of known and loved things. Quash engages closely with some serious and prominent American scholars, namely Peter Ochs, Daniel W. Hardy, C.S. Peirce and David H. Kelsey.

Originally published in 1983, Leo Steinberg's classic work has changed the viewing habits of a generation. After centuries of repression and censorship, the sexual component in thousands of revered icons of Christ is restored to visibility. Steinberg's evidence resides in the imagery of the overtly sexed Christ, in Infancy and again after death. Steinberg argues that the artists regarded the deliberate exposure of Christ's genitalia as an affirmation of kinship with the human condition. Christ's lifelong virginity, understood as potency under check, and the first offer of blood in the circumcision, both required acknowledgment of the genital organ. More than exercises in realism, these unabashed images underscore the crucial theological import of the Incarnation. This revised and greatly expanded edition not only adduces new visual evidence, but deepens the theological argument and engages the controversy aroused by the book's first publication.

Brimming with Sister Wendy Beckett's irrepressible wisdom and enthusiasm, The Art of Holy Week and Easter is a beautiful Lent book for 2021 exploring the spiritual riches of some of the world's greatest paintings of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus. Illustrated in stunning full colour with thirty famous and lesser-known Western masterpieces and presented in a small, easily portable format, this little book is ideal Lent reading for all art lovers. The Art of Holy Week and Easter offers a chance to hear again the voice of Sister Wendy as she gently leads you into a deeper appreciation of all that these paintings convey to the discerning eye. You'll gain a fuller and more spiritual understanding of Christian art, and see Holy Week and Easter as never before.

This beautiful book offers reflections of a medical doctor on the physical and mental anguish Jesus endured in the hours leading up to His death. Enrich your meditation on Christ's passion using prayers and hymns paired with moving commentary and masterpieces of art from artists including Michelangelo, Rubens, Dali, and Siqueiros.

Acts is the sequel to Luke's gospel and tells the story of Jesus's followers during the 30 years after his death. It describes how the 12 apostles, formerly Jesus's disciples, spread the message of Christianity throughout the Mediterranean against a background of persecution. With an introduction by P.D. James