The Forge of Vision: A Visual History of Modern Christianity
David Morgan
(Author)
Description
Religions teach their adherents how to see and feel at the same time; learning to see is not a disembodied process but one hammered from the forge of human need, social relations, and material practice. David Morgan argues that the history of religions may therefore be studied through the lens of their salient visual themes. The Forge of Vision tells the history of Christianity from the sixteenth century through the present by selecting the visual themes of faith that have profoundly influenced its development. After exploring how distinctive Catholic and Protestant visual cultures emerged in the early modern period, Morgan examines a variety of Christian visual practices, ranging from the imagination, visions of nationhood, the likeness of Jesus, the material life of words, and the role of modern art as a spiritual quest, to the importance of images for education, devotion, worship, and domestic life. An insightful, informed presentation of how Christianity has shaped and continues to shape the modern world, this work is a must-read for scholars and students across fields of religious studies, history, and art history.
Product Details
Price
$47.94
Publisher
University of California Press
Publish Date
October 20, 2015
Pages
407
Dimensions
6.9 X 1.0 X 10.1 inches | 1.85 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9780520286955
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
David Morgan is Professor of Religious Studies at Duke University, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Art, Art History, and Visual Studies. He is the author of The Embodied Eye: Religious Visual Culture and the Social Life of Feeling and The Sacred Gaze: Religious Visual Culture in Theory and Practice, and coeditor of the journal Material Religion.
Reviews
"David Morgan's impressive new book navigates a much contested terrain."--Art and Christianity
"Morgan has been one of the most important pioneers in exploring the visual world of religion--particularly that of American Christianity--and The Forge of Vision might be regarded as summa Morganensis."--Church History (11/14/2018)
"Morgan creates...a clearing, some common, albeit untroubled territory, from which new, and potentially sympathetic conversations might occur between the contemporary church and a contemporary world that is, in everyday life at least, increasingly organized and identified around visual and imaginative practices and protocols."-- (11/14/2018)
"Morgan shows that the very conception of modern art is contingent upon ideas of imagination and self that were developed by Roman Catholic and Protestant sacred economies....After [reading this book], it seems difficult to imagine a holistic teaching of modern art without a thorough involvement of the ways Christianity contributed to the development of modern ideas of art and its viewers."-- (11/14/2018)
"An elegantly expressive work, richly illustrated and rhetorically euphonious."--Images at Work
"After [this book], it seems difficult to imagine a holistic teaching of modern art without a thorough involvement of the ways Christianity contributed to the development of modern ideas of art and its viewers."--Christian Scholars' Review
"David Morgan has been one of the most important pioneers in exploring the visual world of religion--particularly that of American Christianity--and The Forge of Vision might be regarded as summa Morganensis.... Challenging and provocative."--Church History
"Morgan has been one of the most important pioneers in exploring the visual world of religion--particularly that of American Christianity--and The Forge of Vision might be regarded as summa Morganensis."--Church History (11/14/2018)
"Morgan creates...a clearing, some common, albeit untroubled territory, from which new, and potentially sympathetic conversations might occur between the contemporary church and a contemporary world that is, in everyday life at least, increasingly organized and identified around visual and imaginative practices and protocols."-- (11/14/2018)
"Morgan shows that the very conception of modern art is contingent upon ideas of imagination and self that were developed by Roman Catholic and Protestant sacred economies....After [reading this book], it seems difficult to imagine a holistic teaching of modern art without a thorough involvement of the ways Christianity contributed to the development of modern ideas of art and its viewers."-- (11/14/2018)
"An elegantly expressive work, richly illustrated and rhetorically euphonious."--Images at Work
"After [this book], it seems difficult to imagine a holistic teaching of modern art without a thorough involvement of the ways Christianity contributed to the development of modern ideas of art and its viewers."--Christian Scholars' Review
"David Morgan has been one of the most important pioneers in exploring the visual world of religion--particularly that of American Christianity--and The Forge of Vision might be regarded as summa Morganensis.... Challenging and provocative."--Church History
