Few medieval images are as iconic, or as challenging, as the life-sized sculptural crucifixes that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire at the end of the tenth century. Striking at the fundamental mysteries of Christianity--the idea of a God made flesh, who died on the Cross and was resurrected after three days--these objects were made to attract attention and inspire veneration, and they exist in uneasy tension with medieval anxieties about idolatry and the cult of images. This volume presents new research on the Boston Crucifix, the earliest medieval crucifix in North America and one of the most significant examples of the genre, in dialogue with new directions in this field as a whole. Essays on the history, theology, style, condition, and provenance of early wood crucifixes are presented here together for the first time in a format that is intended as a major scholarly resource, but will also prove accessible to students and non-specialists who are curious about the origins of monumental crucifixes in the High Middle Ages.
Why should the cross—an object of Roman distaste and Jewish disgust—be the emblem of our worship and the axiom of our faith? And what does it mean for us today? In this thoughtful, comprehensive study of Scripture, tradition and the modern world, John R. W. Stott brings you face to face with the centrality of the cross in God's plan of redemption.
John Stott presents Bible studies based on his book The Cross of Christ on the meaning and purpose of the cross in our lives. These thirteen-session LifeGuide® Bible Study provide the ever-increasing understanding of the cross needed by every believer.
"In one of the Book of Mormon's most magisterial passages, the lord of a vineyard looks over his beloved olive trees with great sorrow and strives to redeem them. This parable symbolizes Jesus Christ's labors to save not only individual souls, but an entire world. Perhaps more than any other Book of Mormon prophet, Jacob manifests the same divine anxiety, having been born in a 'wild wilderness' and inheriting the task of uniting a divided people."--Inside front cover.
In Jesus' walk to the cross and His subsequent resurrection, Dawson McAllister says, Jesus paid for our sins and gave hope and meaning to our lives; but in order to fully appreciate and apply these exciting truths, Christians must grasp the full significance of Christ's life and ministry. In looking more closely at the walk Christ took to the cross both literally and figuratively, readers will come to a dramatic and life-changing understanding of the great sacrifice Jesus made. Offering readers a startling and powerful look at the Passion, A Walk with Christ to the Cross is a pivotal read: those who take it to heart will never be the same.
Why should the cross--an object of Roman distaste and Jewish disgust--be the emblem of our worship and the axiom of our faith? And what does it mean for us today? In this thoughtful, comprehensive study of Scripture, tradition and the modern world, John R. W. Stott brings you face to face with the centrality of the cross in God's plan of redemption.
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.
