Book Description
This book is a collection of over twenty essays on issues relating to making art from a Christian perspective. The volume is filled with color artwork from Michelangelo to Makoto Fujimura and from Rembrandt to Tim Hawkinson.
Customer Reviews:
A Blessing.......2001-03-05
"It Was Good-Making Art to the Glory of God" brings forth many struggling topics and themes that Christian artists are challenged with. These essays are writing by some of the most important Christian artists today (i.e. Makoto Fujimura, Theodore Prescott, and Edward Knippers.) The book discusses issues looking at our fallen world with a realistic point of view. It teaches to face evil head on and to point towards the grace, the hope, and the glory, namely Jesus Christ. As God's children it explains our need for art in the church and in our communities. It also depicts the problems of Christian art, with topics such as GOOD, ("The efforts of most artists who attempt to present a picture of `good' tend toward dishonest, sugary sweet propaganda. They ignore the implications of the fall and paint the world as a shiny, happy place." -Ned Bustard, "Good"), EVIL, and IDENTITY. It is hard being both Christian and artist. It seems no one understands you in the art world and no one understands you in the Christian world. This book praises our gifts of creativity and imaginations, in which we learn to integrate both our faith and art, and return these gifts to praise Our Father. "It Was Good..." should be essential to your book collection. I once had a discussion with a friend of how we can meditate on a single passage for hours. These essays have been so inspirational that I have spent some nights restless, because I could not wait until the next day to work on my own art. It is such a blessing to know, in this generation (so full of narcissistic and meaningless art,) that this book is out there to help other Christian artists. I personally feel doubly blessed because I am still an undergraduate in art school. I feel a great comfort to apply and develop these ideas into my own critiques. But this book goes way beyond the ordinary art school critique and grows toward my relationship with God and towards his people.
Average customer rating:
- Reabable and worthy
- Superb Primer on a Christian View of Art
- An Encouraging Book
- Makes a case for Christians to reclaim the arts
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Art for God's Sake: A Call to Recover the Arts
Philip Graham Ryken
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It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God
ASIN: 1596380071 |
Customer Reviews:
Reabable and worthy.......2007-01-11
Five stars for this brief discussion of art from a Christian perspective. Ryken, minister at Tenth Presbyterian Philadelphia, interacts with the abilities of Bezalel and Oholiab, artisans of the tabernacle, to develop his topic. His discussion is very brief (less than 58 pages) but pointed. Both art and artist are viewed in relationship to God's greater person and glory. The author also deals with different kinds of art and the question of "Christian art". Writing from a reformed perspective, Ryken looks for the transformation of culture and speaks in light of the postmodern generation. The book is really too brief but will be especially good for those on the outside who desire a greater glimpse.
Superb Primer on a Christian View of Art.......2006-06-22
A small book on a big topic is a dangerous proposition. It may show disrespect for its subject by bragging that it can be read in a short time, such as Kant in 90 minutes. (Kant in 90 minutes is not Kant at all.) On the other hand, a short book can thoughtfully introduce a profound subject worthy of further consideration; it may be a primer. Art for God's Sake is a worthy primer; it addresses the relationship of Christian faith and art in the hope of helping Christians "recover the arts."
Philip Graham Ryken, Pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia and the author of several previous books, including Written in Stone (an insightful study of the Decalogue), has in sixty-four pages outlined a biblical view of art's place in God's world. Ryken is moved by the plight of the Christian artist whose calling and work is misunderstood or rejected by the church. He realizes that Christians may be suspicious of art because of their concern for idolatry and their repulsion toward much of contemporary art, which has abandoned the ideal of beauty and revels in the bizarre, the transgressive, and the outright ugly. Ryken also laments that Christians too often reduce art to utilitarian and evangelistic purposes that fail to honor art as art. Further, Christians often laud art that does not take the brokenness of life east of Eden seriously. Quite frequently, Christian art is little more than pious kitsch, which he aptly describes as "tacky artwork of poor quality that appeals to low tastes" (p. 14).
Yet art should be consecrated to the glory of God, and Ryken instructs us briefly to that end. Thus he develops a sound theology of art based on the beauty of God's creation, our status as creative beings made in God's image (Genesis 1:26), and God's calling on individuals to create works of art. Ryken ruminates at some length on the significance of the calling of Bezalel and Oholiab, who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to be skilled craftsmen in the construction of God's tabernacle, his beautiful dwelling place (Exodus 31). God "called artists to make the tabernacle, and to make sure that they did it well, he equipped them with every kind of artistic talent. By doing this, God was putting the blessing of his divine approval on both the arts and the artist" (22). Moreover, these craftsmen produced "three kinds of visual art: symbolic, representative, and nonrepresentative (or abstract) art" (33), thus showing God's endorsement of these forms. These are only two of the significant insights that Ryken draws from the tabernacle.
More generally, "the kind of art that glorifies God is good, true, and, finally, beautiful" (42). While truth and beauty are not identical, contra Keats' "Ode to a Grecian Urn," they belong together. Ryken notes, "The problem with some modern and postmodern art is that it seeks to offer truth at the expense of beauty. It tells the truth about ugliness and alienation, leaving out the beauty of creation and redemption" (43). On the other hand, "A good deal of so-called Christian art tends to have the opposite problem. It tries to show beauty without admitting the truth about sin, and to that extent it is false--dishonest about the tragic implications of our depravity. Think of all the bright, sentimental landscapes that portray an ideal world unaffected by the Fall..." (43). (Ryken does not name names, but he is surely thinking of Thomas Kinkade's paintings.)
Ryken aptly summarizes this thesis in the concluding chapter, "Beautiful Savior." "This is the Christian view of art: the artist is called and gifted by God--who loves all kinds of art; who maintains high aesthetic standards for goodness, truth, and beauty; and whose glory is art's highest goal" (p. 53). He then concludes with a meditation on Christ's death and resurrection in light of this thesis. The ugliness of human sin required that an all-beautiful and all-glorious God send his Son to become a disfigured and mutilated sacrifice that we might be redeemed. In this sense, "the cross screams against all the sensibilities of his divine aesthetic" (55). Yet this was the only way for redemption to be won: "Sin had brought ugliness and death into the world. In order to save his lost creation, God sent his Son right into the absurdity and alienation. There Jesus took our sin himself, dying to pay the price that justice demanded. It was such an ugly death that people had to turn away" (55-56). But God transformed this ugliness into beauty through the resurrection, in which Christ is given a glorious and triumphant body. In light of these tremendous realities, "we should devote our skill to making art for the glory of God, and for the sake of his Son--our beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ" (58).
An Encouraging Book.......2006-05-31
I am the worst artist in the world. I'm sure there are some who would contest that claim, but if you were to ask me to draw something (anything!) I think you'd quickly agree that I am about as bad as a person can get. It is strange that I am such a terribly poor artist as I come from a long line of very capable artists. Yet somehow, when the various family genes were combined to form me, all of those artistic genes fled.
Not only am I the worst artist in the world, but I also have a strong dislike for most of the visual arts. For many years I thought that my dislike of these forms of art stemmed from my lack of talent in this area. But after much reflection I think there may be another source for my dislike of art. In my education I was constantly taught that art is inherently subjective--that meaning is assigned to a piece of art not by the artist but by the person gazing at it. I was taught that I was to study a work of art, allow it to speak to me, and understand the meaning of the work to be whatever came to mind at that moment. I may not have been able to express why I found this unsatisfactory, but it led me to dislike art and even to distrust it.
In recent years I have been recovering from this viewpoint. Art For God's Sake by Philip Graham Ryken, pastor of historic Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, has helped in this recovery. It is a short book, weighing in at only 64 pages, but one that is thick with satisfying, biblical reflections on the arts. Ryken argues for the recovery of the arts among Christians. He argues also for the objective nature of the arts--an objectivity which encourages us to seek out the meaning the artist meant a work to display.
The purpose of the book is twofold. Ryken wishes to "encourage Christian artists in the pursuit of their calling and to give artists and nonartists alike a short introduction to thinking Christianly about the arts" (17). The proper place to begin thinking about this topic is Scripture. We will find that Scripture affirms the value of art and artists "while at the same time protecting it from the corrupting effects of sin" (17). And so Ryken begins in an obvious place, showing that in Exodus 31 God specially called and equipped two men to build His tabernacle. The passage teaches four fundamental principles for the construction of a Christian theology of the arts: the artist's call and gift come from God; God loves all kinds of art; God maintains high standards for goodness, truth and beauty; and art is for the glory of God. The next four chapters expound upon these four principles.
Here is a brief summary of these four principles:
The artist is called and gifted by God--who loves all kinds of art; who maintains high aesthetic standards for goodness, truth, and beauty; and whose glory is art's highest goal. We accept these principles because they are biblical, and also because they are true to God's character. What we believe about art is based on what we believe about God. Art is what it is because God is who he is.
The book concludes with a reflection on our beautiful Savior and the exceeding ugliness that was His death and crucifixion. "The center of God's masterpiece of salvation was an event of appalling ugliness and degradation" (54).
And so Ryken concludes that artists should use their artistic talents to bring glory to God. And further, the church should take a leading role in encouraging this type of expression. Art For God's Sake, while a short book, was encouraging to me and I trust would be equally encouraging to those who feel the need to express themselves through their artistic talents. I hope that this book will prove to be a catalyst in sparking a recovery of the arts.
Makes a case for Christians to reclaim the arts.......2006-05-06
Most art in the last fifty, or even one hundred years, has lost its beauty, particularly sacred beauty, and in response Christians have abandoned the arts. In Art for God's Sake, Philip Graham Ryken makes a case for both the calling of Christian artists as a ministry and for Christians as supporters of the arts.
Ryken reminds readers that art comes from the supreme Artist, God himself. He says of Him in creation, "...like a painter adding watercolors to a sketch, or like a composer developing variations on a melodic theme, God takes the forms of creation and adds content. He fills the water with sea creatures, the sky with birds, and the land with wild animals." (22) The author then informs readers of the first mention of artists in Exodus 31, when the Lord commissions the tabernacle through Moses, and the craftsmen used for various media were called of God, inferring that art is meant to glorify God. He says that the gifts God gave to these artists showed the necessity of "spiritual insight as well as practical skill."
In the spirit of Francis Schaeffer, Ryken makes a worthy defense of the rich variety of arts, and encourages believers to recapture that which elevates the Lord. He defines worthy art as good, true, and beautiful, the last being somewhat subjective. The book is brief, only 58 pages, and has a helpful section that follows with suggestions for further reading. And Ryken's writing is conversational, making it something anyone would enjoy. Highly recommended. - Anne Walker, Christian Book Previews.com
Book Description
This concise, student-friendly rhetoric provides clear, highly practical advice for writing arguments, including the four most common types: factual, causal, evaluation, and recommendation. Structured around the three main phases of writing — focusing, supporting, and reviewing, For Argument's Sake helps readers find and focus a claim, identify an audience, work through the support process, and then refine and polish their argument. Numerous sample arguments illustrate the principles and strategies including several pieces written by students. Ideal for individuals looking for a short text offering practical advice on how to write persuasive arguments.
Average customer rating:
- Great book with 2 major flaws
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Art for Art's Sake and Literary Life: How Politics and Markets Helped Shape the Ideology and Culture of Aestheticism, 1790-1990 (Stages)
Gene H. Bell-Villada
Manufacturer: Bison Books
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ASIN: 0803261438 |
Book Description
Art for Art’s Sake and Literary Life is a history of literary aestheticism from the eighteenth century to modern deconstruction. Gene H. Bell-Villada examines writings by critics, philosophers, and other writers from Europe, Latin America, and the United States. Uniting all is his conviction that “there are concrete social, economic, political, and cultural reasons for the emergence, growth, diffusion, and triumph of l’art pour l’art over the past two centuries.”
Customer Reviews:
Great book with 2 major flaws.......1999-04-18
Elegantly written, thought-provoking, abrasive, and immensely informative, Bell-Villada's essay is nonetheless affected by two important flaws: its relative lack of focus, especially toward the end of the book, and its rigid application of a left v. right girdle. Bell-Villada obviously believes that the left is always good and progressive, with the possible exception of Joseph Stalin, whereas the right and the center are innately deficients, both morally and intellectually, for they either call for a return to the past or for a blind defense of the statu quo. The problem here is theoretical. Arguably, the milieu of artists is ill suited for this kind of Manichean mutilation. Many artists, in modern times, have adopted syncretic political dispositions comprising ingredients such as contempt for the statu quo and rejection of dominant values (especially utilitarianism), this leading them either to fascism or to bolchevism, with a great deal of transactions between the two (it is significant that Bell-Villada does not have much to say about Ezra Pound!). Most fascists were also revolutionary and anti statu-quo: in fact, many were attempting to revitalize socialism. Rather than using only "left v. right", Bell-Villada should have added other variables such as "romantic v. enlightenment" and "liberal v. anti-liberal", and use them all with a great deal of flexibility.
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- Absurd Attempts to Clean Up Literature
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Dirt for Art's Sake: Books on Trial from Madame Bovary to Lolita
Elisabeth Ladenson
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
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Suite Francaise
ASIN: 0801441684 |
Book Description
In Dirt for Art's Sake, Elisabeth Ladenson recounts the most visible of modern obscenity trials involving scandalous books and their authors. What, she asks, do these often-colorful legal histories have to tell us about the works themselves and about a changing cultural climate that first treated them as filth and later celebrated them as masterpieces? Ladenson's narrative starts with Madame Bovary (Flaubert was tried in France in 1857) and finishes with Fanny Hill (written in the eighteenth century, put on trial in the United States in 1966); she considers, along the way, Les Fleurs du Mal, Ulysses, The Well of Loneliness, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Tropic of Cancer, Lolita, and the works of the Marquis de Sade.
Over the course of roughly a century, Ladenson finds, two ideas that had been circulating in the form of avant-garde heresy gradually became accepted as truisms, and eventually as grounds for legal defense. The first is captured in the formula "art for art's sake"--the notion that a work of art exists in a realm independent of conventional morality. The second is realism, vilified by its critics as "dirt for dirt's sake." In Ladenson's view, the truth of the matter is closer to "dirt for art's sake"--the idea that the work of art may legitimately include the representation of all aspects of life, including the unpleasant and the sordid.
Ladenson also considers cinematic adaptations of these novels, among them Vincente Minnelli's Madame Bovary, Stanley Kubrick's Lolita and the 1997 remake directed by Adrian Lyne, and various attempts to translate de Sade's works and life into film, which faced similar censorship travails. Written with a keen awareness of ongoing debates about free speech, Dirt for Art's Sake traces the legal and social acceptance of controversial works with critical acumen and delightful wit.
Customer Reviews:
Absurd Attempts to Clean Up Literature.......2007-02-21
1857 was an important year for literature, and for sex. It was either an _annus mirabilis_ or _annus horribilis_, depending on your point of view. _Horribilis_, says Elisabeth Ladenson in _Dirt for Art's Sake: Books on Trial from Madame Bovary to Lolita_ (Cornell University Press). It was the year in which _Madame Bovary_ was published and then prosecuted, as well as Baudelaire's _Les Fleurs du Mal_. The year also saw the Obscene Publications Act in England. That prosecutors were able to harass the authors and publishers of these books, as well as the other later ones that Ladenson considers, seems now quaint but also sad. Some of these books are among the highest of the classics, and the others gained far more infamy because of their prosecutions than their literary worth would have earned them. The unmemorable smut that is the huge bulk of pornography isn't much considered here (this is _Dirt for Art's Sake_, after all), but Ladenson's witty and thorough book can only remind the reader that this sort of societal fussing over what people can read, especially screening for the benefit of a supposed impressionable "young person", is wasted effort. It annoys readers, authors, and publishers, and has from time to time kept important books out of the hands of those who could appreciate them.
_Madam Bovary_ is Flaubert's most famous work, and its trial is intimately connected with the book. The problem as the French government saw it was that literature was to be useful and encourage moral order; literature that threatened the state was to be suppressed. The defense was two-pronged. First, there was "art for art's sake", that art exists independently of conventional morality. The other, somewhat contradictory, defense was that art depicts by means of realism, that if there were sordid aspects of life, they should still be fearlessly presented. But Flaubert's defense still relied upon the upholding of morality; his realistic depiction of the adultery of Emma Bovary was only to promote a higher virtue. Emma might not be a positive example, but served as a bad example to keep readers from making the same errors themselves. It is hard to see how even the prudish objected to the other indisputable member of the literary canon included here, unless they were given a list of four letter words that are included in the text, or specific pointers to the pages where Mr. Bloom goes to the outhouse or where sexual activity takes place. _Ulysses_ is, after all, a big book, full of a close examination of three characters and their one ordinary day in Dublin, so "naughty" themes are far from predominant. The book is not as easy to read as real porn, and only the misguided might pick it up hoping quickly to find spicy bits; Joyce's novel, Ladenson says, "provides its own inaccessibility." The classic 1933 decision allowing the book into the US, written by Judge John Woolsey and included as a preface to the work, gives the judge's opinion that while parts of the text may be "somewhat emetic, nowhere does it tend to be an aphrodisiac."
Woolsey's was a limited judgement; it meant that the "emetic" parts of _Ulysses_ redeemed the whole. (It is also a limited reading of the book, which tends more to comedy and ebullience than to outrageousness.) Because of this, the decision didn't close the issue of censoring frank literature, which had to be legally settled for _Lady Chatterley's Lover_, _Tropic of Cancer_, and _Lolita_, all of which have chapters here. (Lolita was a special case in which there could be no objection to the words in the book, but to the subject, a man's fascination for a pre-pubescent female.) Ladenson has read them all, and the legal decisions concerning them, and has not only read the books but seen the movies. Her perceptive readings of the books makes for a fine social history of censorship of artistic works. She has an agreeable sense of humor, pleasing in a scholastic work, and lets us enjoy sniggering at the foolish efforts of prudes trying to snip away at great literature. The absurdity of the censors' efforts is well displayed, as is, alas, their pigheaded persistence through the centuries.
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"Art for Art's Sake": Late -Victorian Aestheticism.......2000-04-19
"A great deal has been written on Aestheticism in Victorian literature. Linda Dowling's bibliography of 1977, 'Aestheticism and Decadence,' lists 599 books and articles, and there is no slackening of interest since that date. Yet the equivalent phenomenon in the visual arts has a minuscule scholarly literature" (from the Introduction by Elizabeth Prettejohn in "After the Pre-Raphaelites"). This recent title edited by Prettejohn brings together contributions by numerous art scholars who address Aestheticism and art criticism in the late-Victorian period, with patricular focus on painting and sculpture. The Introduction by Prettejohn provides an excellent overview of the visual and literary art culture of the nineteenth-century. Other contributors offer new interpretations of important figures such as Swinburne, Pater, and Wilde. Important issues addressed include "art for art's sake" (prevalent in the Aesthetic Movement), morality and art, and the relationship between religion and art. In light of the current debate over the content and morality of the visual arts and literature, this book provides good material for understanding the comparable controversies that existed over a century ago, and how they were addressed. Prettejohn's compilation is a fine addition to the study of the Aesthetic Movement of the nineteenth-century, with fresh and provocative material well-suited for the ongoing study of art criticism. It is touted as being "the first scholarly study of parallel trends in the visual arts," and it upholds that distinction.
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Art for Art's Sake (Dork Tower #32)
John Kovalic
Manufacturer: Dork Storm Press
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ASIN: 1930964846 |
Book Description
In this book R. W. Scribner provides the first detailed analysis of the forms of propaganda - such as illustrated broadsheets, picture books, title pages, and book illustrations - which were aimed at the illiterate and semi-literate during the Reformation, and reproduces many of the vast corpus of prints which still survive in scattered locations in Germany. Dr Scribner advances new and original interpretations of these illustrations, revealing how visual propaganda exploited popular belief and the coarser aspects of popular culture, while at the same time being a product of them. This, he suggests, explains why the Reformation appealed to the broad masses of sixteenth-century people, even though the propaganda was unable to educate them in the more complex theological aspects of the Reformation message. As well as raising important questions about the Reformation as a religious phenomenon, the book is a contribution to the understanding of early modern popular culture, and the nature of propaganda in a pre-industrial society; it is also a detailed historical study of the sixteenth-century woodcut. In develolping an interdisciplinary analysis combining the methods of iconography, semiology, sociology, and folklore, Dr Scribner presents a fruitful new approach to the study of popular mentalities. Hailed as a pioneering study of great importance on its original publication in 1981, For the Sake of Simple Folk is now available in paperback for the first time, with a new Introduction and additional chapter. 'The reproduction of such a formidable body of "documentation" in the text is a major achievement . . . important and pioneering study', Journal of Ecclesiastical History
Customer Reviews:
Analysis of Visual Propaganda from 16th century Protestants.......2004-04-08
Robert Scribner claims that the populace of the sixteenth century was highly sensitized to signs and the many ways of reading them (Robert W. Scribner, For the Sake of the Simple Folk: Popular Propaganda for the German Reformation (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 250). Therefore, in order to better understand the social and cultural history of the Reformation, Scribner engages in an extensive semiological analysis of the visual propaganda from the Protestant side. His central thesis in this book is that the contemporary historian can gain a more accurate understanding of how the Reformation appealed to the common man by studying its visual propaganda than by studying the written material alone.
Scribner begins his actual analysis of the Protestant visual propaganda by considering Protestant depictions of Martin Luther. In popular pictorial representations, Luther is often portrayed either in the form of monk, doctor of the church, or teacher. Scribner states that three dominant paradigms concerning Luther emerge from these portraits: 1) Luther the saint, 2) Luther the teacher of true doctrine, and 3) Luther the great nationalist and humanist hero (Scribner, p. 32). The end result, Scribner argues, is that Luther becomes a great figure of religion who is set apart from other men, especially with regard to his knowledge of true Christian doctrine, his personal piety, and his devotion to God. The antithesis of this observation is the conclusion that those opposed to him were also opposed to the source of his message, and therefore opposed to God and in league with the Devil. Scribner states that early Protestant polemicists effected this perception by drawing on various social codes of the day such as the general anticlerical sentiment (especially toward monks), the socio-economic grievances some had with established religious orders, biblical imagery (especially the sheep/wolf metaphor), proverbs that were then current, and cultural stereotypes.
Scribner then examines, in some detail, some of the social codes that were drawn upon from popular culture in the Protestant propaganda. For example, he analyzes how various games (such as jousting or the German game of Strebkatz) were used in propaganda, which often pictured Protestants/Christ engaged in some sort of contest against the papacy/Devil. Other codes from culture that were drawn upon involved the use of images of triumphant processions (with the pope and clerics pictured as conquered prisoners), animal representation (with the antagonists pictured as ferocious or ignoble animals), coats of arms, and scatological pictures. Scribner argues that Protestant propaganda particularly exploited the sense of eschatological urgency that was then current - especially by interpreting astrological phenomena, contemporary mystical visions/prophecy, and ominous omens and portents (all of which were to portray the papacy as wicked and aligned against the Gospel and Christ). Two additional beliefs that Scribner examines in considerable detail were 1) the general belief in the Antichrist, and 2) the motif of an inverted world order. Protestant manufacturers of propaganda closely identified the figure of the Antichrist with the papacy, especially through visual portrayals that vividly contrasted the life of Christ with that of the papacy (e.g., Christ fleeing an earthly crown, the pope greedily pursuing it; Christ crowned with thorns, the pope crowned with a golden tiara; Christ humble in the nativity seen, the pope armed and ready to wage war). Additionally, Scribner argues that Protestants took advantage of the general belief of the populace that the world order was seriously inverted. Therefore, pictures of "God's earthly representative" which portrayed him as being ultimately inspired by the Devil were images that resonated with the popular beliefs of the day.
Although Protestants were able to denigrate the papacy through their visual propaganda, Scribner argues that in their positive aim of setting forth evangelical doctrine, they were only able to communicate a very low level of theological content through this media. As a result, the pictorial propaganda served more as visual aids to evangelical teaching rather than as instruments able to singularly indoctrinate the uninitiated (Lucas Cranach's visual contrast between the Law and Gospel was especially useful as an aid in setting forth the Protestant doctrine of justification).
Scribner concludes the book with a brief examination of the anti-Lutheran propaganda, which he concludes was slight by comparison to the Protestant material and of questionable impact. He also summarizes the data from the preceding chapters and the subsequent "rhetoric of image" that emerges from the Protestant propaganda, and he analyzes it's effectiveness. In the final analysis, Scribner claims that the Reformation popular propaganda did not measure up to its own ideals of effectiveness, especially since it failed to create powerful new interpretive frameworks that were substantially different from the old faith (Scribner, p. 249).
This book presents a fascinating window into the popular belief and culture of sixteenth century Protestants. The pictures that are liberally scattered throughout are very intriguing and they provide a detailed glimpse into the various social codes that were drawn on by Protestant propaganda. Having observed the pictures, together with the written propaganda that was presented in this book, this reviewer feels as if he does have a more comprehensive understanding of the cultural and social history of the Protestant Reformation. On the other hand, this books suffers from some weaknesses as well. First, many of the descriptions of the pictures are on different pages than the actual picture themselves, which requires turning back and forth between the picture and description, which eventually becomes tedious and irritating. More substantially though, Scribner claims to evaluate the effectiveness of the propaganda "on its own terms" and he then argues that it ultimately fails due to its alleged failure to construct a new powerful "symbolic universe." This review wonders how employing the later category of "symbolic universe" in assessing the Protestant propaganda of the sixteenth century engages it on its own terms. Although this book presents an interesting collage of pictures representative of the Protestant Propaganda of the Reformation, the author's subjective negative value judgments offered in the conclusion of the book seriously detracts from the overall quality.
Book Description
In this book, James Aageson likens interpretation to a conversation and uses Paul as a model for illustrating this. In Paul's case, interpretation is a conversation between Paul and scripture. Aageson gives four case studies of Paul conversing with scripture: Paul's use of Abraham texts, his understanding of Israel, his use of the figure of Adam, and his seeing Christ as a figure by which all traditions are understood in new ways.
As a Jew, Paul learned the skills of biblical interpretation and placed them in the service of a christological and ecclesiological message. For Paul, scriptural texts had integrity and generated a message for his own time and situation.
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