2 comments about Abbot Suger on the Abbey Church of St. Denis and Its Art Treasures.

1. "This was precisely...what St. Bernard had thundered against...
   No figure painting or sculpture...,gems, pearls, gold and silk were forbidden...
   Suger, however, was frankly in love with splendor and beauty in every
   conceivable form."
   [On the Abbey Church of St. Denis]
   One of the few early accounts on the gothic cathedral building. Introduction itself is worth the money. Mr. Panofsky is explaining political, social and personal influences that together with Suger's psychological traits led to the construction of what is supposed to be the first Gothic catedral - St. Denis. The keyword here is "influences" - do not expect to learn the construction process or anything of that kind. Account itself does not contains many construction details, but deserves your attention indeed. Kind regards, Mario.



2. This is an OPUS MAGNUS of profound erudition! An indispensable must have for any student of Gothic Art & Architecture. From sheathed shafts thrusting upwards penetrating groin vaults to the most scholarly look nto this seminal figure in the Middle Ages, this text has it all! While certainly not a light read, it is a and important and pivotal work in the scholarship of the beginning of the Gothic era. It should be more readily available.

2 comments about Saints: A Visual Almanac of the Virtuous, Pure, Praiseworthy, and Good.

1. As I read this book, it occurred to me that the author is not very interested in his topic. While writing about the limited number of saints in this book, Morgan writes as if he is describing a recipe for oatmeal cookies. The matter-of-fact language comes off rather cold in a book about inspirational people. Despite the short passages about saints, Morgan goes out of his way to show parallels between the saint and pagan holidays as if he is trying to debunk the life of the saint. This disturbed me in the sense that he seems to be writing a Christian book about things he does not believe.
   
   Aside from the artwork, I found little value in this book. Some of the more obscure saints were interesting to read about. But in the scope of Morgan's other passages, I am curious how their stories may be skewed.



2. This is an excellent reference book, providing basic biographies for more than 100 saints. Where else would you be able to look up the feast days of the patron saints of beekeepers? The artwork is also attractive, though I'd prefer more of it.

   Unfortunately, this work does not come near the quality of Morgan's second book, "The Devil." Perhaps it is the subject matter, but the material in "Saints" is much less entertaining. That said, I still recommend this book as a great reference (and maybe a good source for baby names :)

No comments about Dore's Life of Jesus CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic Clip Art).

4 comments about Clown Ministry.

1. This small book has a lot of "PUNCH" for it's size! The transaction was smooth and quick. I will use a lot of the information to teach a class of students about the art and craft, as well as ministry from clowning for our King. I have several books by Floyd Shaffer and I really like this one a lot.



2. I was very pleased with the speed in which I received the above mentioned book and its condition.



3. This book is great if you are thinking of implementing a clown ministry at your church! Not only do they tell you 'how-to' but also 'why'. This book has information on all aspects of a clown ministry and there is a guide in the back for your own clown ministry training weekend. I highly recommend it to ministers and youth groups.



4. Unlike traditional clowning, the focus here is to build up the audience at no one's expense. Floyd and Penne whet the reader's appetite for more. This type of clowning lends itself well to a worship setting, and done with adequate training and rehearsal, it becomes a vital way for youth to give back to the church, while involving many more of the congregation's 5 senses in the act of worship. It is very possible to become a "fool for Christ" and an ambassador for the same through the applications found in this book. I particularly appreciated the many skits that were included, and found them to be scripturally sound. This resource was a wonderful starting point for our church, and I heartily recommend it.

1 comments about The Religious Art of Andy Warhol.

1. In The Religious Art Of Andy Warhol, art historian and curator Jane Dillenberger explores the sources and manifestations of the controversial pop-artist's spiritual side as revealed through his work. Especially his Skill paintings, the Warhol prints based on Renaissance religious artwork, his Cross paintings, and the large Warhol series based on "The Last Supper". Warhol grew up on a Slovakian ghetto of Pittsburgh and experienced the elaborate and colorful rituals of the Byzantine Catholic Church. These influences also included his devout mother with whom he lived some forty of his fifty-eight years. The Religious Art Of Andy Warhol is a "must" for all Warhol fans, as well as students of 20th century American art.

1 comments about Sacred Ground to Sacred Space: Visionary Ecology, Perennial Wisdom, Environmental Ritual and Art.

1. one of those wow,this is amazing books...it has literally hundreds of little black and white scetches in and the informatiom on colour is the best I have ever come across....as an art teacher you can never learn enough..constant learning process.. Rowena Pattee Kryder....is Visionary on Ecology,Perennial Wisdom,Environmental Ritual and Art.......extremely interesting and a must read..

2 comments about The Glenstal Book of Icons: Praying With the Glenstal Icons.

1. The Glenstal Abbey in County Limerick, Ireland, is a wonderful place to behold. They are a Benedictine monastery, operating a school, a ministry of hospitality, and providing an expression of Benedictine spirituality in the modern world. The pattern of their liturgical and prayer life is a modified form of the ancient Benedictine structure; this book takes a particular aspect of this - praying with the icons that are in the Abbey's Byzantine Chapel.
   
   Protestants particularly have lost the tradition of the use of art work as representative objects for worship. However, the debate over the appropriateness of icons and other imagery is almost as old as Christianity itself. There was a time when icons of Christ were banned because Jesus, being of divine nature, wasn't suitable for depiction. That Jesus could be depicted without violation of the 'no graven images' commandment took a long time to be decided, and finally was deemed permissible because of Jesus' human nature. Rare the depiction of God or God the Father as anything more than a cloud, a hand, or some other vague symbol meant to characterise, more than anything else, the mystery involved rather than an actual physical likeness. Michaelangelo's depictions on the Sistine Chapel ceiling are remarkable not simply from their aesthetic quality, but also in that the image of God is very direct and distinctly human in form. Williams devotes many pages of the introduction to looking at precisely the issue of the theology behind the depiction of Jesus.
   
   However, icons are a special form of art. They are not simple paintings, however elegant, but take the form, from their origination to their veneration, as a form of prayer in and of themselves in very real ways. Christian art was a long time in developing (indeed, the earliest Christians were sometimes thought to be atheists since they had no visible evidence of gods around).
   
   This book gives a brief introduction to the role of icons in liturgy and theology, relating it to both ancient and postmodern ideas. Prayer need not be elaborate or done with exacting precision, despite the appearance of many kinds of liturgies to the contrary. 'The work of prayer is very simple,' the text tells us, in making us mindful of the presence of God. The icons help remind the pray-er of this presence; while some prayers are often said with the eyes closed, it can also help for the mind to meditate upon the images as the prayers are said, aloud or internally as silent prayers.
   
   Icons presented here include images of Christ in various times (baptism, crucifixion, ascension, etc.), the Mother of God, various saints (Basil, Nicholas, Athanasius, etc.), and the Trinity - unusual in a way, as both the Eastern and Western Trinity representations do not show the actual person of the Trinity, as iconography (particularly Eastern iconography) doesn't generally permit depiction of Father or the Holy Spirit in a 'personal' form.
   
   Each of the icons is presented with description about what is represented in the actual artwork, what the symbols are often understood as being, and some historical interpretations attached to each. Each is also accompanied with prayers that can be said with and in front of each.
   
   The book itself is in a small format, about as wide as an average hand, which means it fits into the palm perfectly, as if it were made for being carried and used on a regular basis. The printing and paper stocks used are superb - as much as I am generally loathe to describe books in such terms, the basic construction of this book is worthy of note, as it adds 'flesh' to the prayers being given out of this text. It is a joy to read from the sensory perspective as well as the spiritual perspective.
   
   This book is the same size and shape as another volume from Glenstal Abbey, their book of prayer in the Benedictine form. Together these make a wonderful resource for spiritual retreats and self-study.
   
   The Glenstal Abbey taps into an ancient history, but is itself a relatively new establishment, having been founded in 1927 as the first Benedictine monastery in Ireland since the Reformation (King Henry VIII dissolved monasteries as part of his Reformations in the British Isles). This book is a great reflection of part of their community.



2. The Glenstal Book of Icons: Praying With The Glenstal Icons by Gregory Collins OSB (Lecturer in Orthodox Theology, Benedictine University of Sant' Anselmo, Rome), presents diverse prayers and meditations on various icons from St John's Abbey's Byzantine chapel. Full-color photographs of the icons themselves (which in the monastic practice of lectio divina are seen as "texts" prompting meditation on Christian mysteries), as well as an extensive and erudite commentary on the practice of praying with these classic works of art and faith, make The Glenstal Book of Icons the next best thing to personally visiting the abbey to view these venerated icons on location.

1 comments about Donors of Longmen: Faith, Politics, And Patronage in Medieval Chinese Buddhist Sculpture.

1. I purchased this book in preparation to a visit to China and in particular these caves next year. I already had some information about them but the information in this book is complete in all aspects and all details. After the visit I certainly will have to reread it so as to be able to fully enjoy it and understand the importance of this complex monument.
   
   It is a very interesting book, but probably only for those who really have a particular interest in this type of monuments and I fear not for a general visitor to China.

No comments about Jesus and the Emergence of a Catholic Imagination: An Illustrated Journey.

5 comments about The World of Chick?.

1. I grew up in an evangelical Christian home, so I remember reading my fair share of Chick tracts as a kid, but it wasn't until later in life that I discovered just how disturbing these tracts, as well as their rabidly anti-Catholic comic counterparts were. Mostly I remembered that each one had more violence, demons and grim reapers than any of the mainstream comics or rock albums my parents worked so hard to keep from me. Further research of these tracts and their enigmatic creator Jack Chick led me to Robert Fowler's World of Chick.
   
   This exhaustively researched, painstakingly detailed tome gathers a wealth of information on the personal history and published works of Jack Chick, cataloguing individual tracts and comics, as well as any subsequent revisions, and presents a history of the universe, as interpreted from Chick's works. It's insightful, funny, and is an invaluable resource for anyone fascinated by Chick and his unique brand of whackmobile fundamentalism with a super-sized side of paranoia! Or at least it would be if it weren't so godawfully hard on the eyes.
   
   To be blunt, the interior of the book looks like the product of an aging typewriter and photocopier. I realize it was a self-published project, but given the availability of software like Microsoft Word, there's really no excuse for producing something this hard on the eyes. The total lack of graphics and artwork (it includes reproductions of the back covers, but no front covers or interior artwork - at all - was also disappointing. A well placed picture would have broken up some of the tedious text pages, and presenting the cover and a few interior panels of each tract discussed in the book would have been a great asset. Compared to Daniel Raeburn's illustration-rich analysis of all things Chick in his indy comic The Imp, this book comes across as woefully inferior.
   
   This was obviously a labor of love for the author, and I'm in awe of the amount of research that went into this book, but ultimately the poor presentation proved too difficult to look past, so the best I can rate The World of Chick is 3 stars. I loved the content, but reading it ended up feeling way too much like work. Hopefully future revisions will be better presented.



2. I am a fan of JTC's comics and was amazed at the encyclopedic extent to which this book goes into his work. The referencing system is complex and takes getting used to, but it permits a great deal of rich data to be catalogued and accounted for concisely. Indispensible for the JTC fan.



3. This *book* is much better than the internet sites that cover some of the same material. Robert Fowler's "The World of Chick?" is a work of devotion and love for a uniquely American genre that deserves to be catalogued by scholars of Americana.
   
   For those who collect Chick Tracts and ancillary Chick art works this reference is indispensable.



4. It is necessary that all serious collectors of Chick Tracts buy this book. Everything you need to know (and much more) concerning the history and printing of Mr. Chick's tracts is here. Read the editorial review and the other customer reviews for more information on this book.
   
   That said, it is even more necessary (a matter of life and death) for collectors (and anyone else who reads a Chick Tract) to realize and act on the FACT that Mr. Chick's "views" are absolute truths and that there is no salvation possible for anyone who does not accept Jesus Christ as his (or her) personal savior. There is no other name by which you may be saved but that of Jesus Christ through faith (NOT through good works).
   
   It is love alone which compels so-called fundamentalists like Mr. Chick to speak as he does; love for sinners and lost souls. One reviewer refers to Mr. Fowler's dedication and love in preparing this book. I thank God for Mr. Chick's dedication and love in preparing his tracts so that souls may be saved.
   
   Laugh at me, be angry with me, call me a bigot and much worse. Good people,I write this review not for myself but for you.



5. I actually bought this thinking it would be a collection of chick tracts, but it is not such, since that would violate copyrights. However, what it is, is an extensive catalouge of Chick tracts, and publications. The author manages to construct an encyclopedia of the world view according to Chick. Some may see this as unimportant, but in this day and age, with Christian fundamentalism and all religious fundamentalism growing, it can give an interesting look into a segment of our society.