No comments about Chips & Salsa: Children (Youth) in Plays : Short and Lively Sacred Action.

1 comments about Jewish Icons: Art and Society in Modern Europe.

1. This book occupies a much-ignored aspect of early modern Jewish culture: images. The complex relationship between the images presented by art and historical reality is addressed in this complex, subtle, and beautifully-written book.

1 comments about Relicarios: Devotional Miniatures from the Americas.

1. Author Martha Egan has a shop called Pachamama in Santa Fe, New Mexico. There she sells antique and traditional folk art from Latin America. Her studies of Latin American folk art have led her to write this book. She has also written a book about milagros and a novel about art brokering and smuggling. She is currently working on a book about Latin American jewelry.

   On 13 Feb 2000, I attended her lecture at the San Antonio Museum of Art where Martha has her private collection of relicarios on loan for exhibit. I encourage you to see this exhibit while it is at SAMOA.

   Relicarios are devotional miniature pendants or lockets. They sometimes contain bits of bone, tooth, or cloth, reputedly from a saint. Many have survived from the conquest because they were treasured by families or the church. They are often elaborate and finely crafted. Materials used to make relicarios include wood, metal, bone, ivory, and shell.

   Relicarios were worn suspended around the neck from a chain or cord. Some are displayed on walls or hung onto church sculptures of saints to honor an answered prayer. Relicarios are still used today as a talisman to "inspire, comfort, and protect the bearer from harm."

   A miniature painting or sculpture of a saint is sometimes protected by glass on a relicario. Some relicarios are two-sided works of art. For this reason, SAMOA displays some relicarios so thay can be viewed from both sides.

   In her book, Martha describes the ancient origins of relicarios from Greek and Roman times in which "the physical remains of gods or heroes were thought to have magical properties, and possession of such treasures conferred religious and political status upon the owner." Encolpium contained a bit of cloth dipped in the oil from lamps burned in front of saints' sarcophagi. The cloth could also have been dipped in a martyr's blood, or could have come from clothing worn by a saint.

   As with anything of value, authenticity of relics is questionable. Martha cites "no fewer than a dozen heads and sixty fingers of Saint John the Baptist (this is spite of the alleged burning of his corpse by Emperor Julian in the fourth century); seven foreskins from the infant Jesus; fifteen arms of Saint James; thirty bodies of Saint George; and six breasts of Saint Agatha." When Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia was buried, her body was quickly torn apart by devotees. John Calvin asked for an end to all this relic madness in 1543.

   Martha's book is an interesting read.

No comments about St. John the Divine: The Deified Evangelist in Medieval Art and Theology.

No comments about Diaspora of the Gods: Modern Hindu Temples in an Urban Middle-Class World.

No comments about Fractured Families And Rebel Maidservants: The Biblical Hagar in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art And Literature.

No comments about Colonial Churches: A Series of Sketches of Churches in the Original Colony of Virginia.

No comments about Lives of Indian Images.

1 comments about Voicing Creations Praise: Towards a Theology of the Arts.

1. For those interested in serious theological reflection on art, this volume is a must-read. Begbie's unique background as a classically-trained musician and Cambridge theologian gives him wonderful insight and Spirit-led authority in dealing with this critical cultural topic. Moreover, Begbie breaks free of the Modernist stranglehold on aesthetic philosophy, and presents a refreshing and deeply Christocentric analysis of the relationship between the character and action of God and human creativity. In this sense, the work is deeply "postmodern", but without any of the un-Biblical, theologically liberal baggage which usually accompanies such a label. Begbie also avoids the all-too-common mistake of basing his ideas strictly upon Old Testament references, but rather posits for us a theology of the arts which revolves around the living, loving Christ as Lord of all Creation. Though this book is not an appropriate topical introduction for the completely uninitiated layperson, it will appeal to any Christian or artist who has a grasp of the basic philosophies and histories of art, or a passing familiarity with Scriptural references to art and music. In short, this is a serious work by a towering intellectual, but it is well worth reading and reflection, despite the effort required.

No comments about The Allegory of the Church: Romanesque Portals and Their Verse Inscriptions.