Arte cristiana nel tempo

Storia e significato

II. Dal rinoascimento all'etá contemporanea

Juan Plazaola, author

San Paolo Editrice

Due millenni di storia cristiana hanno dimostrato a sufficienza che tra arte e cristianesimo non esiste contraddizione. L’arte ha trovato in esso un clima adatto, fonti di ispirazione e impulsi vigorosi. La Chiesa cristiana non ha mai allontanato gli artisti, ma li ha cercati, onorati e mobilitati per i suoi scopi. Se tra l’esperienza estetica e l’esperienza religiosa esiste una specie di parentela naturale, questa è particolarmente avvertita quando si tratta dell’esperienza cristiana. Contemplare e sentirsi trasportati da ciò che si è contemplato sono due momenti che, con le dovute differenze specifiche, caratterizzano sia l’esperienza estetica sia quella della fede cristiana. L’arte, inoltre, risponde a quel dominate la terra che l’autore della Genesi biblica mette in bocca al Creatore; in questo mandato è implicito l’imperativo della creatività, che il cristianesimo indurrà nei seguaci di Gesù di Nazaret. Mio padre opera, diceva Gesù parlando di Dio e invitando i suoi seguaci a continuare l’opera creatrice.

Il genocidio dei cristiani

1894-1924

la guerra dei turchi per creare uno stato islamico puro

Benny Morris - Dror Ze'evi, author

La grande Storia Rizzoli

Tra il 1894 e il 1923 l'Impero Ottomano si accanì in modo sistematico contro la fiorente comunità armena, attraverso pogrom e deportazioni che culminarono nella marcia del 1915. Una ferita ancora aperta, un massacro che la Turchia rifiuta di riconoscere come genocidio programmato e che pesa sulle relazioni internazionali di Ankara. Attraverso ricerche scrupolose negli archivi dei Paesi che avevano rappresentanza nell'Impero ottomano (Germania, Francia, Regno Unito e Stati Uniti), e la lettura del materiale finalmente desecretato, Benny Morris ricostruisce la dinamica della strage e tenta di spiegarne le motivazioni. Emerge un grande affresco storico e politico, che mescola documenti, analisi e testimonianze di prima mano per raccontare, in modo ora imparziale, una delle pagine più nere della storia del Novecento.

Forrás: https://www.lafeltrinelli.it/libri/benny-morris/genocidio-cristiani-18941924-guerra-turchi/9788817109314

Gregory Palamas and the Making of Palamism in the Modern Age

Changing paradigms in hisorical and systemic theology

Norman Russell, author

Oxford University Press

The fourteenth-century Greek hesychast and controversialist, Gregory Palamas, has been so successfully cast as 'the other' in Western theological discourse that it can be difficult to gain a sympathetic hearing for him. In the first part of this book, Norman Russell traces the historical reception of Palamite thought in Orthodoxy and in the West, and investigates how 'Palamism' was constructed in the early twentieth century by both Western and Eastern theologians (principally Martin Jugie and John Meyendorff) for polemical or apologetic purposes. Russell argues that we need to go behind these ideological constructions in order to gain a true perception of the teaching of Gregory Palamas. In his recent survey of Palamite scholarship, Robert Sinkewicz noted that it is now time to raise the larger questions. The second part of the book attempts to do this, following the contours of Palamas' thinking in three areas: his relationship to tradition, his philosophy, and his theology. Russell shows that Palamite thought, when freed of misunderstanding and misrepresentation, has the potential to enrich our understanding of divine-human communion. This study contributes to the changing paradigm of scholarship on Palamas, nudging it towards the point at which Palamite thought can be used fruitfully by contemporary Western and Eastern theologians without the need to subscribe to what has been regarded as 'Palamism'.

Forrás: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/gregory-palamas-and-the-making-of-palamism-in-the-modern-age-9780199644643?cc=hu&lang=en&#

The Virgin in Song

Mary and the Poetry of Romanos the Melodist

Thomas Arentzen, author

University of Pennsylavnia Press

In The Virgin in Song, Thomas Arentzen explores the characterization of Mary in these kontakia and the ways in which the kontakia echoed the cult of the Virgin. He focuses on three key moments in her story as marked in the liturgical calendar: her encounter with Gabriel at the Annunciation, her child's birth at Christmas, and the death of her son on Good Friday. Consistently, Arentzen contends, Romanos counters expectations by shifting emphasis away from Christ himself to focus on Mary—as the subject of the erotic gaze, as a breastfeeding figure of abundance and fertility, and finally as an authoritatively vocal woman who conveys the secrets of her son and the joys of the resurrection.

Forrás: http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15665.html

The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Archaeology

David Pettegrew - William R. Caraher - Thomas W. Davis, editors

Oxford University Press

The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Archaeology brings together expert work by leading scholars of the archaeology of Early Christianity and the Roman world in the Mediterranean and surrounding regions. The thirty-four contributions to this volume survey Christian material culture and ground the history, culture, and society of the first seven centuries of Christianity in archaeological method, theory, and research. The essays emphasize the link between archaeological fieldwork, methods, and regional and national traditions in constructing our knowledge of the Early Church and Christian communities within the context of the ancient Mediterranean, Near East, and Europe.

Three sweeping introductory essays provide historical perspectives on the archaeology of the Early Christian world. These are followed by a series of topical treatments that focus on monuments and environments ranging from Christian churches to catacombs, martyria, and baths, as well as classes of objects of religious significance such as ceramics, lamps, and icons. Finally, the volume locates the archaeology of the Early Christian world in fifteen regional studies stretching from Britain to Persia, highlighting the unique historical contexts that have shaped scholarly discussion across time and space. The thorough, carefully-researched essays offer the most intensive, state-of-the-art treatment of recent research into the archaeology of Early Christianity available.

Early Christian Ritual Life

Richard E. DeMaris - Jason T. Lamoreaux - Steven C. Muir, editors

Routledge

Scholars across many fields have come to realize that ritual is an integral element of human life and a vital aspect of all human societies. Yet, this realization has been slow to develop among scholars of early Christianity. Early Christian Ritual Life attempts to counteract the undervaluing of ritual by placing it at the forefront of early Christian life. Rather than treating ritual in isolation or in a fragmentary way, this book examines early Christian ritual life as a whole. The authors explore an array of Christian ritual activity, employing theory critically and explicitly to make sense of various ritual behaviors and their interconnections.

Forrás: https://www.routledge.com/Early-Christian-Ritual-Life-1st-Edition/DeMaris-Lamoreaux-Muir/p/book/9781138653061