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9780195082524

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This book is the fruit of many years of work by a scholar who is equally at home in the history and literature of the Early Church and in the art and archeology of the surviving monuments. Finney asks basic and searching questions concerning the process whereby Christian art came into being and explores them in depth. --Ernst Kitzinger Strong erudition and detailed illustration of his thesis bolster Finney's impressive work. --The Bible Today Finney's work rightly shatters some paradigms and offers significant new insights into the nature and function of early Christian art. Because Finney is so well versed in both early Christian literature and art history he is the right person to do both. This is a ground-breaking work whose thesis should supplant all earlier scholarship on the matter of Christian attitudes toward the visual arts. As a dedicated student of Christian iconography, I feel as if someone has cleared a lot of old dead wood off the land, and made it ready to receive the seeds of new, fresh speculations. --Christian Spirituality Bulletin Impressive and meticulous....The work is a model of clarity and precision and deserves to be read and argued about by everyone interested in the Late Antique and rhetoric. --Archaeological News The Invisible God is an important book, a fresh and long-needed reexamination of a range of issues in early Christian art and a challenge...to a number of prevailing assumptions in the field. It deserves the attention of classicists, students of art, historians of late antiquity, and patristic scholars. It should be a staple of any college or university library. --New England Classical Newsletter and Journal One of the most important studies of pre-Constantinian Christian art published in the last decade. - Religion and the Arts This book is the fruit of many years of work by a scholar who is equally at home in the history and literature of the Early Church and in the art and archeology of the surviving monuments. Finney asks basic and searching questions concerning the process whereby Christian art came into being and explores them in depth. --Ernst Kitzinger Strong erudition and detailed illustration of his thesis bolster Finney's impressive work. --The Bible Today Finney's work rightly shatters some paradigms and offers significant new insights into the nature and function of early Christian art. Because Finney is so well versed in both early Christian literature and art history he is the right person to do both. This is a ground-breaking work whose thesis should supplant all earlier scholarship on the matter of Christian attitudes toward the visual arts. As a dedicated student of Christian iconography, I feel as if someone has cleared a lot of old dead wood off the land, and made it ready to receive the seeds of new, fresh speculations. --Christian Spirituality Bulletin Impressive and meticulous....The work is a model of clarity and precision and deserves to be read and argued about by everyone interested in the Late Antique and rhetoric. --Archaeological News The Invisible God is an important book, a fresh and long-needed reexamination of a range of issues in early Christian art and a challenge...to a number of prevailing assumptions in the field. It deserves the attention of classicists, students of art, historians of late antiquity, and patristic scholars. It should be a staple of any college or university library. --New England Classical Newsletter and Journal A provocative -- dare one say iconoclastic? -- argument....There are many pieces to Finney's argument, making it a book that will both encourage and instruct those who believe there is an inherent compatibility, indeed reciprocal necessity, between Christian faith and the visual arts. --First Things This is a major book about a major topic....Clearly written, at times elegant and provocative....Finney's book was a pleasure to read and will be promptly recommended to my students. --The Journal of Religion This is a detailed and welcome study. --American Historical Review ...[an] immensely learned book....given his thoroughness and his abundant bibliographies, this is a treasure trove for further explorations....I would also like to pay tribute to the fine prose style of the author. He is a pleasure to read... --Commonweal This book is both learned and ground-breaking....Finney's work is an important contribution to the study of early Christian art history. --Bible Review

This book is the fruit of many years of work by a scholar who is equally at home in the history and literature of the Early Church and in the art and archeology of the surviving monuments. Finney asks basic and searching questions concerning the process whereby Christian art came into being and explores them in depth. --Ernst Kitzinger<br> Strong erudition and detailed illustration of his thesis bolster Finney's impressive work. --The Bible Today<br> Finney's work rightly shatters some paradigms and offers significant new insights into the nature and function of early Christian art. Because Finney is so well versed in both early Christian literature and art history he is the right person to do both. This is a ground-breaking work whose thesis should supplant all earlier scholarship on the matter of Christian attitudes toward the visual arts. As a dedicated student of Christian iconography, I feel as if someone has cleared a lot of old dead wood off the land, and made it ready to receive the seeds of new, fresh speculations. --Christian Spirituality Bulletin<br> Impressive and meticulous....The work is a model of clarity and precision and deserves to be read and argued about by everyone interested in the Late Antique and rhetoric. --Archaeological News<br> The Invisible God is an important book, a fresh and long-needed reexamination of a range of issues in early Christian art and a challenge...to a number of prevailing assumptions in the field. It deserves the attention of classicists, students of art, historians of late antiquity, and patristic scholars. It should be a staple of any college or university library. --New England Classical Newsletter and Journal<br>

Well-documented scholarly monograph. Religious Studies Review a monograph which is scholarly to an extreme, not only mastering all the primary texts but also surveying with exemplary elegance the conclusions and discussions of more than a hundred years of scholarship in German, French, English and Italian. Indeed, Finney is at his best when unpicking the unwarranted assumptions made by the historiography of the field. John Elsner, University of London, Ecclesiastical History, Volume 46, No. 4 - Oct 1995 Some of the author's best discussions are those to be found within the general framework. He is an authority on early Christian lamps ... Likewise on the vexed question of the San Sebastiano site and its development there is a clear and helpful discussion. The learning displayed throughout is immense, and the organization of such a vast amount of material is achieved without sacrificing the clarity of structure which makes the book easy to read. It integrates the results of recent work in an impressive manner, mostly in the form of notes ... an interesting and informative book. Mary Charles Murray, Journal of Theological Studies, Vol. 48, No. 1 Apr '97

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