Overview

"This fascinating study of devotional images traces their historical links to important strains of American culture. David Morgan demonstrates how popular visual images-from Warner Sallman's ""Head of Christ"" to velvet renditions of DaVinci's ""Last Supper"" to illustrations on prayer cards-have assumed central roles in contemporary American lives and communities. Morgan's history of popular religious images ranges from the late Middle Ages to the present day and analyzes what he calls ""visual piety,"" or the belief that images convey. Rather than isolating popular icons from their social contexts or regarding them as merely illustrative of theological ideas, Morgan situates both Protestant and Catholic art within the domain of devotional practice, ritual, personal narrative, and the sacred space of the home. In addition, he examines how popular icons have been rooted in social concerns ranging from control of human passions to notions of gender, creedal orthodoxy, and friendship. Also discussed is the coupling of images with texts in the attempt to control meanings and to establish markers for one's community and belief. Drawing from the fields of music, sociology, theology, philosophy, psychology, and aesthetics,Visual Piety is the first book to bring to specialist and lay reader alike an understanding of religious imagery's place in the social formation and maintenance of everyday American life."

Full Product Details

Author:   David Morgan
Publisher:   University of California Press
Imprint:   University of California Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780520219328

ISBN 10:   0520219325
Pages:   283
Publication Date:   25 September 1999
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Table of Contents

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION CONSTRUCTIVISM AND THE HISTORY OF VISUAL CULTURE Material Things and the Social Construction of Reality The Aesthetics of Everyday Life Images and Their Worlds CHAPTER ONE THE PRACTICE OF VISUAL PIETY High and Low The Aesthetic of Disinterestedness Toward an Aesthetic of Popular Religious Art The Psychology of Recognition Interactivity in the Reception of Popular Religious Images CHAPTER TWO EMPATHY AND SYMPATHY IN THE HISTORY OF VISUAL PIETY Catholic Visual Piety from the Late Middle Ages to the Modern Period Jonathan Edwards and the Aesthetic of Piety Sympathy and Benevolence in Nineteenth-Century American Protestantism Home-Sympathy and Christian Nurture CHAPTER THREE THE MASCULINITY OF CHRIST The Image of Male Friendship: Jonathan and David The Christology of Friendship and Twentieth-Century Visual Piety CHAPTER FOUR READING THE FACE OF JESUS The Head of Christ in Catholic and Lutheran Response The Discourse of Hidden Images Avant-Garde and Popular CHAPTER FIVE DOMESTIC DEVOTION AND RITUAL The Christian Home: A Domestic Description of the Sacred Domestic Ritual and Images CHAPTER SIX MEMORY AND THE SACRED Space and Time Memory and the Sacred Modes of Remembrance: Narrative and Anecdotal Memory CONCLUSION RELIGIOUS IMAGES AND THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF EVERYDAY LIFE APPENDIX LETTERS AND DEMOGRAPHICS NOTES SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

Reviews

Fascinating investigation into the history and meaning of popular religious images from the late Middle Ages to the present day. Explores the practices, attitudes, and ideas that are articulated through religious iconography. -- The Art Book Review

Author Information

David Morgan is Associate Professor of Art History at Valparaiso University and the editor of Icons of American Protestantism: The Art of Warner Sallman (1996).

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