Full Description
The book investigates the aesthetic theology embedded in the Franciscan artistic tradition. The novelty of the approach is in applying concepts gleaned from Franciscan textual sources to create a deeper understanding of how art in all its sensual forms was foundational to the Franciscan milieu. Chapters range from studies of statements about aesthetics and the arts in theological textual sources to examples of visual, auditory, and tactile arts communicating theological ideas found in texts. The essays cover not only European art and textual sources, but also Franciscan influences in the Americas found in both texts and artifacts.
Contents
Preface: Xavier Seubert and Oleg Bychkov; (1) "Images of Gospel Life: The Letter Visualized": John V. Fleming, Princeton University; (2) "Bonaventure and the Maestro di San Francesco": John Renner, Courtauld Institute of Art, London; (3) "Sensory Engagement and Contemplative Transformation in Cimabue's Assisi Transepts": Holly Flora, Tulane University; (4) "Likeness and Compassion in Franciscan Art: A Late Medieval Theory of Compassion and Naturalism in Frescoes in the Lower Church of San Francesco at Assisi attributed to Giotto's Workshop": Theresa Flanigan, The College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY; (5) "The Senses and the Soul's Re-formation in the Supplicationes variae": Amy Neff, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; (6) "The Lignum Vitae in New Spain": Cristina Cruz González, Oklahoma State University; (7) "The Perscrutator in the Hidden Depths of Franciscan Architectural Space": Erik Gustafson, George Mason University; (8) "Experiencing God through Music in Franciscan Imagery (With New Observations on Botticelli's St. Francis Flanked by Music-making Angels and an Initial G by the Master of the Budapest Antiphonary)": Roberto Cobianchi, Università degli Studi di Messina; (9) "Activating the Senses, Preparing the Soul: Illuminated Antiphonaries for Franciscan Use in Late Medieval Italy": Trinita Kennedy, Frist Center for the Visual Arts; (10) "Touch, Sight, and the Patched Franciscan Habit": Cordelia Warr, University of Manchester; (11) "The Habit Francis Wore on Mount La Verna. Francis of Assisi—'Living Shroud'": Carla Salvati, John Abbott College, Montreal; (12) "Franciscan Art and Somaesthetic Devotion in the Italian Renaissance Holy Lands: Simming and the Production of Empathy at Varallo and San Vivaldo": Allie Terry-Fritsch, Bowling Green State University; (13) "Art and the Sensory Experience of God in the Franciscan Missions of Upper California": Pamela Jill Huckins, Southern New Hampshire University
; (14) "Following in the Footsteps of Christ: Uses of the Via Crucis in Colonial Quito": Carmen Fernández-Salvador, Universidad San Francisco de Quito; (15) "Engaging the Senses: the Pilgrimage Shrine of Santuario de Chimayó in Northern New Mexico": William Wroth, Independent Scholar, Santa Fe, New Mexico; (16) "The status of sensory and aesthetic experience in fourteenth-century Franciscan theology, from Peter Aureol to Adam Wodeham": Oleg Bychkov, St. Bonaventure University; (17) "The Iconization of St. Francis of Assisi": Xavier Seubert, OFM, Christ the King Seminary
