"Wie kam es zu dem ikonischen Überschuss des christlichen Heiligenbildes? Janine Luge-Winter geht dieser Frage nach, indem sie die verschiedenen Argumente byzantinischen Bildapologien des 8. und 9. Jahrhunderts und der modernen Ikonentheorien des 20. Jahrhunderts erstmals in ihrer Studie versammelt
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, miteinander vergleicht und kontextualisiert. Sie zeigt, dass das Mehr der Ikone deren besonderer Sichtbarkeit ist, die eine Überwindung der Undarstellbarkeit des Undarstellbaren evoziert, indem sie das Undarstellbare konkret als solches akzeptiert. Verständlich wird dies nur, wenn die Ikone als »etwas anderes« als ein repräsentationales oder mimetisches Bild anerkannt wird." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"The objective of the thesis is to define the communicative meaning of the Christian cross by dealing with three research issues. The first problem regards the historical aspects. In interdisciplinary ways the thesis will explore the different forms, locations and functions of Christian cross pictur
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es throughout art history. In contexts of church history, the reasons for the very existence of pictures of the cross will be explored. The second problem focuses on the functions of the cross in the Church’s devotional and catechetical practice, as well on its issue in theological discourses and in the Church’s magisterium. In Christian art history, many stories of debates and disputes can be found; for example, when the iconoclastic controversy arose, the intervention of the second Council of Nicea for the protection of Icons and their veneration enriched and encouraged the development of the sacred art culture in Christianity. Thus, the symbolism and imageries of cross and crucifix has a long and rich history of development and popularity, despite the obstacles. Finally, the thesis investigates the various communication areas of today dealing with the meaning of the Christian cross. The research results of this third chapter will show the degree of relevance which the cross has in today’s pastoral, academic and online communication." (Pages 3-4)
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"Less than a year after the end of authoritarian rule in 1998, huge images of Jesus Christ and other Christian scenes proliferated on walls and billboards around a provincial town [Ambon] in eastern Indonesia where conflict had arisen between Muslims and Christians. A manifestation of the extreme pe
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rception that emerged amid uncertainty and the challenge to seeing brought on by urban warfare, the street paintings erected by Protestant motorbike-taxi drivers signaled a radical departure from the aniconic tradition of the old colonial church, a desire to be seen and recognized by political authorities from Jakarta to the UN and European Union, an aim to reinstate the Christian look of a city in the face of the country's widespread islamicization, and an opening to a more intimate relationship to the divine through the bringing-into-vision of the Christian god. Stridently assertive, these affectively charged mediations of religion, masculinity, Christian privilege and subjectivity are among the myriad ephemera of war, from rumors, graffiti, incendiary pamphlets, and Video CDs, to Peace Provocateur text-messages and children's reconciliation drawings. Orphaned Landscapes theorizes the production of monumental street art and other visual media as part of a wider work on appearance in which ordinary people, wittingly or unwittingly, refigure the aesthetic forms and sensory environment of their urban surroundings." (Publisher description)
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