
A Magnificent Faith explains how and why Lutheranism - a confession that derived its significance from the promulgation of God's Word - became a visually magnificent faith, a faith whose adherents sought to captivate Christians' hearts and minds through seeing as well as through hearing. Although Protestantism is no longer understood as an exclusively word-based religion, the paradigm of evangelical ambivalence towards images retains its power. This is the first study to offer an account of the Reformation origins and subsequent flourishing of the Lutheran baroque, of the rich visual culture that developed in parts of the Holy Roman Empire during the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The volume opens with a discussion of the legacy of the Wittenberg Reformation. Three sections then focus on the confessional, devotional, and magnificent image, exploring turning points in Lutherans' attitudes towards religious art. Drawing on a wide variety of archival, printed, and visual sources from two of the Empire's most important Protestant territories - Saxony, the heartland of the Reformation, and Brandenburg - A Magnificent Faith shows the extent to which Lutheran culture was shaped by territorial divisions. It traces the development of a theologically-grounded aesthetic, and argues that images became prominent vehicles for the articulation of Lutheran identity not only amongst theologians but also amongst laymen and women. By examining the role of images in the Lutheran tradition as it developed over the course of two centuries, A Magnificent Faith offers a new understanding of the relationship between Protestantism and the visual arts.
This work investigates how Lutheranism, a tradition historically associated with the primacy of the Word, evolved into a visually rich culture that utilized art to shape religious identity. Bridget Heal, a historian specializing in early modern Germany, utilizes a combination of archival documents, printed materials, and visual evidence to challenge the long-standing paradigm of Protestant iconoclasm. She argues that the Lutheran baroque was not a contradiction of Reformation principles, but a deliberate, theologically-grounded aesthetic development that served to articulate confessional identity among both clergy and laity.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Experts identify this work as a significant contribution to the field of Reformation studies, noting its success in dismantling the binary opposition between Protestantism and visual art. Readers frequently highlight the depth of the archival research and the clarity with which the author connects theological shifts to material culture.
Page Count:
323
Publication Date:
2017-01-01
Publisher:
OUP Oxford
ISBN-10:
019252240X
ISBN-13:
9780192522405
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