No comments about Meditation Art 2008 Calendar: Contemporary Spiritual Art from India.

No comments about Lectionary Scenes.

5 comments about The Essential Titus Burckhardt: Reflections on Sacred Art, Faiths, and Civilizations (The Perennial Philosophy).

1. Titus Burckhardt, whether fixing his attention on the proper philosophy, or the proper architecture, or the proper occultism, brings a liberal yet formiddable intelligence to whichever of these works he sets his hand to.
   Burckhardt, when laying out a sacred temple, would have it oriented north-south with one door leading in and one door leading out, ensuring it's earthly and squarely relationship to it's heavenly and circular origin. The language and ideas both sound archaic due to a radical loss of traditional forms and even degenerate customs to the point that what is old now sounds new. Burckhardt, I'm sure, would delight in such a circular manifestation of tradition. In a society where number has lost it's gender, where sacred art has lost it's object, and philosophy it's inner meaning, Burckhardt's plaintive sentences recall all of this and brings the perennial philosophy to bear in many of it's traditional manifestations. This philosophy, this perennialism is shown by virtue of man's loss of meaning when he attempts to abandon it, quite simply will not go away. Or will it?



2. Titus Burckhardt's brilliant works brings the reader virtually into the domain in which he is writing about. An anthology of the world's great religions and cultures. I read his book Fez City of Islam and was also very impressed. But this is vintage Burckhardt. This is top notch. Burckhardt's works contain a treasure chest full of info. on Morocco & the Moors. He was a Sufi so that explains his writting style, I might also purchase his book "Introduction to the Sufi Doctrine"



3. _Titus Burckhardt was one of the great expositors of the perennial philosophy, along with the Traditionalists Rene Guenon, Ananda Coomaraswamy, and Frithjof Schuon. It is obvious to me that he truly experienced what he wrote upon. To him Intellection was not an abstract metaphysical principle. This is the miracle of true contemplative thought in the modern age.
   
   _His emphasis tended more to the nature of what constitutes sacred art. That is why this volume is so well illustrated with both color plates, as well as, black and white images. His central message is that Tradition possesses a secret power that is communicated to an entire civilization; even in those arts and crafts whose objects include nothing particularly sacred. In a theocratic society, the humblest activity participates in heavenly benediction. In contrast, "sacred art" in the West since the Renaissance is essentially profane art with only a superficial religious theme.
   
   _There are some thick, but important, volumes that you find yourself despairing that you will ever get to the end of. However, this thick volume of the essential Burckhardt (like its sister volume on the essential Schuon) is such a joy to read that you never want it to come to an end. Unlike drier works, every page restores your soul instead of draining it.



4. Wisdom and tradition were the most important aspects of the writings of the distinguished Swiss art historian Titus Burckhardt.
   
   THIS BOOK PUTS AT THE DISPOSAL OF A WIDER PUBLIC SOME OF THE BEST OF BURCKHARDT'S ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF ART AND RELIGION.
   
   This wide ranging book offers to the reader much relevant work. It will delight both the student and the general reader.



5. "Burckhardt's thought (as expressed in The Essential Titus Burckhardt) is clear and soberingly articulated, his argumentation intuitive and profound"

No comments about Sacred Shock: Framing Visual Experience in Byzantium.

1 comments about The Beauty of the Cross: The Passion of Christ in Theology and the Arts from the Catacombs to the Eve of the Renaissance.

1. This work is a wonderful scholarly work that is rich in theology. Most Theological Aesthetic works lean heavily on art history with very little theological content. But this book is heavy on theology and balanced with art history. It shows how theology of various periods in the church affected the creation of the crucifix. The Passion of Jesus Christ is central to the faith of Christianity. What Viladesau does is dig into how theology is reflected in the making of the crucifix during early periods of Christianity.
   
   This book is a wonderful journey through the earliest years of Christianity and the theology that affects our understanding of the crucifixion today.
   
   I would highly recommend this book to artists, art historians, theologians, and pastors. The wealth of material in this work makes it one that will cause me to refer back to it on my bookshelf time and time again.

No comments about Faith and Transformation: Votive Offerings and Amulets from the Alexander Girard Collection.

1 comments about Art and Ritual in Golden-Age Spain.

1. The cover image (La Virgen de la Soledad) and the Macarena Madonna inside alone are worth the price of the book, but it's a fascinating account of a vibrant "performance art" (street processions). See also The Madonnas of Europe and, for another kind of devotional outreach, Gardens of Revelation.

1 comments about Disciples of the Buddha: Living Images of Meditation.

1. Mr Newmans many years of experience in Buddhism provide him with thoughtful and graceful insight from which to provide wonderful selections from the writings of Dudjom Rinpoche and Chogyam Trungpa, as well as his own commentary, to accompany these sublime images.

1 comments about Relicarios: Devotional Miniatures from the Americas.

1. Author Martha Egan has a shop called Pachamama in Santa Fe, New Mexico. There she sells antique and traditional folk art from Latin America. Her studies of Latin American folk art have led her to write this book. She has also written a book about milagros and a novel about art brokering and smuggling. She is currently working on a book about Latin American jewelry.

   On 13 Feb 2000, I attended her lecture at the San Antonio Museum of Art where Martha has her private collection of relicarios on loan for exhibit. I encourage you to see this exhibit while it is at SAMOA.

   Relicarios are devotional miniature pendants or lockets. They sometimes contain bits of bone, tooth, or cloth, reputedly from a saint. Many have survived from the conquest because they were treasured by families or the church. They are often elaborate and finely crafted. Materials used to make relicarios include wood, metal, bone, ivory, and shell.

   Relicarios were worn suspended around the neck from a chain or cord. Some are displayed on walls or hung onto church sculptures of saints to honor an answered prayer. Relicarios are still used today as a talisman to "inspire, comfort, and protect the bearer from harm."

   A miniature painting or sculpture of a saint is sometimes protected by glass on a relicario. Some relicarios are two-sided works of art. For this reason, SAMOA displays some relicarios so thay can be viewed from both sides.

   In her book, Martha describes the ancient origins of relicarios from Greek and Roman times in which "the physical remains of gods or heroes were thought to have magical properties, and possession of such treasures conferred religious and political status upon the owner." Encolpium contained a bit of cloth dipped in the oil from lamps burned in front of saints' sarcophagi. The cloth could also have been dipped in a martyr's blood, or could have come from clothing worn by a saint.

   As with anything of value, authenticity of relics is questionable. Martha cites "no fewer than a dozen heads and sixty fingers of Saint John the Baptist (this is spite of the alleged burning of his corpse by Emperor Julian in the fourth century); seven foreskins from the infant Jesus; fifteen arms of Saint James; thirty bodies of Saint George; and six breasts of Saint Agatha." When Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia was buried, her body was quickly torn apart by devotees. John Calvin asked for an end to all this relic madness in 1543.

   Martha's book is an interesting read.

2 comments about An Uncommon Mission: Father Jerome Tupa Paints The California Missions.

1. This is a beautiful book and very interesting view of the Missions...

   It is wonderful if you are interested in California Missions.




2. Father Tupa's paintings provide a unique view of the missions and chart the physical and spiritual pilgrimage to the California missions. His works are presented here with over twenty oil paintings and over 40 watercolors interpreting California's past and the history of each mission. An Uncommon Mission accompanies a traveling exhibition of the same name.