Biblical Reception, 5: Biblical Women and the Arts(Biblical Reception)

About the Book

In this guest-edited issue of Biblical Reception, edited by Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, contributors examine the reception of the bible in art. Most of the contributions focus on biblical women, or on encounters with women in the bible.

The volume is roughly chronological in structure, beginning with two pieces on Eve, one of which compares representations of Eve with those of the Virgin Mary, the other which considers how Eve is presented in Islamic texts and images. Following a contribution on Esther and Sarah the volume moves on to consider New Testament texts, with notable focus on women at the peripheries of society (the woman with the hemorrhage in Mark’s gospel and the woman of Samaria). Attention is also paid to representations of Mary Magdalene and of Judith and Salome. The volume concludes with a piece on apocalyptic imagery and the woman clothed with the sun of Revelation 12. Featuring over 50 high quality color images, this volume provides scholarship of the highest level on biblical art.

Table of Contents:

Table of Contents
Abstracts

List of Contributors

List of Illustrations

Introduction Diane Apostolos-Cappadona

Chapter 1: “Naked or Nurtured: The Breast of Eve, the Breast of Mary”
Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, Georgetown University

Chapter 2: “Images of the First Woman: Eve in Islamic Fal-nama paintings”
Zohar Hadromi-Allouche, University of Aberdeen

Chapter 3: “Beauty and Its Beholders: Envisioning Esther and Sarah”
Ori Z. Soltes, Georgetown University

Chapter 4: “Re-visioning Women in Mark’s Gospel”
Christine Joynes, Trinity College, Oxford

Chapter 5: “How Salomé Fell for the Baptist, or John the Baptist as L’Homme Fatale:
Artistic Interpretations of a Biblical Narrative”
Ela Nutu, Sheffield University

Chapter 6: “Framing a Heroine: Judith’s Counterparts in Biblical Villains”
Andrea Sheaffer, Graduate Theological Union

Chapter 7: “Biblical Elegy and Quattrocento Marian Encomium: Marcantonio
Sabellico’s Carmina de Beata Virgine Maria”
John Nassichuk, University of Western Ontario

Chapter 8: “Theatrical Reliquaries: Afterlives of Saint Mary Magdalene in Early 17th
Century Florence”
Kelley Harness, University of Minnesota

Chapter 9: “Guercino’s Christ and the Woman of Samaria in the Kimbell Art Museum:
The Evolution of Biblical Narrative and Visual Meaning”
Heidi Hornik, Baylor University

Chapter 10: “Picturing the Woman Clothed with the Sun (Rev 12): Images of
Apocalyptic Conflict, Piety and Strength”
Natasha O’Hear, Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts,
St. Andrews University

About the Author :

Guest editor:

Diane Apostolos-Cappadona is Professor Emerita of Religious Art and Cultural History at Georgetown University, USA.

Biblical Reception Editors:

David J.A. Clines is Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK.

J. Cheryl Exum is Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK.

Review :
The ten contributors to this beautifully illustrated volume examine the reception of biblical women ranging from Eve to the woman clothed with the sun. In this stellar example of visual exegesis, the points of view vary from that of the artist to that of the viewer, as well as from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim perspectives… Overall, the ten articles illuminate differing angles of visual exegesis, yet cohere well. [Biblical Reception, 5] is well illustrated and entirely in color. For biblical scholars, especially feminist readers, it provides a new vantage point; for specialists in art, literature, or music, it invites further dialogue with the Bible and those who study it. This, the latest in an excellent series, is not only handsomely produced, with over 80 illustrations (the majority in colour), and prefaced by unusually generous abstracts of its ten constituent essays; it is also guest-edited by Diane Apostolos-Cappadona ... Fascinating in itself, and, like most papers in this volume, certain to sharpen our apprehension of the complex interplay between word and image.