The Church and the Arts (Studies in Church History)

This volume presents 34 responses which are so varied that the book can be used as an introduction to the Church or any aspect of the arts. The subjects range from Byzantine images and Carolingian illuminated manuscripts to the zodiacal images on a font at Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, a nd on to the illustrations for the Bishops' Bible; from 15th-century Netherlands composers via Bach and 19th-century plainsong to Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms"; from 12th-century treatises to the poetry of Isaac Watts, and on to the novels of the 20th-century navvy Patrick MacGill; from Medieval tomb sculpture to the work of Elizabeth Frink, and all manner of ecclesiastical architecture. The book explores motives, connections, and attitudes: the piety, the patronage and the politics which underpinned this achievement, the connections between image and indulgence, church decor and devotion, or between the sacred and the profane, and the attitude of the churches to a variety of artistic expression.