Great Women of the Bible in Art and Literature - Hardcover

Solle, Dorothee

4.11

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9780802837691: Great Women of the Bible in Art and Literature

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802837697 ISBN 13: 9780802837691

Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co, 1994

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Throughout history the women of the Bible have figured prominently in a great wealth of occidental art and have inspired important themes in world literature, fables, legends, songs, and folk stories. This beautiful volume shows how the women of Scripture have been variously portrayed in art and literature throughout the centuries - even as it reinterprets these portrayals for people today.
Here are the great women of the Bible, from Eve to Mary, as portrayed by artists from the early Christian period to the present day. Each sequence of illustrations - including photographs of sculptures, frescoes, panels, miniatures, and modern graphics - is accompanied by a detailed caption that clarifies the particular vision of each artist represented.
The women of the Bible also appear here as they are depicted in texts from the Bible, the Apocrypha, Coptic literature, the Talmud, the Koran, and the treasury of religious legends. Further references have been culled from the great works of literature, from writers such as Dante, Goethe, Thomas Mann, Gustave Flaubert, and Oscar Wilde - men who were fascinated by the power of the biblical texts and who interpreted the female characters in new, creative ways.

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About the Author:

Dorothee Soelle was Professor of Thrology at Union Theological Seminary, New York City, for thirteen years. Among her many influential writings are Great Couples of the Bible (2005;0-8006-3831-X), Theology for Skeptics (1994;0-8006-2788-1) and The Silent Cry (2001;0-8006-3266-4). She died in 2003.

Joe H. Kirchberger is an historian and journalist. He is co-author with Soelle of a book on Mary and editor of a 19-volume set of eyewitness reminiscences of World War 1. He lives in New York City.

From Booklist:

This splendid art book explores the various meanings artists have found in the Bible's female figures. Each section opens with the relevant citations from the good book itself, which are answered by S{™}olle's profound commentaries. After the story of Sarah, for instance, S{™}olle reflects on the meaning not only of that story but also of the parallel one of the enslaved Hagar, with its import for those who desire social justice. Further on in each section, extrabiblical materials drawn from ancient and medieval literature, Jewish folklore, and other related mythologies appear; in the Sarah section, these include the Islamic legend linking Hagar and her son Ishmael to the founding of Mecca. Finally in each section, a summary of postmedieval literature shows the ways the characters have been employed by European writers; for Sarah, we are reminded of Melville's choice for the name of Moby Dick's narrator: "Call me Ishmael." As for the illustrations--several per page--they range from ancient mosaics to contemporary paintings, with many florid Renaissance artworks in between. Tamar, Potiphar's wife, Deborah, Delilah, the Witch of Endor, Bathsheba, Judith, Mary of Magdala, and more appear in these pages, enlivened and enriched by the artists whom they have inspired. Patricia Monaghan

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