Trinity and Incarnation in Anglo-Saxon Art and Thought

An illustrated study of the theology of the Trinity as expressed in the literature and art of the late Anglo-Saxon period.

Barbara C. Raw (Author)

9780521553711, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 10 April 1997

248 pages, 23 b/w illus.
23.5 x 16.1 x 2 cm, 0.485 kg

'The value of this learned, lucid and attractively designed book is as an historical and iconographic overview rather than a theological critique … it is the work of one thoroughly at home in early medieval religious though and expression.' Journal of Ecclesiastical History

This book is a study of the theology of the Trinity as expressed in the literature and art of the late Anglo-Saxon period. It examines the meaning of the representations of the Trinity in tenth- and eleventh-century English manuscripts and their relationship to Anglo-Saxon theology, and to earlier debates about the legitimacy of representations of the divine. The book's unifying theme is that of the image: the image of the Trinity in the human soul; Christ, the perfect image and visible form of the invisible God; redemption as the restoration of the imperfect human image to its original likeness through contemplation of its divine archetype; prayer as an anticipation of the contemplation of heaven, and art as a form of contemplation. The book, which contains a selection of black and white illustrations, will be of interest to art historians, theologians and literary scholars alike.

List of plates
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations and note on the text
Introduction
1. 'At this time which is the ending of the world'
2. 'If anyone wishes to be saved'
3. God made visible
4. Signs and images
5. God in history
6. Christ, the icon of God
7. Symbols of the divine
8. Art, prayer and the vision of God
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]