The Pathos of the Cross The Passion of Christ in Theology and the Arts-The Baroque Era

by Viladesau, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780199352685
• ISBN10: 0199352682
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-03-14
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The Baroque period was in some senses the beginning of modern Western scientific and intellectual culture-the early budding of the Enlightenment. In the light of a new scientific and historical consciousness, it saw the rise of deism and the critique of traditional forms of Christianity. Secular values and institutions were openly or surreptitiously replacing the structures of traditional Christian society. At the same time, there was also a trend of religious renewal and the reaffirmation of tradition. In Roman Catholicism, the Patristic, medieval, and Tridentine paradigms were subsumed into a powerful Counter-Reformation spirituality, propagated not only in books, treatises, and sermons, but also in music and in the works of what was arguably the last period of great sacred art. It inspired masters like Bernini, Reni, Rubens, Velázquez, Zurbarán, and Van Dyck. In the Protestant traditions, the Reformation movement found affective expression in new forms of music produced by Monteverdi, Scarlatti, Handel, Telemann, and Bach. The title, The Pathos of the Cross, points to a major aspect of the spirituality of this period: a dramatic portrayal of the events of Christ's passion meant to provoke an emotional response from the viewer and listener. Many works of the period retain their emotional pull centuries later, even though the theology they represent has been challenged and frequently rejected. This volume traces the ways in which Roman Catholic and Protestant theologies of the period proclaimed the centrality of the cross of Christ to human salvation. In a parallel movement, it illustrates how musical and artistic works of the period were both inspired and informed by these theologies, and how they moved beyond them in an aesthetic mediation of faith.

Author Biography

Richard Viladesau was ordained in 1969 in Rome for the Diocese of Rockville Centre. He is Professor of Theology at Fordham University since 1988, and Administrator of Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Saltaire, NY.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Abbreviations
List of Illustrations
Introduction: The social context of the Baroque period: the beginnings of modernity

Part I: The survival of the classical paradigm of the cross in Roman Catholicism
Chapter 1: The theoretical mediation: the cross in Baroque Tridentine orthodoxy
Chapter 2: The aesthetic mediation: the cross in Baroque Catholic art
Chapter 3: The aesthetic mediation: the Passion in Catholic music

Part II: The cross in Protestant orthodoxy
Chapter 4: The theological mediation: Baroque Lutheran and reformed theology of the cross
Chapter 5: The aesthetic mediation: the cross in Protestant art
Chapter 6: The aesthetic mediation: Protestant Passion music

Part III: The challenge to the orthodox doctrine of redemption: the Enlightenment paradigm
Chapter 7: Challenges to the classical paradigm of the cross, and the emergence of a new paradigm of salvation

Envoi
Appendix 1: Virtual museum
Appendix 2: Discography of Passion music of the Baroque period
Bibliography
Index
Notes