"Sacred gaze" denotes any way of seeing that invests its object--an image, a person, a time, a place--with spiritual significance. Drawing from many different fields, David Morgan investigates key aspects of vision and imagery in a variety of religious traditions. His lively, innovative book explores how viewers absorb and process religious imagery and how their experience contributes to the social, intellectual, and perceptual construction of reality. Ranging widely from thirteenth-century Japan and eighteenth-century Tibet to contemporary America, Thailand, and Africa, The Sacred Gaze discusses the religious functions of images and the tools viewers use to interpret them. Morgan questions how fear and disgust of images relate to one another and explains how scholars study the long and evolving histories of images as they pass from culture to culture. An intriguing strand of the narrative details how images have helped to shape popular conceptions of gender and masculinity. The opening chapter considers definitions of "visual culture" and how these relate to the traditional practice of art history.
Amply illustrated with more than seventy images from diverse religious traditions, this masterful interdisciplinary study provides a comprehensive and accessible resource for everyone interested in how religious images and visual practice order space and time, communicate with the transcendent, and embody forms of communion with the divine. The Sacred Gaze is a vital introduction to the study of the visual culture of religions.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) has been rescued from neglect to emerge as something of a cult figure, celebrated for his boldly original art and for his short, violent and troubled life. This monograph on the artist's life and work is issued here in paperback format.

Since its founding in 1989, Image journal has not only emerged as one of North America’s leading quarterlies but also carved out a unique identity as the source for contemporary art and literature that grapple with the perennial questions of religious faith. / Bearing the Mystery brings together in one handsome volume the best of Image journal’s first twenty years — the work of nearly seventy writers and over twenty visual artists (some represented on sixteen color plates). / Here you will find short stories that range from unnerving encounters with the miraculous to gritty realism; lyric poems that reinterpret the Psalms and plumb the depths of doubt and faith; searingly honest memoirs that search out glimpses of grace among the difficulties and joys of everyday life. / Among the all-star cast of writers whose work appears here: Scott Cairns, Annie Dillard, Clyde Edgerton, Patricia Hampl, Ron Hansen, Edward Hirsch, Linda Hogan, Denise Levertov, Philip Levine, Marilyn Nelson, Kathleen Norris, Gregory Orr, Ann Patchett, David Plante, Richard Rodrieguez, Wim Wenders, Christian Wiman, and Franz Wright. / With a special introduction by founder and editor Gregory Wolfe that reflects on the journal’s mission, Bearing the Mystery is indeed a treasure trove. Provocative, haunting, and bracing, the work gathered here demonstrates that — even in a postmodern era — the ancient practice of making art to record humanity’s encounter with the divine is alive and well.

Religion, Art, and Visual Culture gathers together the most current scholarship on art, religion, visual culture, and cultural studies. The book approaches the study of world religions through the human, meaning-making activity of seeing. The essays move between specific visual subjects (painting, landscape gardens, calligraphy, architecture, mass media) and the broader theoretical discourses relevant to religion and the wider humanities today. Topics covered include art and perception; the iconicity of Jesus Christ; the relation of word and image in Islam and divine images in India.

In Encounters with God Sister Wendy Beckett, a contemplative nun and beloved art commentator, traveled to remote churches and monasteries to view the earliest icons of Mary. In Real Presence she resumes this journey to see additional early icons of Jesus and the saints icons that are among the few to survive the wholesale destruction of icons in the early eighth century. In contrast with the familiar and magnificent icons of later history, these early icons have a haunting simplicity and unfamiliar spiritual power. They come to us from a time closer to that of Christ, when faith was still alive with wonder and possibilities, and these images, a vehicle for prayer, can truly convey his real presence.

As its teachings spread from the Indian subcontinent in all directions across Asia, Buddhism influenced every culture it touched—from Afghanistan to Korea, from Mongolia to Java. Buddhist art is a radiant reflection of the encounter of the Buddha’s teachings with the diverse civilizations that came under their sway. It is also an intriguing visual record of the evolution of Buddhist practice and philosophy over a period of more than two millennia.

More than two hundred photographs provide the visual context for this tour of the world of Buddhist art. Included in the rich variety of forms are architecture and monumental art, statuary, paintings, calligraphy, fresco, brushwork, and textile arts. Denise Leidy’s guide is the perfect introductory text for all those intrigued by this splendid aesthetic tradition. It also an essential resource for all who seek to understand Buddhist art as teaching.

Thomas Kinkade paints from the heart, putting on canvas the natural wonders and images that inspire him and fill him with joy. This authenticity and passion has made him the most collected living artist in the world. Celebrated as the Painter of Light, Thomas Kinkade hopes to touch people of all faiths and to bring peace and joy into their lives through the images he creates.

Thomas Kinkade looks for "those moments of revelation, of joyous acceptance, that comprise our common spiritual experience. Then I look out into the world to find visual images that reflect the truths of my walk with God." The full-color images found in the Thomas Kinkade Painter of Light with Scripture 2011 Wall Calendar--along with a Bible verse on each monthly spread--capture the artist's sentiment perfectly. The calendar is packaged in a beautifully printed envelope.

Thomas Kinkade (c) 2010 Thomas Kinkade

This revised edition incorporates the additions and corrections recorded by Erwin Panofsky until the time of his death in 1968. Gerda Panofsky-Soergel has updated the commentary in the light of new material, and the bibliography that she has prepared reflects the scholarship on St.-Denis in the last three decades. She has obtained some additional and more recent photographs, and the illustrations include a new ground plan and a new section of the chevet of the Abbey Church, both drawn under the supervision of Sumner McKnight Crosby.

For almost a year, veteran National Geographic photographer Jim Stanfield captured nearly every corner of the Vatican, both the world’s smallest country and the center of the Roman Catholic Church. Along with author Bart McDowell, he provides an insider’s view into the history of this 108.7-acre enclave, from the first St. Peter’s, built in the fourth century, through the amazing reign of Pope John Paul II, and beyond. Rarely seen areas of the complex, such as the Pope’s personal quarters and the world-renowned libraries, and up-close views of the stunning and priceless art and architecture provide an unrivaled insider’s look into this amazing nation.

In this revised trade paperback edition, Washington Post writer Howard Schneider brings the story of the Vatican up-to-date, including the death and funeral of Pope John Paul II and the selection and ordination of Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Benedict XVI’s recent trip to the United States is also documented in poignant words and images.

"[Mitchell] undertakes to explore the nature of images by comparing them with words, or, more precisely, by looking at them from the viewpoint of verbal language. . . . The most lucid exposition of the subject I have ever read."--Rudolf Arnheim, Times Literary Supplement