The book follows five 'circles' around the painting (consciously
evoking the circle of thorns held behind Christ's head). Each
circle looks in turn at the subtexts of the painting, explored by
Bosch:
(1) politics What is the interplay between religion and power, and
what assumptions do we make about their relationship today?
(2) science, or elements What is the proper relationship of science
and religion in our own day? Is Dawkins the last word on the
matter, or does Bosch give us a way of expressing, with renewed
confidence, a religious understanding of science?
(3) temperaments What challenge does Bosch's painting pose to our
personality, and to our modern understanding of human
psychology?
(4) devotions What was the spiritual atmosphere of Bosch's day, and
how does it relate to our own?
(5) the final circle, Quiddity, centres on the still subject of the
painting: Christ himself. It asks what meaning we can find in the
Incarnation and Passion today, and shows how we can transform our
understanding of trust and time and their implications for
proclaiming the Gospel. The book is not a work of art history,
although its art historical conclusions are sound. It draws on
writers and artists from Thomas a Kempis to Terry Pratchett, and
from St Bonaventure to Bob Dylan and Brian Eno to show how a
painting "500 years old but passionately modern" can transform our
understanding of what it means to be fully human.
Using the still, small and sombre image of Christ Mocked by Bosch as a basis, this book works around the painting in five ‘circles' to explore the political, scientific, psychological and devotional world of early modern Europe and its implications for us today.
Justin Lewis-Anthony is Rector of St Stephen's Church, Canterbury, and Associate Lecturer in the European Cultures and Languages Section of the University of Kent at Canterbury. Formerly Precentor of Christ Church, Oxford, he has lectured, and led retreats, on film, popular culture and theology, and pastoralia in Canterbury, Oxford, Salisbury, London, Exeter, Chelmsford, St Albans, St Deiniol's Library, and North America. He is the author of Circles of Thorns and If You Meet George Herbert on the Road, Kill Him (both published by Continuum).
"A many-layered analysis" - Catholic Herald
"This is a very good extended meditation on a specific moment in
the Passion story; it is also a good example of the quality of
patient, intelligent attention that is (or should be) much more
fostered that it has been of late in Christian spirituality." -
Church Times
'A gripping book which affirms the validity of the Passion to both
the 16th and the 21st centuries as well as illustrating unchanging
human nature.' Methodist Recorder, February 2009
Edited extracts in Church Times
"A heartfelt book about what it means to be fully human ... The
reader is caught up into the painting's political message which is
revealed as supremely modern." The Tablet, March 2009
"A fascinating and rewarding book." Baptist Times, February
2009
Mention in author's Church Times article, 'Trapped in temperament',
20 March 2009.
Mention in author's Church Times article, 'The flesh the Word
took', 27 March 2009.
Ask a Question About this Product More... |