Art in theory, 1900-2000

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Emile Durkheim

"In The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912), Emile Durkheim set himself the task of discovering the enduring source of human social identity. He investigated what he considered to be the simplest form of documented religion - totemism among the Aborigines of Australia. Aboriginal religion was an avenue 'to yield an understanding of the religious nature of man, by showing us an essential and permanent aspect of humanity'. The need and capacity of men and women to relate socially lies at the heart of Durkheim's exploration, in which religion embodies the beliefs that shape our moral universe."--BOOK JACKET.

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Rosino Gibellini

Since its first formulation in the mid-1950s, modern African theology has contributed a richness of insights to western understandings of Christianity. Paths of African Theology presents original essays by many of Africa's best-known theologians, who explore in depth their areas of concentration and the roads they have pursued. Included are both Catholic and Protestant theologians from east, west, and south. Also included is an annotated bibliography of resources on African theology, indicating their specific relevance and theological orientation.

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Kathleen Lundeen

"In Knight of the Living Dead, Kathleen Lundeen investigates Blake's work in the context of his spiritualistic practices, and shows how he attempts to create a discourse that circumvents the binary of natural and arbitrary signs. Her examination of his word-image art demonstrates that, in Blake's view, what we recognize as word or image depends upon our epistemological orientation, just as what we term "matter" or "spirit" is determined by our state of perception. It further shows how Blake critiques textual theory in both his songs and prophecies by stabilizing the two sets of parameters that are used to define and classify signs: the general and particular, and the literal and figurative. Moreover, she argues, Blake provides an epistemological alternative to empiricism and rationalism in his poetry and art. Through verbal and visual experiments he defies the logic that is rooted in sense perception and reason, and he attempts through those experiments to return textuality to a divinely literal condition. By treating spiritualism as an aesthetic practice and art as an otherworldly communication, he undermines the institutionalized boundaries in art and life, and presents a formidable challenge to the whole matter/spirit dualism upon which Western culture is based."--BOOK JACKET.

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Dianne Kirby

"This collection provides the first systematic examination of the role of religion in the Cold War. As the 'War on Terror', with its profound religious implications, is increasingly perceived as the 'new Cold War', it is more imperative still to understand the political influence of religion and its role in the international arena.". "This specially commissioned new research and scholarship adds a whole new dimension to the cumulative process of Cold War scholarship, showing why religion is a key Cold War variable. It provides new perspectives and crucial insights into the ubiquitous, multi-dimensional conflict that dominated the latter half of the twentieth century."--BOOK JACKET.