The Folly of the Cross is the fourth book in Richard Viladesau's series examining the aesthetics and theology of the cross through Christian history. Previous volumes have brought the story up through the Baroque era. This new book examines the reception of the message of the cross from the European Enlightenment to the turn of the twentieth century. The opening chapters set the stage in the transition from the Baroque to the Classical eras, describing the changing intellectual and cultural paradigms. Viladesau examines the theology of the cross in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the aesthetic mediation of the cross in music and the visual arts. He shows how the aesthetic treatment of the cross widely replaced the dogmatic treatment in the post-Enlightenment era, and how this thought was translated into popular spirituality, piety, and devotion. The Folly of the Cross shows how classical theology responded to the critiques of modern science, history, Biblical scholarship, and philosophy, and how both classical and modern theology served as the occasion for new forms of representation of Christ's passion in the arts and music.

About the Author
Richard Viladesau is Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at Fordham University.

Reviews
This is an important book for students of Christian theology, liturgical music, and the visual arts, especially given Viladesau's rare skill in weaving an interdisciplinary tapestry. * CHOICE *
This is a very rich historical study of what theologians (but not preachers) and artists (generally painters) made of the passion of Christ in early modernity. Like others, I hope that Viladesau will complete his masterly work with a fifth volume examining the cross in modernity. * Gerald O'Collins, SJ, Jesuit Theological College, Parkville (Australia), Theological Studies *



Book Information
ISBN 9780190876005
Author Richard Viladesau
Format Hardback
Page Count 282
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 544g
Dimensions(mm) 160mm * 236mm * 25mm