How Catholic Art Saved The Faith: The Triumph of Beauty and Truth in Counter-Reformation Art

by Elizabeth Lev

Overview

Not long after Martin Luther's defiance of the Church in 1517, dialogue between Protestants and Catholics broke down, brother turned against brother, and devastating religious wars erupted across Europe. Desperate to restore the peace and recover the unity of Faith, Catholic theologians clarified and reaffirmed Catholic doctrines, but turned as well to another form of evangelization: the Arts.

Convinced that to win over the unlettered, the best place to fight heresy was not in the streets but in stone and on canvas, they enlisted the century's best artists to create a glorious wave of beautiful works of sacred art — Catholic works of sacred art — to draw people together instead of driving them apart.

How Catholic Art Saved the Faith tells the story of the creation and successes of this vibrant, visual-arts SWAT team whose war cry could have been “art for Faith's sake!” Over the years, it included Michelangelo, of course, and, among other great artists, the edgy Caravaggio, the graceful Guido Reni, the technically perfect Annibale Carracci, the colorful Barocci, the theatrical Bernini, and the passionate Artemisia Gentileschi. Each of these creative souls, despite their own interior struggles, was a key player in this magnificent, generations-long project: the affirmation through beauty of the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church.

Here you will meet the fascinating artists who formed this cadre's core. You will revel in scores of their full-color paintings. And you will profit from the lucid explanations of their lovely creations: works that over the centuries have touched the hearts and deepened the faith of millions of pilgrims who have made their way to the Eternal City to gaze upon them.

Join those pilgrims now in an encounter with the magnificent artworks of the Catholic Restoration — artworks which from their conception were intended to delight, teach, and inspire. As they have done for the faith of so many, so will they do for you.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781622826124
Publisher:	Sophia Institute Press
Publication date:	10/02/2018
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	401,395
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth Lev is an art historian, bestselling author, international speaker and certified sommelier. She teaches Baroque, Renaissance and Christian Art at Duquesne University in Rome.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I The Sacraments

1 The Eucharist and the Space of Mystery 17

2 Painters and the Eucharist 29

3 Prelates, Penance, and Painters 41

4 Confession and the Laity 51

5 Mary Magdalene: Making Penance Look Good 61

6 Baptismal Battles 73

7 Holy Orders and Religious Consecration 83

Part II Intercession

8 Divine Messengers: Angels 97

9 Maria Advocata Nostra 109

10 Mary as Teacher 119

11 The Twin Refounders of Christian Rome 133

12 Mystic Union 143

13 Saints and Their Special Relationships with Christ 153

14 Purgatory 165

Part III Cooperation

15 Doubt 183

16 Pilgrimage: A Journey of Love 193

17 Globalization, Catholic Style 203

18 Empiricism and Faith 211

19 The Blood of the Martyrs Is the Seed of the Church 225

20 The Dignity of Women in the Catholic Restoration 237

21 The War on Sin 249

Epilogue: End Game 259

Afterword 273

Lives of the Artists 277

Photo Credits 297

Bibliography 303