Abstract
James Noyes,
The Politics of Iconoclasm: Religion, Violence and the Culture of Image-Breaking in Christianity and Islam
, I.B. Tauris: London, 2013; 288 pp.: 9781848855656, £58.00 (hbk); and Stacey Gutkowski,
Secular War: Myths of Religion, Politics and Violence
, International Library of Security Studies, I.B. Tauris: London, 2013; 320 pp.: 9781780765358, £68.00 (hbk)
Both of these I.B. Tauris monographs add helpfully to a nuanced understanding of the complex relationship between war, violence and religion (see the ‘Short Notices’ for January and March 2014 for other books in this important and developing area). Noyes sees significant links between the religiously motivated iconoclasm of the Protestant Reformation and, say, the deliberate bombing of cathedrals in World War II and the destruction of the Twin Towers on 9/11. Gutkowski explores the ambiguous British responses to events such as 9/11 by a political elite who were simultaneously liberal secularists, cultural Christians and largely indifferent to religion.
Nicholas N. Patricios,
The Sacred Architecture of Byzantium: Art, Liturgy and Symbolism in Early Christian Churches
, Library of Classical Studies, I.B. Tauris: London, 2014; 384 pp.: 9781780762913, £45.00 (hbk)
This sumptuous I.B. Tauris book is remarkably good value. Written by a professor of architecture at the University of Miami it focuses mainly (despite its subtitle) upon architecture, mosaics and icons. Printed on good quality paper it is illustrated throughout with beautiful photographs of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and many other ‘splendid churches’ of Byzantium and their associated works of art. Well done I.B. Tauris for all three books!
Frank Burch Brown (ed.),
The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the Arts
, Oxford Handbooks in Religion and Theology, Oxford University Press: USA, 2014; 564 pp.: 9780195176674, £95.00/$150.00 (hbk)
Almost twice as expensive and very poorly illustrated, this book is nevertheless more wide-ranging and multi-authored than Patriocios’s Sacred Architecture of Byzantium. It covers aesthetics, music, novels, poetry, drama, dance, architecture, visual arts and film. And it has contributions from all of the major religious traditions.