Byzantine Christianity and Visual Culture (Ca

History of Christianity, Qualifying Exam 5

Byzantine Christianity and Visual Culture (ca. 330-1453)

Description

Visual culture constituted an intrinsic part of Byzantine Orthodoxy. Accordingly, this examination focuses on the visual arts as primary sources informative on the history of Christianity in the Byzantine Empire from the reign of Constantine the Great to the Ottoman conquest. Not only do works of art and architecture supplement primary writings in significant ways, but they are often also the only testimonies of religious phenomena of various kinds. Key themes covered in this examination include Christian iconography and visual exegesis, art and the liturgy, public ritual, private devotion and spirituality, the veneration of saints, pilgrimage, the cult of relics, donation and patronage, death and the afterlife, etc. While the reading list reflects the relevance of these and other topics in their historical development, students may concentrate on a specific time frame within the long period of the Empire’s existence. The main foci of the examination will be determined in consultation with the examiner and in view of the student’s research interests. In the wider context of religious studies, this exam offers students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the methodology and terminology pertinent to the study of the visual arts as an essential form of human expression.

Relevant courses:

- Byzantium: Art–Religion–Culture (HCHR/RLIT 32302 - ARTH 22302/32302 - RLST 28310) - Early Christian Art (HCHR/RLIT 43107 - RLST 28315 - ARTH 20609/30609) - Art and Ritual in Byzantium (HCHR/RLIT/ARTH 43010) - The Cult of Relics in Byzantium and beyond (HCHR/RLIT 41604 - ARTH 41602) - Byzantine Art: Iconography (HCHR/RLIT/ARTH 44604 - RLST 28304)

Examinations on Byzantine icons and image theory are offered in the Religion, Literature, and Visual Culture area (see RLVC Examinations 1: Theories of Criticism, and 2: Genres).

1 The Early Byzantine Period and Iconoclasm (ca. 330-843)

Readings

- John F. Baldovin, The Urban Character of Christian Worship: The Origins, Development, and Meaning of Stational Liturgy. Rome: Pont. Institutum Studiorum Orientalium, 1987. - Kimberly D. Bowes, Private Worship, Public Values, and Religious Change in Late Antiquity. Cambridge—New York: Cambridge UP, 2008. - Leslie Brubaker, John F. Haldon, Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era (c. 680-850): A History. Cambridge—New York: Cambridge UP, 2010. - Stephen Fine, Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World. Toward a New Jewish Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005. - Leo D. Davis, The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787). Their History and Theology. Collegeville, MI: The Liturgical Press, 1990. - Vincenzo Nicolai Fiocchi et al. (eds.), The Christian Catacombs of Rome: History, Decoration, Inscriptions. Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner, 2002. - André Grabar, Christian Iconography. A Study of Its Origins. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1968. - Robin Jensen, Understanding Christian Art. London—New York, Routledge: 2000. - Bente Kiilerich, “The State of Early Christian Iconography in the Twenty-First Century,” Studies in Iconography 36 (2015), 99-134. - Ernst Kitzinger, “The Cult of Images in the Age before Iconoclasm,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 8 (1954), 83-150. - Richard Krautheimer, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture, revised by Richard Krautheimer and Slobodan Ćurčić. New Haven—London: Yale UP, 1986. - Troels Myrup Kristensen, Making and Breaking the Gods. Christian Responses to Pagan Sculpture in Late Antiquity. Aarhus: Aarhus UP, 2013. - Ruth E. Leader-Newby, Silver and Society in Late Antiquity: Functions and Meanings of Silver Plate in the Fourth to Seventh Centuries. Aldershot—Burlington: Ashgate, 2004. - Lee I. Levine, Visual Judaism in Late Antiquity. Historical Contexts of Jewish Arts, New Haven—London: Yale UP, 2012. - Thomas F. Mathews, The Dawn of Christian Art in Panel Paintings and Icons. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2016. - Thomas F. Mathews, The Early Churches of Constantinople. Architecture and Liturgy. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State UP, 1971. - Thomas F. Mathews, The Clash of Gods. A Reinterpretation of Early Christian Art (revised and expanded edition). Princeton–Oxford: Princeton UP, 2003. - John Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology. Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes (New York: Fordham UP, 1974 (ch. 1-3). - Linda Safran (ed.), Heaven on Earth: Art and the Church in Byzantium. University Park, Penn.: Pennsylvania State UP, 1998 (ch. 6, 8). - Jeffrey Spier (ed.), Picturing the Bible. The Earliest Christian Art, New Haven—London: Yale UP, 2007. - Gary Vikan, Early Byzantine Pilgrimage Art. Rev. ed. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2010. - Annabel J. Wharton, Refiguring the Post Classical City. Dura Europos, Jerash, Jerusalem and Ravenna. Cambridge—New York: Cambridge UP, 1995.

2 The Middle and Late Byzantine Periods (843-1453)

Readings

- Charles Barber, Contesting the Logic of Painting. Art and Understanding in Eleventh-Century Byzantium. Leiden—Boston: Brill, 2007. - Averil Cameron, “The Cost of Orthodoxy,” Church History and Religious Culture 93 (2013), 339-361. - Sharon E. Gerstel, Beholding the Sacred Mysteries. Programs of the Byzantine Sanctuary. Seattle/London: University of Washington Press, 1999. - Sharon E. Gerstel (ed.), Thresholds of the Sacred. Architectural, Art Historical, Liturgical, and Theological Perspectives on Religious Screens, East and West. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2006. - Job Getcha, The Typikon Decoded: An Explanation of Byzantine Liturgical Practice. Yonkers, New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2012. - Cynthia Hahn, Holger Klein (eds.), Saints and Sacred Matter. The Cult of Relics in Byzantium and beyond. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2015. - Derek Krueger (ed.), Byzantine Christianity (A People’s History of Christianity, 3). Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006. - Derek Krueger, Robert S. Nelson (eds.), The New Testament in Byzantium. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2016. - Paul Magdalino, Robert S. Nelson (eds.), The Old Testament in Byzantium. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2010. - Henry Maguire, Art and Eloquence in Byzantium. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1981. - Henry Maguire, The Icons of Their Bodies: Saints and Their Images in Byzantium. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1996. - Vasileios Marinis, Architecture and Ritual in the Churches of Constantinople. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2014. - Thomas Mathews, “The Sequel to Nicaea II in Byzantine Church Decoration,” Perkins Journal 41/3 (1988), 11-21. - John Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology. Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes (New York: Fordham UP, 1974. - Robert S. Nelson, Later Byzantine Painting: Art, Agency, and Appreciation. Aldershot— Burlington: Ashgate, 2007. - Maria G. Parani, Reconstructing the Reality of Images: Byzantine Material Culture and Religious Iconography (11th-15th Centuries). Leiden—Boston: Brill, 2003. - Leena Mari Peltomaa, The Image of the Virgin Mary in the Akathistos Hymn. Leiden— Boston: Brill, 2001. - Linda Safran (ed.), Heaven on Earth: Art and the Church in Byzantium. University Park, Penn.: Pennsylvania State UP, 1998. - Hans-Joachim Schulz, The Byzantine Liturgy: Symbolic Structure and Faith Expression. New York: Pueblo Pub. Co., 1986. - Christopher Walter, Art and Ritual of the Byzantine Church. London: Variorum, 1982. - Maria Vassilaki (ed.), Images of the Mother of God: Perceptions of the Theotokos in Byzantium. Aldershot—Burlington: Ashgate, 2005. - Warren T. Woodfin, The Embodied Icon: Liturgical Vestments and Sacramental Power in Byzantium. Oxford—New York: Oxford UP, 2012.

3 Select Works for Consultation

Exhibition Catalogs - Kurt Weitzmann (ed.), Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century : Catalogue of the Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 19, 1977, through February 12, 1978. New York: The Metropolitan Museum, 1979. - Helen C. Evans (ed.), Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004. - Helen C. Evans, Brandie Ratliff (eds.), Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition, 7th-9th Century. New York— New Haven: Metropolitan Museum of Art—Yale UP, 2012. - Helen C. Evans, William D. Wixom (eds.), The Glory of Byzantium. Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843-1261. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. - Anastasia Lazaridou (ed.), Transition to Christianity. Art of Late Antiquity, 3rd-7th Century AD, New York: Onassis Foundation, 2011. - Maria Vassilake (ed.), The Mother of God: Representations of the Virgin in Byzantine Art. Milan et al.: Skira, Thames & Hudson, 2000.

Introductory Works - John Lowden, Early Christian and Byzantine Art. London: Phaidon, 1997. - Thomas Mathews, Byzantium. From Antiquity to the Renaissance. New York: Abrams, 1998.

Reference Works - Michael Angold (ed.), The Cambridge History of Christianity, Vol. 5: Eastern Christianity. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008. - Margaret M. Mitchell, Frances M. Young (eds.), The Cambridge History of Christianity, Vol. 1: Origins to Constantine. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008. - Augustine Casiday, Frederick W. Norris (eds.), The Cambridge History of Christianity, Vol. 2: Constantine to c. 600. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008. - Mary Cunningham, Elizabeth Theokritoff (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology, eds. Mary Cunningham and Elizabeth Theokritoff. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008 - Scott F. Johnson (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2012. - Glen W. Bowersock et al. (eds.), Late Antiquity. A Guide to the Postclassical World. Cambridge, Mass.— London: Harvard UP, 1999. - Alexander P. Kazhdan et al. (eds.), The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (3 vols.). New York: Oxford UP, 1991. - Cyril Mango (ed.), The Oxford History of Byzantium. Oxford—New York: Oxford UP, 2002. - Jaroslav Pelikan, The Spirit of Eastern Christendom (600-1700) (The Christian Tradition. A History of the Development of Doctrine, 2). Chicago—London: The University of Chicago Press, 1974. - Jonathan Shepard (ed.), The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire. C. 500-1492. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010.

Online Resources - kubikat (comprehensive catalog of international publications in the visual arts and related fields): http://aleph.mpg.de/F?func=file&file_name=find-b&local_base=kub01&con_lng=eng - Byzantium. Byzantine Studies on the Internet (Byzantine Online Sources, Bibliographies etc.): http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/byzantium/index.asp - DIFAB (Digital Research Archive for Byzantium): http://difab.univie.ac.at/en/digitales-forschungsarchiv- byzanz/ - Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Resources: http://www.doaks.org/resources - The Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Collection Online (“Byzantium”): http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search?ft=Byzantium - The Victoria & Albert Museum, Search the Collections (“Byzantium”): http://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/ - The University of Chicago Visual Resources Center (LUNA; ARTstor): https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/vrc/ - http://smarthistory.org/early-christian-art/ (images and videos)