Art as Biblical Commentary

Visual Criticism from Hagar the Wife of Abraham to Mary the Mother of Jesus

By: J. Cheryl Exum, Andrew Mein (Editor), Claudia V. Camp (Editor)

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Hardcover | 18 April 2019

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Hardcover
288 Pages

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23.62 x 15.24 x 2.29

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Art as Biblical Commentary is not just about biblical art but, more importantly, about biblical exegesis and the contributions visual criticism as an exegetical tool can make to biblical exegesis and commentary. Using a range of texts and numerous images, J. Cheryl Exum asks what works of art can teach us about the biblical text. 'Visual criticism' is her term for an approach that addresses this question by focusing on the narrativity of images—reading them as if, like texts, they have a story to tell—and asking what light an image's 'story' can shed on the biblical narrator's story.

In Part I, Exum elaborates on her approach and offers a personal testimony to the value of visual criticism. Part 2 examines in detail the story of Hagar in Genesis 16 and 21. Part 3 contains chapters on erotic looking and voyeuristic gazing in the stories of Bathsheba, Susanna, Joseph and Potiphar's wife and the Song of Songs; on the distribution of renown among Jael, Deborah and Barak; on the Bible's notorious women, Eve and Delilah; and on the sacrificed female body in the stories of the Levite's wife (Judges 19) and Mary the mother of Jesus.

Industry Reviews

In yet another thought-provoking and challenging volume, Cheryl Exum explores several gems from the repertoire of Western art to reflect on what is said - but more often left unsaid - in the biblical text. With meticulous attention to the detail of the paintings, she conveys with freshness, originality and wit how an artist can capture that very precise nuance of a text, or that exact trait of a character, that so often eludes traditional commentators. Through a judicious selection of artists and paintings, Exum skilfully and persuasively shows us that there are many ways of "seeing" and appropriating biblical stories. Most importantly, Exum has successfully championed an approach that is useful for everyone who values the artist's essential role in biblical interpretation.
Martin O'Kane, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK

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