Religion and Art in the Heart of Modern Manhattan

"Aaron Rosen has brought together an impressively wide range of contributors to reflect upon the relationship of art to religious architecture at the present time. The history of the Lutheran Church of St Peter's, Manhattan, which still preserves its chapel commissioned from the sculptor Louise Nevelson, but dispensed with its triptych by the painter De Kooning, proves the ideal context through which to illuminate this lively debate. In addition to many different viewpoints on what Rosen terms 'the conventions of religious viewing', the 'jazz ministry' conducted at St Peter's over many years gains a welcome mention." Stephen Bann, Bristol University, UK

"Religion and Art in the Heart of Modern Manhattan is a comprehensive analysis of one of Manhattan's most fascinating religious buildings, and at the same time refreshingly different, as it fuses thorough scholarship on the architecture and art of St. Peter's with essays on its ritual and symbolic functions and offers a multitude of contexts and points of view. Essays on the Louise Nevelson Chapel within the context of the oeuvre of the artist and the architecture of midtown Manhattan are provided side-by-side with those analyzing the liturgy and the congregants' experience; together, they provide a more holistic understanding of the building. St. Peter's remains unique in Manhattan for the synergy between the theological and pastoral vision, on the one hand, and the architectural and artistic, on the other. Religion and Art in the Heart of Modern Manhattan is the perfect book counterpart to that vision, providing an equally unique confluence of voices. I anticipate that it will bring renewed - and certainly overdue - attention to this extraordinary building." Ena Heller, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, USA

"St. Peter's Church in midtown Manhattan demonstrates that modern art and architecture can speak to the spirit as eloquently as the art and architecture of earlier eras. This multi-dimensional study is must reading for anyone who cares about the place of religion in contemporary life and the place of art in contemporary religion." Pepe Karmel, New York University, USA