The Crown of Thorns : Humble Gods and Humiliated Kings - Faith  Tibble

The Crown of Thorns

Humble Gods and Humiliated Kings

By: Faith Tibble

Hardcover | 20 March 2025

At a Glance

Hardcover


$164.50

or 4 interest-free payments of $41.13 with

 or 

Available: 20th March 2025

Preorder. Will ship when available.

Jesus' Crown of Thorns has become one of the most ubiquitous features of Christian religious art, but was the crown of history anything like the crown of popular medieval art and piety? The image that springs to mind is that of a bloodied, beaten Jesus, wearing a cruelly fashioned, woven crown made of sharp thorns. But this image is deeply misleading, based on a fundamental misunderstanding (and mistranslation) of the Gospels.

Faith C. Tibble rectifies this misunderstanding, showing how The Crown of Thorns underwent a yet unrecognized artistic evolution. Tibble tracks the artistic progression of the Crown of Thorns from when it is was first depicted in the 4th century, until the 11th century, when it begins to exhibit the artistic trends that are still recognizable today, even in modern depictions in art and cinema. Through doing so, Tibble adds new perspective to our understanding of the ideologies associated with medieval Christianity - victory, humility, perseverance - and how those ideologies are exemplified in depictions of the Crown of Thorns. Tibble demonstrates how a simple mistranslation led to a different understanding of the Gospels, and an unexpected trajectory for European art - with profound and unintended consequences.

More in Religious Subjects Depicted in Art

The Golden Road : How Ancient India Transformed the World - William Dalrymple
T &T Clark Handbook of Theology and the Arts : Religion and the Arts - Stephen M. Garrett
The Crown of Thorns : Humble Gods and Humiliated Kings - Faith Tibble
Eufrasia Burlamacchi : Illuminating Women Artists - Loretta Vandi
Saints & Santos : Picturing the Holy in New Spain - Cristina Cruz González

RRP $110.00

$69.80

37%
OFF
Cartographies of Exclusion : Anti-Semitic Mapping in Medieval England - Asa Simon Mittman
Religion, Culture, and the Monstrous : Of Gods and Monsters - Natasha L Mikles