I recently had the opportunity to give a paper on the Eritrean Catholic Church at Faith, Art, and the Politics of Belonging in Africa, the combined meeting of SERSAS and SEAN held at UNC Chapel Hill. I began studying Eritrean Christianity in 2003 by praying with and learning from Eritrean Orthodox Christians in San Diego at the beginning of my doctoral studies in cultural anthropology which subsequently lead to my fieldwork in Eritrea in 2005. [MORE...]
Archive for category Art and Architecture
The unmistakable thread running through Dr. McNamara’s book is that there is one true faith, one true liturgy, and one truly sacred style of architecture: the classical tradition. It is surprising that he touts one architectural tradition as the one true expression of his principles.
Diocesan Bishop Egon Kapellari of Graz emphasized the manifold connections between culture, art, and the Church in Europe.
Roman Churches
Jul 29
Villanova University in Pennsylvania has taken some really beautiful photos of St. Peter’s Basilica and other majors churches in Rome.
The reservation of the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist stems from the need to make the sacred species available to those who (due to illness, imprisonment or other just cause) cannot be present at the Sunday liturgy. Documentary evidence for extending communion to the sick and imprisoned, and the related development of reserving the sacrament, can be found in bits and pieces in the First Apology of Justin Martyr, the document sometimes attributed to Hippolytus [MORE...]
Here is Matthew J. Milliner at First Things on “The Neglected Fireplace: Protestantism and the Arts.”
We have purchased a new altar crucifix and a new set of altar candlesticks to be placed on the altar in what is referred to as the “Benedictine altar arrangement” in imitation of the altar arrangement used by Pope Benedict XVI.
What was Michelangelo saying by constructing the voice box of God out of the brain stem of man? Is it a sacrilege or homage?
The Syro-Malabar Rite Catholics I met have a saying, adapted from Fr. Placid Podipara: they are “Indian in culture, Catholic in religion, and Syriac in worship.” Just this morning I discovered a new instance of the truth of this saying…