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Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 230.09 EAN: 9780807067505 Edition: 1 ISBN: 0807067504 Label: Beacon Press Manufacturer: Beacon Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 592 Publication Date: July 15, 2008 Publisher: Beacon Press Studio: Beacon Press Editorial Review: Product Description: When Rita Brock and Rebecca Parker began traveling the Mediterranean world in search of art depicting the dead, crucified Jesus, they discovered something that traditional histories of Christianity and Christian art had underplayed or sought to explain away: it took Jesus Christ a thousand years to die. During their first millennium, Christians filled their sanctuaries with images of Christ as a living presence in a vibrant world. He appears as a shepherd, a teacher, a healer, an enthroned god; he is an infant, a youth, and a bearded elder. But he is never dead. When he appears with the cross, he stands in front of it, serene, resurrected. The world around him is ablaze with beauty. These are images of paradise—paradise in this world, permeated and blessed by the presence of God. But once Jesus perished, dying was virtually all he seemed able to do. Saving Paradise offers a fascinating new lens on the history of Christianity, from its first centuries to the present day, and asks how its early vision of beauty evolved into one of torture. In tracing the changes in society and theology that marked the medieval emergence of images of Christ crucified, Saving Paradise exposes the imperial strategies embedded in theologies of redemptive violence and sheds new light on Christianity's turn to holy war. It reveals how the New World, established through Christian conquest and colonization, is haunted by the loss of a spiritual understanding of paradise here and now. Brock and Parker reconstruct the idea that salvation is paradise in this world and in this life, and they offer a bold new theology for saving paradise. They ground justice and peace for humanity in love for the earth and open a new future for Christianity through a theology of redemptive beauty. "Only rarely is a single book an event. This book is such a rarity. Rita Brock and Rebecca Parker show that solid scholarship can be expressed with passion and literary grace as they recover the beauty of an earth-loving Christianity lost for a thousand years beneath dry creeds and formulae and poisonous myths of sacralized violence." —Professor Daniel C. Maguire, author of A Moral Creed For All Christians "Every Christian theologian and preacher should read this book and be profoundly challenged." —Professor James H. Cone, author of Malcolm & Martin & America "Saving Paradise challenges us to recover an ancient world view which is life transforming and earth affirming. It reminds us of a biblical perspective which does not reserve paradise for the dead, but invites the living to find grace, justice, peace and compassion--here and now--amid the jangling discords of violence and war. It may mark the beginning of a paradigm shift in contemporary Christian understanding and interfaith dialogue." —Reverend James A. Forbes, Jr., President and Founder of the Healing of the Nations Foundation, Senior Minister Emeritus of the Riverside Church of New York City "The message of Early Christian art is about God's miraculous intervention in the daily lives of Christian believers. How then did Christianity become a religion of finitude and guilt rather than one of promise and celebration? Brock and Parker ran with the evidence, showing us the importance of art, ritual, devotional practices, and liturgical space for early Christians. This tangible past transformed their research and led them to see that paradise in this world lies at the heart of Christianity." —Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, author of Dictionary of Christian Art "This powerful, unprecedented, and compelling book brings real Christianity out of the shadows. It lights up the religious roots of American society at a time when progressives need to challenge conservative politicians who use Christianity as a false prop for their ideology." —George Lakoff, author of Don't Think of an Elephant! Average Rating:
 Rating: - Paradise permeates all of CreationImages of Jesus's crucifixion did not appear in churches until the tenth century. Why not? The crucified Christ is so important to Western Christianity, how could it be that images of his suffering and death were absent from early churches? With these questions began a five year pilgrimage for the authors. They were taught that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ saved the world and that this idea was the core of Christian faith. However, during extensive searching, they found that prior to the tenth ... Read More Rating: - Saving Paradise--A MUST READI LOVE Saving Paradise!! Brock and Parker provide a historical lens through Christian thought and practice that demonstrates that the earliest followers of Christ embraced a theology of hope, life, and living community as opposed to the emphasis on torture, suffering, and death. As a graduate student of church history, I found myself amazed in my own studies of even so-called `orthodox' Church Fathers including Justin Martyr, Ireneaus, and Origen that a theology of the cross was not highlighted. Instead, ... Read More Rating: - American Studies/LCST Should Take NoteSAVING PARADISE illuminates the origins of Christianity and the quest for human wholeness and shows how both got "hijacked" by imperial ambitions in the 9th. c., leading to the crusades and other forms of church sanctioned violence. From an Ameircan Studies studies standpoint, the last four chapters showing the connection among this dislocated Christianity, imperial ambitions, New World conquest, and the enslavement of African peoples are extremely valuable. The chapters shed suprizing light on familiar figures ... Read More Rating: - Innovative nostalgiaWhere does new hope come from? Often from remembering what has been lost. As a work of Christian historical theology, this is one of the most important books of the current generation. It does what a great theologian once called 'epochal thinking' about how Christianity MUST, in an era of environmental crisis and religious conflict, recover the theological sensibility that marked the first thousand years of Christian faith -- when Christ was understood and depicted as opening the possibility again of human life ... Read More |
