A Magnificent Faith explains how and why Lutheranism - a confession that derived its significance from the promulgation of God's Word - became a visually magnificent faith, a faith whose adherents sought to captivate Christians' hearts and minds through seeing as well as through hearing. Although Protestantism is no longer understood as an exclusively word-based religion, the paradigm of evangelical ambivalence towards images retains its power. This is the
first study to offer an account of the Reformation origins and subsequent flourishing of the Lutheran baroque, of the rich visual culture that developed in parts of the Holy Roman Empire during the later
seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The volume opens with a discussion of the legacy of the Wittenberg Reformation. Three sections then focus on the confessional, devotional, and magnificent image, exploring turning points in Lutherans' attitudes towards religious art. Drawing on a wide variety of archival, printed, and visual sources from two of the Empire's most important Protestant territories - Saxony, the heartland of the Reformation, and Brandenburg - A Magnificent Faith
shows the extent to which Lutheran culture was shaped by territorial divisions. It traces the development of a theologically-grounded aesthetic, and argues that images became prominent vehicles for the
articulation of Lutheran identity not only amongst theologians but also amongst laymen and women. By examining the role of images in the Lutheran tradition as it developed over the course of two centuries, A Magnificent Faith offers a new understanding of the relationship between Protestantism and the visual arts.
A Magnificent Faith explains how and why Lutheranism - a confession that derived its significance from the promulgation of God's Word - became a visually magnificent faith, a faith whose adherents sought to captivate Christians' hearts and minds through seeing as well as through hearing. Although Protestantism is no longer understood as an exclusively word-based religion, the paradigm of evangelical ambivalence towards images retains its power. This is the
first study to offer an account of the Reformation origins and subsequent flourishing of the Lutheran baroque, of the rich visual culture that developed in parts of the Holy Roman Empire during the later
seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The volume opens with a discussion of the legacy of the Wittenberg Reformation. Three sections then focus on the confessional, devotional, and magnificent image, exploring turning points in Lutherans' attitudes towards religious art. Drawing on a wide variety of archival, printed, and visual sources from two of the Empire's most important Protestant territories - Saxony, the heartland of the Reformation, and Brandenburg - A Magnificent Faith
shows the extent to which Lutheran culture was shaped by territorial divisions. It traces the development of a theologically-grounded aesthetic, and argues that images became prominent vehicles for the
articulation of Lutheran identity not only amongst theologians but also amongst laymen and women. By examining the role of images in the Lutheran tradition as it developed over the course of two centuries, A Magnificent Faith offers a new understanding of the relationship between Protestantism and the visual arts.
Introduction
1: The Reformation Legacy: Images in Luther's Wittenberg
PART I: The Confessional Image
2: Between Catholic Idolatry and Calvinist Iconoclasm: Images and
Confessional Identity in the Sixteenth Century
3: The Desire for Images: Lutheran Identity in Electoral Saxony and
Brandenburg
PART II: The Devotional Image
4: Image, Instruction, and Emotion: Visual Piety during the
Seventeenth Century
5: Lutherans and the Suffering of Christ
6: Visual Commemoration
PART III: The Magnificent Image
7: The Visual Culture of a Lutheran Court: Dresden, 1650-1700
8: Protestant Aesthetics beyond the Court
9: Art and Identity after the 'Confessional Age'
Conclusion
Bridget Heal studied at the universities of Cambridge and London.
Since 2002 she has taught at the University of St Andrews, where
she is currently director of the Reformation Studies Institute. In
2010-2011 she held a visiting fellowship from the Alexander von
Humboldt Foundation at the Freie Universität in Berlin. Her
research focuses on the religious, social, and cultural history of
early modern Germany. Her publications include The Cult of the
Virgin
Mary in Early Modern Germany: Protestant and Catholic Piety,
1500-1648 (2007).
Bridget Heal's A magnificent faith: art and identity in Lutheran
Germany crosses centuries and persuasively argues that we need to
understand not just the utilisation but the celebration of visual
culture within Lutheran identity and religious practice. Heal''s
interdisciplinary study of the visual culture of Lutheranism is
undoubtedly one of the most significant books on Lutheranism to
have appeared in 2017.
*Jennifer Spinks, Journal of Ecclesiastical History*
Carefully researched, cleverly crafted, and clearly written, the
book is a magnificent read to be enjoyed by both scholarly and
broader readerships.
*Maria Crăciun, Catholic Historical Review*
a magnificent book
*Journal of Religious & Theological Information*
a wonderful book, marked by intellectual breadth and erudition,
analytical finesse and careful historical scholarship
*History Today*
[A]rt historians will be drawn to this volume, but, surprisingly,
anyone interested in the history of Lutheran orthodoxy will also
find this volume to be helpful, since it traces visual imaging
whether through print, altars, or paintings when Orthodoxy was at
its height... This book is filled both with color plates and black
and white photos, enhancing its readability by illustrating
artistic achievements among post-Reformation and Baroque craftsmen
in Saxony and Brandenburg. An encounter with this book teaches that
one really does not understand theology apart from the culture
within which it interacts.
*Mark Mattes, Lutheran Quarterly*
Bridget Heal's book is a major contribution to the study of
Protestantism and art. In addition to using recent literature, Heal
has unearthed many apologetic, devotional, homiletic and
theological texts, as well as imagery, to set ideas, images and
objects in their historical and geographical contexts over a period
of more than two hundred years.
*Thomas Dacosta Kaufmann, The Burlington Magazine.*
Heal's book is inviting to read and adequately illustrated (many
images will be unfamiliar; some images are in color). Heal has
brought together masses of difficult material, and her volume
provides much food for thought for scholars of various disciplines
interested in the period or in issues of ideologically sensitive
public art...Highly recommended.
*CHOICE*
Bridget Heal has written a fascinating book. Based on a wealth of
printed and archival material, and accompanied by wonderful
illustrations, she vividly illuminates the visual world of early
modern Lutheranism ... It is one of the most important
contributions to the study of the Reformation tradition for many
years.
*Joachim Whaley, The Art Newspaper*
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