Reviews
While Timothy Verdon's immense erudition in the European tradition of sacred art is everywhere apparent, this book is written for non-specialist readers willing to allow their practice of Christian prayer - both in liturgy and in personal devotion - to be enriched and given theological precision through art once intended for such work. My hope is surely that of Mons. Verdon himself: that this book may help to inspire both artists and their communities to create new art that is answerable to the various modes of prayer and worship, so that a book such as Verdon's could be written a generation hence with examples drawn from artworks newly commissioned for the contemporary church., There is an "art of prayer," when faith and prayer become creative responses by which creatures made in the image and likeness of the Creator relate to him with help of the imagination. ... Richly illustrated, Monsignor Verdon explains that images work in believers as tools that teach them how to turn to God. They had me at "richly illustrated." Over the years I have become more and more attracted to paintings as keys to helping me connect more honestly and deeply with God. The book does indeed have many gorgeous pieces of art which are wonderfully explained and made personal by the text of the book. For example, looking at both the inset and whole painting of Piero della Francesca's Baptism of Christ, the author takes us through what the painter hopes to show us, the importance of the original setting for the piece and it's possible impact on the monks who would have seen it daily, and the importance of interior transformation for every one of us. He then uses the painting's landscape to segue into nature, Scripture, and imagination before moving on to the next piece for inspiration. All this is by page 6, by the way. Needless to say, I am finding this thought provoking, eye opening, and inspirational. This is a gem. -- Julie Davis, Happy Catholic, In a digital age, "Art & Prayer: The beauty of turning to God" is a testament not only to the power of its twin subjects but also to the charm of the paper medium. As befits a book by the renowned art historian Msgr. Timothy Verdon, the paper used for this volume is smooth and substantial, the typeface pleasant and easy to read, and the page after page of art reproductions stunning in their depth of color and beauty. Prayer takes place in a religious context, of course, but Verdon widens the concept of prayer on the first page: "People pray ... when they look around themselves with attention, open themselves to the beauty of creation and allow themselves to be touched by the suffering of others." Since the author is deeply engages with art, he explores how the many manifestations of Christian prayer have been expressed in visual terms. Verdon has lived in the city of art -- Florence, Italy -- for 50 years and directs the Diocesan Office of Sacred Art and Church Cultural Heritage, and the Cathedral Foundation Museum. He is also an ecumenist, directing the Centre for Ecumenism of the Archdiocese of Florence. He recently became the academic director of the Mount Tabor Ecumenical Centre for Art & Spirituality in Barga, Italy, about 68 miles northeast of Florence. The center was founded last year by the Community of Jesus, an ecumenical monastery of women, men, and families living a consecrated life on Cape Cod, Mass. This book is the first to bear the Mount Tabor imprint. The chapters analyze paintings and sculpture that depict prayer spaces, liturgical prayer, prayerful reading (lectio divina), prayers of pleading, contemplative and prayer at the hour of death. In engaging, accessible language, Verdon takes the reader through works by Dutch, German and Italian Renaissance masters--Van Eyck, Holbein, da Vinci, Titian, Michelangelo--as well as modern artists. The first image, however, is that of an anonymous third-century artist, who painted the image of a woman clad in a brown robe, with her arms outstretched and her eyes turned upward, on a catacomb in Rome. "The woman's prayer ... springs from the ordinary sacrifices and joys of family life, and her solemn, veiled figure ... expresses the final state to which these sacrifices and joys have brought her--the painting in fact adorns her tomb," Verdon writes. Her position reflects that of Christ crucified. "On the cross where he gave his life," Verdon says, "Jesus prayed, and it is his prayer that Christians are called to reproduce in their own lives." When disciples asked, "Lord, teach us to pray," Jesus "in fact teaches how to give one's life," writes Verdon. "[T]he art that springs from this gift of life and that describes it ... thus necessarily celebrates prayer." "Art & Prayer" is a journey through a world of visual and spiritual riches that rewards the reader again and again. --Solange De Santis, Epis Journal Msgr. Timothy Verdon, author of Art and Prayer, presents great works of art capable of evoking creative responses to the divine. The beauty of the works spurs the heart to praise God, as does the splendor found in nature. Images and architecture, he writes, can teach us and lead us to prayer as do the Scriptures, acting as "stimuli" to encounter God's presence as a feast. The author, academic director of the Mount Tabor Ecumenical Center for Art and Spirituality in Barga, Italy, sees art as expressing an incarnational view of the universe. He quotes St. John's that, in Jesus Christ, "life was made visible...the image of the unseen God." Art is a manifestation of the Workd, as is all of creation. --Sr. Mona Castelazo, The Pilot, We're not above giving in to holiday shopping pitches here (there's only so much high-mindedness we can muster!), so we're just going to come out and say that this book should definitely be on your list for anyone who has a love for the heritage of Christian art. This volume is sumptuously illustrated with color art reproductions; for all you lovers of the printed word, the book also has a satisfying heft. In fact, it's the first title in the new Paraclete Press imprint called Mount Tabor Books which will be devoted to liturgical art, art history, and the early church. But let's get straight to the content, which is based on an idea at once counterintuitive and brilliant. Most of us think of prayer as an inward thing, even when we're praying with others. But Monsignor Timothy Verdon's thesis is that the outwardness of great art can teach us a great deal about the art of prayer itself. And so his book examines how some of the great Christian artists--primarily from the medieval and Renaissance eras, with a smattering from other periods--can help us understand prayer through symbol, gesture, drama, and context. Few art historians are more qualified to do this than Msgr. Verdon, an American priest who has been based at the Duomo in Florence, Italy for half a century. (A few lucky Image seminar participants had the privilege of getting a private art tour from him a few years ago.) In lucid, accessible prose, Verdon covers various aspects of prayer--how it relates to our daily life, the spaces in which it takes place, corporate worship, lectio divina, and beyond--rather like he was giving you a personal tour of a huge art gallery. The visual vocabulary of Christianity has been so impoverished in recent centuries that it's both an education and a deep source of spiritual enrichment to be re-acquainted with the riches that are still ours. Get this book and allow great art to deepen your prayer life. -- Image Update , At first glance a glossy gift book of religious art, this inspired--and inspiring--title from the publisher's new imprint explores prayer. "Images put before believers can in fact teach them how to turn to God in prayer," writes Verdon, a Catholic priest and art historian, "and in every age characterize man's encounter with God as 'a feast.'" The author, who specializes in art and spirituality, skillfully leads the reader through astute analyses of paintings and other art objects, each a puzzle to be investigated and a mystery to be pondered. Verdon's key themes unfurl through chapters on liturgical prayer, lectio divina, intercession, and the like, concluding with a tender reflection on prayer in the face of death. His discussions of prayer space and the dimension of time as it is experienced in prayer are illuminating. The author's analysis of art is grounded in the words of the Bible and early Christian writers such as Tertullian, Jerome, Augustine, and others in the Catholic tradition; his style is clear and engaging, accessible to the general reader. While Verdon, a long-time resident of Florence, focuses on Italian art of the Renaissance, he also considers works from other European countries and eras. Throughout he demonstrates not only mastery of his topics but also a love of great art and deep faith. The result is a visual and verbal feast for contemplation and study. -Publishers Weekly, At first glance a glossy gift book of religious art, this inspired--and inspiring--title from the publisher's new imprint explores prayer. "Images put before believers can in fact teach them how to turn to God in prayer," writes Verdon, a Catholic priest and art historian, "and in every age characterize man's encounter with God as 'a feast.'" The author, who specializes in art and spirituality, skillfully leads the reader through astute analyses of paintings and other art objects, each a puzzle to be investigated and a mystery to be pondered. Verdon's key themes unfurl through chapters on liturgical prayer, lectio divina, intercession, and the like, concluding with a tender reflection on prayer in the face of death. His discussions of prayer space and the dimension of time as it is experienced in prayer are illuminating. The author's analysis of art is grounded in the words of the Bible and early Christian writers such as Tertullian, Jerome, Augustine, and others in the Catholic tradition; his style is clear and engaging, accessible to the general reader. While Verdon, a long-time resident of Florence, focuses on Italian art of the Renaissance, he also considers works from other European countries and eras. Throughout he demonstrates not only mastery of his topics but also a love of great art and deep faith. The result is a visual and verbal feast for contemplation and study. --Publishers Weekly, Timothy Verdon is an art historian and scholar with 50 years of experience in the field but when he talks about prayer in the lavishly illustrated Art and Prayer (Paraclete Press), he writes as one who knows his subject firsthand. I had the opportunity to meet Verdon recently at the Museum of Biblical Art in New York where he has been the curator of an exhibit of sculpture from the Duomo museum in Florence. (To see more images from that show and from the Duomo, check out the slideshow below.) As Verdon reemphasizes in his book, this art from the Renaissance was created at a time when most viewers were illiterate. They couldn''t read the Bible, could only listen to its stories. They turned to paintings and sculpture to better understand the Word - and we still can. "Images put before believers can in fact teach them how to turn to God in prayer," he writes. The images themselves might look simple but the theological concepts can be profound. For instance, a fourteenth-century painting of Mary praying before the infant Jesus in swaddling clothes reminds us of the basic fact that we can all pray to Jesus. But Verdon goes on to say "that the same woman who prays before her newborn Son in our fourteenth-century painting will in fact later teach Him to walk, talk, and say his prayers: for He is contemporaneously true God and true man, outside but also inside time." This notion is fundamental to prayer "because - as all who turn regularly to God know - if on the one hand it is we who seek His help with our needs, on the other it is He who sought us first. Prayer, if properly motivated, is always free, and yet our freedom is itself His gift." Most of this art, like the sculptures in the Duomo, were done for churches and these are naturally places for prayer, not just bricks and mortar. He quotes Augustine, saying, Christians "do not constitute a house of God unless they are cemented together by love." But just seeing art is the believer''s pilgrimage in our desire to grow closer to God. "The desire to see God is not mere curiosity but a deep impulse of Christian faith. ''The Word was made flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory,'' the prologue to the fourth Gospel affirms (John 1:14), and another text attributed to Saint John insists that, in Jesus Christ, "Life was made visible: we saw it and we are giving our testimony, telling you of the eternal life which was with the Father and has been made visible to us" (1 John 1:2). Similarly, speaking of Christ, the Pauline letter to the Colossians states simply: ''He is the image of the unseen God" (Col. 1:15). Verdon has lived in Florence, Italy, for most of the last 50 years. For those of &us who can''t drop everything and fly to Florence to hear him and see the works of the Duomo, I hope this slideshow helps. To hear him talk, turn to his book, Art and Prayer. It is a rich, meditative read, as satisfying as prayer, and I believe it will enhance anyone''s prayer life. --Rick Hamlin, Guidepost Msgr. Timothy Verdon, author of Art & Prayer , presents great works of art capable of evoking creative responses to the divine. The beauty of the works spurs the heart to praise God, as does the splendor found in nature. Images and architecture, he writes, can teach us and lead us to prayer as do the Scriptures, acting as "stimuli" to encounter God''s presence as a feast. The author, academic director of the Mount Tabor Ecumenical Center for Art and Spirituality in Barga, Italy, sees art as expressing an incarnational view of the universe. He quotes St. John''s insight that, in Jesus Christ, "life was made visible ... the image of the unseen God." Art is a manifestation of the Word, as is all of creation. --Sr. Mona Castelazo, CSJ, The Pilot, Timothy Verdon is an art historian and scholar with 50 years of experience in the field but when he talks about prayer in the lavishly illustrated Art and Prayer (Paraclete Press), he writes as one who knows his subject firsthand. I had the opportunity to meet Verdon recently at the Museum of Biblical Art in New York where he has been the curator of an exhibit of sculpture from the Duomo museum in Florence. (To see more images from that show and from the Duomo, check out the slideshow below.) As Verdon reemphasizes in his book, this art from the Renaissance was created at a time when most viewers were illiterate. They couldn''t read the Bible, could only listen to its stories. They turned to paintings and sculpture to better understand the Word - and we still can. "Images put before believers can in fact teach them how to turn to God in prayer," he writes. The images themselves might look simple but the theological concepts can be profound. For instance, a fourteenth-century painting of Mary praying before the infant Jesus in swaddling clothes reminds us of the basic fact that we can all pray to Jesus. But Verdon goes on to say "that the same woman who prays before her newborn Son in our fourteenth-century painting will in fact later teach Him to walk, talk, and say his prayers: for He is contemporaneously true God and true man, outside but also inside time." This notion is fundamental to prayer "because - as all who turn regularly to God know - if on the one hand it is we who seek His help with our needs, on the other it is He who sought us first. Prayer, if properly motivated, is always free, and yet our freedom is itself His gift." Most of this art, like the sculptures in the Duomo, were done for churches and these are naturally places for prayer, not just bricks and mortar. He quotes Augustine, saying, Christians "do not constitute a house of God unless they are cemented together by love." But just seeing art is the believer''s pilgrimage in our desire to grow closer to God. "The desire to see God is not mere curiosity but a deep impulse of Christian faith. ''The Word was made flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory,'' the prologue to the fourth Gospel affirms (John 1:14), and another text attributed to Saint John insists that, in Jesus Christ, "Life was made visible: we saw it and we are giving our testimony, telling you of the eternal life which was with the Father and has been made visible to us" (1 John 1:2). Similarly, speaking of Christ, the Pauline letter to the Colossians states simply: ''He is the image of the unseen God" (Col. 1:15). Verdon has lived in Florence, Italy, for most of the last 50 years. For those of &us who can''t drop everything and fly to Florence to hear him and see the works of the Duomo, I hope this slideshow helps. To hear him talk, turn to his book, Art and Prayer. It is a rich, meditative read, as satisfying as prayer, and I believe it will enhance anyone''s prayer life. --Rick Hamlin, Guidepost Msgr. Timothy Verdon, author of Art & Prayer , presents great works of art capable of evoking creative responses to the divine. The beauty of the works spurs the heart to praise God, as does the splendor found in nature. Images and architecture, he writes, can teach us and lead us to prayer as do the Scriptures, acting as "stimuli" to encounter God's presence as a feast. The author, academic director of the Mount Tabor Ecumenical Center for Art and Spirituality in Barga, Italy, sees art as expressing an incarnational view of the universe. He quotes St. John's insight that, in Jesus Christ, "life was made visible ... the image of the unseen God." Art is a manifestation of the Word, as is all of creation. --Sr. Mona Castelazo, CSJ, The Pilot, We're not above giving in to holiday shopping pitches here (there's only so much high-mindedness we can muster!), so we're just going to come out and say that this book should definitely be on your list for anyone who has a love for the heritage of Christian art. This volume is sumptuously illustrated with color art reproductions; for all you lovers of the printed word, the book also has a satisfying heft. In fact, it's the first title in the new Paraclete Press imprint called Mount Tabor Books which will be devoted to liturgical art, art history, and the early church. But let's get straight to the content, which is based on an idea at once counterintuitive and brilliant. Most of us think of prayer as an inward thing, even when we're praying with others. But Monsignor Timothy Verdon's thesis is that the outwardness of great art can teach us a great deal about the art of prayer itself. And so his book examines how some of the great Christian artists--primarily from the medieval and Renaissance eras, with a smattering from other periods--can help us understand prayer through symbol, gesture, drama, and context. Few art historians are more qualified to do this than Msgr. Verdon, an American priest who has been based at the Duomo in Florence, Italy for half a century. (A few lucky Image seminar participants had the privilege of getting a private art tour from him a few years ago.) In lucid, accessible prose, Verdon covers various aspects of prayer--how it relates to our daily life, the spaces in which it takes place, corporate worship, lectio divina, and beyond--rather like he was giving you a personal tour of a huge art gallery. The visual vocabulary of Christianity has been so impoverished in recent centuries that it's both an education and a deep source of spiritual enrichment to be re-acquainted with the riches that are still ours. Get this book and allow great art to deepen your prayer life. -- Image Update , Monsignor Timothy Verdon is a priest in the Diocese of Florence, Italy. In fact, he is head of Diocesan Office of Sacred Art and Church Cultural Heritage, as well as related offices. According to the dust cover, he holds a PhD in Art History from Yale University, one of the best schools for this kind of study. He has put his expert training to very good use in this book. I assume that the man is an American. The title describes the contents quite well: art and prayer. Verdon explores the subject of prayer by means of sacred art, mostly painting of the Florentine School from the late Middle Ages to the seventeenth century. Anybody who has spent time in Florence knows that the place is chock full of this kind of art. I once spent a couple of months studying Italian in Florence. I did not learn much Italian, but I learned a great deal about Renaissance painting. It is quite unusual, at least in my experience, to find a book that treats both sacred art and the spirituality behind it is such a serious fashion. The very physical makeup of this book tells us that: it is printed on coated stock to provide the art pieces with maximum brilliance. It is laid out in a tasteful manner. And the text is easy to follow, with the references to the paintings given in bold face print. For the price, this is a very good bargain. But Verdon is not only an expert art critic; he is also a spiritual master who provides us with a serious treatise on prayer. This is suggested by the chapter titles; 1. Prayer, Life, Art; 2. Spaces of Prayer; 3. Liturgical Prayer; 4. The Prayer of Pleading; 5. Lectio Divina; 6. Contemplative Prayer; 7. In the Hour of Death. These titles suggest that this is not just a superficial coffee-table art volume, nor another piece of pop-spirituality, but an in-depth exploration of prayer through the lens of great Christian art. I would certainly recommend this book for someone who wants to combine spiritual reading with aesthetic enjoyment. Actually, it is an ideal tool for lectio divina, not of biblical texts, but of the art of Christian history which is saturated with biblical piety. I used the book for devotional reading and found it very satisfying. --Terrence Kardong, O.S.B., Assumption Abbey, American Benedictine Review I recently consumed Monsignor Timothy Verdon's Art and Prayer: The Beauty of Turning to God . It is a life enriching book. Focusing mostly on Renaissance art--with works by van Eyck, Holbein, da Vinci, Titian, Michelangelo in a lavishly illustrated book with more than 100 images--Verdon emphasizes that art of that time was created when most viewers were illiterate. He explains how sacred images have taught believers how to behave, showing poses and facial expressions in which even nonbelievers immediately recognize a spiritual presence. He says, "These images teach viewers how to pray, and for those who see them, living, believing, and praying seem to be the same thing." Absorbing the artworks in this book with Verdon's skillful ability to paint a picture of the culture, the themes, the symbolism is enlightening. The two arenas of art and prayer, juxtaposed, enrich each other. This is an excellent read. ---Linda Chestney, The Covenant Companion , Timothy Verdon is an art historian and scholar with 50 years of experience in the field but when he talks about prayer in the lavishly illustrated Art and Prayer (Paraclete Press), he writes as one who knows his subject firsthand. I had the opportunity to meet Verdon recently at the Museum of Biblical Art in New York where he has been the curator of an exhibit of sculpture from the Duomo museum in Florence. (To see more images from that show and from the Duomo, check out the slideshow below.) As Verdon reemphasizes in his book, this art from the Renaissance was created at a time when most viewers were illiterate. They couldn't read the Bible, could only listen to its stories. They turned to paintings and sculpture to better understand the Word - and we still can. "Images put before believers can in fact teach them how to turn to God in prayer," he writes. The images themselves might look simple but the theological concepts can be profound. For instance, a fourteenth-century painting of Mary praying before the infant Jesus in swaddling clothes reminds us of the basic fact that we can all pray to Jesus. But Verdon goes on to say "that the same woman who prays before her newborn Son in our fourteenth-century painting will in fact later teach Him to walk, talk, and say his prayers: for He is contemporaneously true God and true man, outside but also inside time." This notion is fundamental to prayer "because - as all who turn regularly to God know - if on the one hand it is we who seek His help with our needs, on the other it is He who sought us first. Prayer, if properly motivated, is always free, and yet our freedom is itself His gift." Most of this art, like the sculptures in the Duomo, were done for churches and these are naturally places for prayer, not just bricks and mortar. He quotes Augustine, saying, Christians "do not constitute a house of God unless they are cemented together by love." But just seeing art is the believer's pilgrimage in our desire to grow closer to God. "The desire to see God is not mere curiosity but a deep impulse of Christian faith. 'The Word was made flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory,' the prologue to the fourth Gospel affirms (John 1:14), and another text attributed to Saint John insists that, in Jesus Christ, "Life was made visible: we saw it and we are giving our testimony, telling you of the eternal life which was with the Father and has been made visible to us" (1 John 1:2). Similarly, speaking of Christ, the Pauline letter to the Colossians states simply: 'He is the image of the unseen God" (Col. 1:15). Verdon has lived in Florence, Italy, for most of the last 50 years. For those of &us who can't drop everything and fly to Florence to hear him and see the works of the Duomo, I hope this slideshow helps. To hear him talk, turn to his book, Art and Prayer. It is a rich, meditative read, as satisfying as prayer, and I believe it will enhance anyone's prayer life. --Rick Hamlin, Guidepost, In a digital age, "Art & Prayer: The beauty of turning to God" is a testament not only to the power of its twin subjects but also to the charm of the paper medium. As befits a book by the renowned art historian Msgr. Timothy Verdon, the paper used for this volume is smooth and substantial, the typeface pleasant and easy to read, and the page after page of art reproductions stunning in their depth of color and beauty. Prayer takes place in a religious context, of course, but Verdon widens the concept of prayer on the first page: "People pray ... when they look around themselves with attention, open themselves to the beauty of creation and allow themselves to be touched by the suffering of others." Since the author is deeply engages with art, he explores how the many manifestations of Christian prayer have been expressed in visual terms. Verdon has lived in the city of art -- Florence, Italy -- for 50 years and directs the Diocesan Office of Sacred Art and Church Cultural Heritage, and the Cathedral Foundation Museum. He is also an ecumenist, directing the Centre for Ecumenism of the Archdiocese of Florence. He recently became the academic director of the Mount Tabor Ecumenical Centre for Art & Spirituality in Barga, Italy, about 68 miles northeast of Florence. The center was founded last year by the Community of Jesus, an ecumenical monastery of women, men, and families living a consecrated life on Cape Cod, Mass. This book is the first to bear the Mount Tabor imprint. The chapters analyze paintings and sculpture that depict prayer spaces, liturgical prayer, prayerful reading (lectio divina), prayers of pleading, contemplative and prayer at the hour of death. In engaging, accessible language, Verdon takes the reader through works by Dutch, German and Italian Renaissance masters--Van Eyck, Holbein, da Vinci, Titian, Michelangelo--as well as modern artists. The first image, however, is that of an anonymous third-century artist, who painted the image of a woman clad in a brown robe, with her arms outstretched and her eyes turned upward, on a catacomb in Rome. "The woman's prayer ... springs from the ordinary sacrifices and joys of family life, and her solemn, veiled figure ... expresses the final state to which these sacrifices and joys have brought her--the painting in fact adorns her tomb," Verdon writes. Her position reflects that of Christ crucified. "On the cross where he gave his life," Verdon says, "Jesus prayed, and it is his prayer that Christians are called to reproduce in their own lives." When disciples asked, "Lord, teach us to pray," Jesus "in fact teaches how to give one's life," writes Verdon. "[T]he art that springs from this gift of life and that describes it ... thus necessarily celebrates prayer." "Art & Prayer" is a journey through a world of visual and spiritual riches that rewards the reader again and again. --Solange De Santis, Epis Journal, Monsignor Timothy Verdon is a priest in the Diocese of Florence, Italy. In fact, he is head of Diocesan Office of Sacred Art and Church Cultural Heritage, as well as related offices. According to the dust cover, he holds a PhD in Art History from Yale University, one of the best schools for this kind of study. He has put his expert training to very good use in this book. I assume that the man is an American. The title describes the contents quite well: art and prayer. Verdon explores the subject of prayer by means of sacred art, mostly painting of the Florentine School from the late Middle Ages to the seventeenth century. Anybody who has spent time in Florence knows that the place is chock full of this kind of art. I once spent a couple of months studying Italian in Florence. I did not learn much Italian, but I learned a great deal about Renaissance painting. It is quite unusual, at least in my experience, to find a book that treats both sacred art and the spirituality behind it is such a serious fashion. The very physical makeup of this book tells us that: it is printed on coated stock to provide the art pieces with maximum brilliance. It is laid out in a tasteful manner. And the text is easy to follow, with the references to the paintings given in bold face print. For the price, this is a very good bargain. But Verdon is not only an expert art critic; he is also a spiritual master who provides us with a serious treatise on prayer. This is suggested by the chapter titles; 1. Prayer, Life, Art; 2. Spaces of Prayer; 3. Liturgical Prayer; 4. The Prayer of Pleading; 5. Lectio Divina; 6. Contemplative Prayer; 7. In the Hour of Death. These titles suggest that this is not just a superficial coffee-table art volume, nor another piece of pop-spirituality, but an in-depth exploration of prayer through the lens of great Christian art. I would certainly recommend this book for someone who wants to combine spiritual reading with aesthetic enjoyment. Actually, it is an ideal tool for lectio divina, not of biblical texts, but of the art of Christian history which is saturated with biblical piety. I used the book for devotional reading and found it very satisfying. --Terrence Kardong, O.S.B., Assumption Abbey, American Benedictine Review, We're not above giving in to holiday shopping pitches here (there's only so much high-mindedness we can muster!), so we're just going to come out and say that this book should definitely be on your list for anyone who has a love for the heritage of Christian art. This volume is sumptuously illustrated with color art reproductions; for all you lovers of the printed word, the book also has a satisfying heft. In fact, it's the first title in the new Paraclete Press imprint called Mount Tabor Books which will be devoted to liturgical art, art history, and the early church. But let's get straight to the content, which is based on an idea at once counterintuitive and brilliant. Most of us think of prayer as an inward thing, even when we're praying with others. But Monsignor Timothy Verdon's thesis is that the outwardness of great art can teach us a great deal about the art of prayer itself. And so his book examines how some of the great Christian artists--primarily from the medieval and Renaissance eras, with a smattering from other periods--can help us understand prayer through symbol, gesture, drama, and context. Few art historians are more qualified to do this than Msgr. Verdon, an American priest who has been based at the Duomo in Florence, Italy for half a century. (A few lucky Image seminar participants had the privilege of getting a private art tour from him a few years ago.) In lucid, accessible prose, Verdon covers various aspects of prayer--how it relates to our daily life, the spaces in which it takes place, corporate worship, lectio divina, and beyond--rather like he was giving you a personal tour of a huge art gallery. The visual vocabulary of Christianity has been so impoverished in recent centuries that it's both an education and a deep source of spiritual enrichment to be re-acquainted with the riches that are still ours. Get this book and allow great art to deepen your prayer life. -- Image Update Monsignor Verdon has a knack for weaving imagery, commentary and catechesis. This synergy creates an intimate space for the reader. He draws you into the artwork, explaining easily overlooked details, igniting insights. You fall in love with the masterpieces the more they shine forth with meaning. But, there's more. It was not uncommon that I set the book aside in order to pray. There's the book's real success. The author is a New Jersey native and Yale grad with a PhD in art history. At 48, he became a priest in Florence, Italy where he directs the Diocesan Office of Sacred Art & Church Cultural Heritage and the Cathedral Foundation Museum. He is a Vatican consultor on the arts and Director for the Ecumenical Center for the Archdiocese of Florence. His bibliography is extensive. Monsignor Verdon is a highly qualified guide into the world of art with a pastor's touch for the soul's need for God. --Father Michael Hickin, There is an "art of prayer," when faith and prayer become creative responses by which creatures made in the image and likeness of the Creator relate to him with help of the imagination. ... Richly illustrated, Monsignor Verdon explains that images work in believers as tools that teach them how to turn to God. They had me at "richly illustrated." Over the years I have become more and more attracted to paintings as keys to helping me connect more honestly and deeply with God. The book does indeed have many gorgeous pieces of art which are wonderfully explained and made personal by the text of the book. For example, looking at both the inset and whole painting of Piero della Francesca's Baptism of Christ, the author takes us through what the painter hopes to show us, the importance of the original setting for the piece and it's possible impact on the monks who would have seen it daily, and the importance of interior transformation for every one of us. He then uses the painting's landscape to segue into nature, Scripture, and imagination before moving on to the next piece for inspiration. All this is by page 6, by the way. Needless to say, I am finding this thought provoking, eye opening, and inspirational. This is a gem. -- Julie Davis, Happy Catholic, At first glance a glossy gift book of religious art, this inspired--and inspiring--title from the publisher's new imprint explores prayer. "Images put before believers can in fact teach them how to turn to God in prayer," writes Verdon, a Catholic priest and art historian, "and in every age characterize man's encounter with God as 'a feast.'" The author, who specializes in art and spirituality, skillfully leads the reader through astute analyses of paintings and other art objects, each a puzzle to be investigated and a mystery to be pondered. Verdon's key themes unfurl through chapters on liturgical prayer, lectio divina, intercession, and the like, concluding with a tender reflection on prayer in the face of death. His discussions of prayer space and the dimension of time as it is experienced in prayer are illuminating. The author's analysis of art is grounded in the words of the Bible and early Christian writers such as Tertullian, Jerome, Augustine, and others in the Catholic tradition; his style is clear and engaging, accessible to the general reader. While Verdon, a long-time resident of Florence, focuses on Italian art of the Renaissance, he also considers works from other European countries and eras. Throughout he demonstrates not only mastery of his topics but also a love of great art and deep faith. The result is a visual and verbal feast for contemplation and study. --Publishers Weekly
