Robin Margaret Jensen - Understanding Early Christian Art (2000).jpg
 | Robin Margaret Jensen - Understanding Early Christian Art (2000).jpg
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Robin Jensen has received a fair amount of press for her books, but I find nothing particularly new in her presentations. She clings resolutely to the outworn dichotomies of naturlism/realism, narrative/non-narrative, and the notion of "portraiture." She also continues to use theology in the "snippet" sense, rather than exploring the art itself as theology and trying to explain its relationship with written theological texts (either by region, theologian, liturgical texts, etc.). Her sole contribution in this area is the well-worn trajectory of iconic versus aniconic statements in various Christian theologians, one that has already been well-documented and needs no further treatment. Given her upbringing in an aniconic Protestant tradition, I find it odd that her current academic title is "Luce Chancellor's Professor of the History of Christian Worship and Art," particularly when she is responsible for presenting the liturgical history of Early Christianity. Liturgy is not simply an adjunct to imagery. Liturgy is the fitting worship of God that is the obligation of all creation. Therefore, it is cosmic. Therefore, understanding early Christian art, at least a large part of it, necessitates understanding Christian (i.e., Catholic) liturgy and I don't think Jensen really "gets" a priestly, sacrificial, sacramental worldview and that is absolute de rigueur if one wants to explain liturgy and early Christian art. Jensen may know all the monuments of early Christian art, but she doesn't really know how to explain them in a meaningful way. She would have done better to have read some ressourcement theology as preparation for writing her book.
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