Although Christianity is a ’religion of the book’, visual art has played a crucial role in the history of theological communication, and the premise of this thesis is that historical images are a potentially rich, but underused, theological resource for modern Christians. Art historical analyses are rarely intended or equipped to demonstrate the rich theological potential of attentive interaction between the modern viewer and historical images, and do not take account of the fundamentally incarnational nature of Christian images. There have been, however, relatively few attempts at theological interpretation of historical Christian images and minimal discussion of an appropriate methodology for doing so, despite increased interest in the relationship between theology and visual art. This thesis proposes a methodology for the theological interpretation of images, drawing on critical hermeneutics in theology and literary studies, the approaches of reader criticism, reception theory, and cultural history, the insights of art historical analysis, and a Christian understanding of religious art and sacred place. It demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach through case studies drawn from Florentine fresco cycles of the 14th and 15th centuries, enriching the experience of the modern viewer. In particular it addresses the materiality of images and the relationship between the space within images, the spaces of their locations, and their interaction with the spatially located viewer. The images are shown to be sophisticated pieces of visual theology with the capacity to express complex theological ideas of creation, incarnation, transformation and revelation, in powerfully engaging ways. They present a redeemed, post-resurrection view of creation in which materiality does not, or need not, equate to separation from God; an anti-dualist confession of faith in which content and composition, content and medium, concept and form, image and viewer, interpenetrate to enable material revelation of the divine, with potentially transformative effects.

The fifteenth century was a critical time in the history of the English Benedictine monasteries. On analysis the root of the evil seems to have lain in the monks' wealth. The latitude accorded to individual monks in the matter of private money struck at the foundations of Benedictinism because it bred a spirit of independence, and the abbot's loss of control over his monks was hastened by the growing tendency on the part of the popes to sell any and every indulgence for money. Further, although seemingly so rich and powerful there was a dangerous element of isolation in the position of the great abbeys. Hated by the archbishops and bishops, hated by numbers of their own tenants, they relied too exclusively on the friendship of the King and a few great nobles, a trust which in the succeeding century will be found to be misplaced. Meanwhile the monks, contribution to the life of the times lay still in the realm of learning and pioneer work in literature continued to be done in the monasteries. St. Albans at this time found a distinguished leader in the humanist John of Whethamstede.

Cathedrals do not really have a role in Britain's secular society, do they? Powerful socio­cultural pressures have forced religious suppliers, like Chester Cathedral, to innovate and to develop a tourism offering. Theoretically and empirically, cathedral studies have been dominated by tourism and quantitative strategies. Drawing on marketing scholarship, within the tight parameters of this interdisciplinary study, the thesis aims to challenge the status quo of cathedral studies. In particular, by using relevant branding principles as an illuminating framework, and theoretical tools from the sociology of religion and tourism, the aim is to qualitatively explore how end-users invest meaning in their 'visitor journeys/ Methodologically, the development of a spectrum/continuum of cathedral visitors, which was framed around the visitor journey, contributes to this area. Overall, the research is based upon interview and safari focus-group data. A broad range of actors were interviewed, including cathedral stakeholders, worshipping congregation, tourists and nonusers. The 'sacred brand', as it is developed in this thesis, highlights how visitors, irrespective of their background, creed and purpose of visit, are all able to connect with Chester Cathedral, in some form or another. Although the congregation, tourist and nonusers all use the Cathedral in different ways, the aesthetic value of the space often engendered a powerful emotional response, which was felt to be distinct from the mundane. This underlined the Cathedral's rich emotional economy, in which the sacred space seemed to resonate with visitors allowing them to invest their visitor journey with a deeper meaning than one would normally expect at a heritage site. The power of the sacred brand lies in these sources of significance, whether personal, religious, historical or socio-cultural. The thesis demonstrates the need to protect the Cathedral's legacy, and also, how secular societies still require 'sacred space'—although that space may not always be interested in 'religious' terms. Most broadly, there appears to be a need for an inclusive space that offers even the most ardent atheist sources of significance. As this thesis shows, cathedrals are well placed to provide this space and can be marketed accordingly, in order to meet both the commercial pressures and the need for a spiritual and a liturgical environment. To this end, the thesis also develops a particular method to be used in religious marketing and development of sacred brands.

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This thesis explores the fundamental relationship between Christian Logos doctrine and musical harmony in e1eventh- and twelfth-century religious thought, showing how and why musical imagery was used to represent Christ's theological role as the provider of harmony at every level (physical, spiritual, moral, eschatological and scriptural). I show firstly how the medieval Christian concept of Christ the harmonising Logos has its origins in pagan Greek ideas of logos as a linguistic and mathematical ordering principle. In particular I investigate the role of logos in Pythagorean and Platonic thought as a specifically musical harmonising principle by which the two extremes of the octave gap are reconciled and united in proportional relationship through mathematical mediation. I demonstrate how medieval thinkers attributed this pagan notion of musical logos to Christ. Thus the Logos is regarded as the harmonising Mediator who reconciles all the archetypal dualities of human existence (God and man, creation and New Creation, heaven and earth, body and intellect, time and eternity, Law and grace, Old and New Testaments) in order to unite these opposite extremes and so 'make the two one' [Eph.2:14]. Secondly I demonstrate how this pre-Christian notion of a linguistic and mathematical harmonising principle also features in ancient Jewish thought. Thus the thesis explores how in the Hebrew Scriptures the harmonious unity of the created universe is effected firstly through God's spoken word, and secondly by his mathematical wisdom through which he 'orders all things in measure and number and weight' [Wis.ll:21]. I show how medieval religious thinkers again attributed these Jewish ideas ofa harmonising 'word' and 'wisdom' to Christ. The thesis demonstrates how complex ideas about Christological harmony are represented in medieval text and art through the use of musical imagery, both harmonic and instrumental, and specifically through trumpet imagery.

This thesis explores the significance for Christians of the attractiveness of Japanese art, seeking to be true both to its distinctive religio-aesthetic milieu and to Christian believing. Its concern is for faithful,open hearted living in a plural world. Recognising in the trust which the beauty of the art evokes the operation of the Holy Spirit in redemption,it asks how we may hold together the person of Jesus Christ and the diverse meanings of the faiths. In answer it understands, from our life in God as ever extending& and necessarily hidden from us, a plenitude of meaning. Drawing on Ben Quash’s presentation of Christian living as enhanced theo dramatics of unframed reading of events with Christ, it offers a practice of juxtaposition. Examples are given from rock gardens, nō stage and shrine mandalas. More than dialectics, this is creative poiesis, illustrated by framing the metaphor ‘Christ is ma, where ma is that space marked by trace figuring emptiness, seen in these Japanese arts. The metaphor opens our eyes to evanescence, suchness and nothingness, and the faiths they articulate, as held by God within a field of loving trust. Such practice is dynamic and moral; ways are suggested in which it extends perspective, including in Christian performance of mission, dialogue and inculturation. Hence the thesis argues for the continuing importance of experience of difference. This is understood by means of Mutō Kazuo’s Field of the Inversion of Polarities under the mediating sign of Christ crucified and risen. Difference ultimately derives from and speaks of the dissimilitude between the Persons of the Trinity, origin of God’s ever greater nature as love. The gap of meaning between incommensurate but compelling faiths is to be received as space given by God for growth in love, participant in the loving relations of the Persons of the Holy Trinity.

The present work seeks to explore the modern Orthodox Christian view of western art with a particular reference to western painting since the times of the Italian Renaissance to the present day. The fact that the phenomenon of western art is relatively new appears as a main challenge while attempting to examine the validity of modern views expressed in the name of the Orthodox tradition by references from patristic sources. Therefore the method of this thesis is to divide the concept of western art into its constituent components and find the patristic responses to each of them in the light of the Fathers’ appreciation of their contemporary art, literature and philosophy outside the church. As an interdisciplinary exploration of artistic creativity this work has its goal throughout to trace the positive aspects presented by the masterpieces of western art that can aid the Christian process of theosis as well as enhance the Orthodox theological contribution to the ecumenical dialogue between the East and West on the grounds of common aspects manifested in the phenomenon of human creativity. Drawing on categories of western aesthetics as well as Orthodox theology, this work is particularly interested in the nature of Orthodox arguments for and against artistic creativity per se and their relationship to the ‘Patristic mind’ of the Church rather than seeking the direct quotations of the Fathers over the subject in vain. The historical background of the modern disagreement over the issue will be taken into special consideration. Focusing on western art from an Orthodox perspective is fundamentally at odds with many conservative expectations of human creativity that are usually associated with iconography and liturgical art in Orthodox theology. Yet, the number and quality of works dedicated to explorations of iconography provides a sufficient material for enlightening both Orthodox and western readers on the mystical power of spiritual illumination generating from Orthodox icons as well as its artistic and historical analyses. The topic of this work – art outside the liturgical boundaries of the church –has been deliberately chosen. The central argument of this work is that human creativity in general has a divine origin since it has been inherited from the creative energy of God. The power of artistic influence cannot be doubted especially in a modern society that subconsciously seeks a liberation from the custody of the machinery of technical civilization. Therefore, the search for true and authentic goodness in sincere artistic manifestations of beauty and truth can find an important place in the Orthodox Christian consciousness without a need for its inclusion in worship. If taken seriously great masterpieces of western art offer an immense contribution to the theological study of spiritual senses and their relationship to the process of theosis.

The history of art and religion is intricately linked in Western culture. This thesis focuses on one strand of this relationship and is concerned with the role of performance practices in relation to spirituality in the West. Contemporary performance practice and theory are at the centre of this research. Case studies on the Roman Catholic Liturgy and the performance artist Marina Abramovi! are used to show how traditional analyses of spiritual performance have not accounted for the effects and affects of metaphysics in how we understand belief. I argue that examinations of spiritual performance are needed which do not try to understand such performances in terms of their representative meaning, but rather, seek to account for their performative qualities as practices that both instantiate and manifest belief. Performative theory has been used extensively to analyse language and human action, specifically the performance of gender. Here belief is taken as the subject of performative action and rituals are examined as performance practices which perform belief. Starting with Jacques Derrida, I begin a discussion of metaphysics and representation, tracing the nature of Western understandings of belief from Plato, to Friedrich Nietzsche, to Derrida, and to contemporary theological investigations into the nature of the human soul. This establishes the metaphysical history of the treatment of belief as well as various theoretical attempts to move past this model. The work of J.L. Austin, John R. Searle, Judith Butler and Saba Mahmood is employed to examine belief through speech act theory as a verb and finally through performative theory as an action. The first half of the thesis contextualises Western belief as a culturally specific entity that has not been analysed or understood in relation to its physical and material aspects, as well as developing an analysis of performative action. The second half applies the performative approach to the case studies.

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