Review:
Well-organised, cogently argued, expertly composed, erudite yet approachable, and masterfully researched, Picturing the Apocalypse is a worthwhile tour among all things apocalyptic. The authors chart a clear path through a thicket of theological and æsthetic considerations without losing their way. (Eric Hoffman, The Fortean Times)
The judges...admired its tight, elegant and eloquent structure, its liveliness and accessibility, its timeliness and its originality and analysis of imagery and idea. (ACE/Mercers Book Award press release)
In Picturing the Apocalypse, Natasha O'Hear and Anthony O'Hear tackle [the Book of Revelation] with vigour, taking us on an almost breathless tour d'horizon. We are guided through treatments of the key elements of Revelation in art from the Middles Ages to the present. The O'Hears encourage us to get behind some of the most popular images, discover their original meanings and, where appropriate, to apply modern moral sensitivities to challenge aspects of the text itself ... fascinating reading ... (Andrew Hammond, Times Literary Supplement)
This book provides a thoughtful coverage of the subject with a close examination of text and image by means of detailed treatment of selected examples ... for a stimulating treatment of a complex subject, it is to be thoroughly recommended. (C.M. Kauffmann, Burlington Magazine)
Extraordinary book (Jane O'Grady, Times Higher Education)
clearly organized, and beautifully written ... impeccable, yet always accessible scholarship and effortless interdisciplinarity combining New Testament biblical study, art-historical method and what is now known as reception history. (Theology)
This study of the Book of Revelation in the Arts over two millennium is a true blast to the modern mind and imagination. (Northern Echo, Steve Craggs)
Natasha and Anthony O'Hear, a father-and-daughter team of theologian and philosopher, both fascinated by artistic achievement, [provide] a clear diagram of Revelation's contents; it's worth keeping a bookmark there to keep a handle on John's programme... Like the Book of Revelation itself, you don't have to read this study in a linear fashion: you could pick out your favourite artist, composer or novelist from the index, and see how successive episodes of the vision have fired them. (Times, Diarmaid MacCulloch)
To tackle so large and potentially difficult a topic is a significant challenge and the O'Hears have chosen an accessible and uncluttered format ... Despite the complexity of the primary material (both literary and visual) the authors avoid convoluted ramblings and the text is highly readable. (Chloë Reddaway, Art and Christianity)
Deliciously prescient and yet extraordinarily civilised... father and daughter team Anthony and Natasha O'Hear really get to grips with all things apocalyptic by dint of applying a beautifully polished magnifying glass to the world's ur-apocalyptic text, Revelation... The O'Hears are scrupulously fair-minded and reasonable. They are inclusive. They are erudite (a healthy sprinkling of 'eschatons' 'macro-narratives' litters the text) but never intimidating... They are kind. They are measured. And this is what makes Picturing the Apocalypse such an engrossing, delightful and ultimately uplifting read... Perhaps if one lesson alone might be learned from the O'Hears' thoughtful and thought-provoking enterprise, it's that beauty (and, by extension, art), while in some senses perfectly defenceless, can never fail to bring us closer to the sublime. (Spectator, Nicola Barker)
About the Author:
Natasha O'Hear specialises in artistic interpretations of the Book of Revelation. She completed a PhD on the subject at Oxford University in 2008 and this led to her first monograph with OUP in 2011 Contrasting Images of the Book of Revelation in Late Medieval and Early Modern Art: A Case Study in Visual Exegesis. She has also published several articles on the subject. Having formerly held a Lectureship in New Testament Theology at Worcester College, Oxford, she now teaches at Burlington Danes Academy in West London. Natasha has recently been appointed Honorary Lecturer in Theology, Imagination and the Arts at the University of St Andrews Anthony O'Hear is Professor of Philosophy at Buckingham University and Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy. He has been a government advisor on education to five secretaries of state for education. He has been editor of the journal Philosophy since 1995, and is the author of many books and articles including The Great Books: From The Iliad and The Odyssey to Goethe's Faust: A Journey Through 2,500 Years of the West's Classic Literature (Icon Books, 2007), Plato's Children (Gordon Square, 2005), and Philosophy in the New Century (Continuum, 2001).
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