Bloomsbury Figurations and Sensations of the Unseen in Judaism, Christianity and Islam: Contested Desires (Bloomsbury Studies in Material Religion)

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are known to privilege words over images. This book shows however that the reality is more complex. Figuration and Sensation of the Unseen explores the complex procedures used to render the invisible as visible and the elusive as tangible in these three traditions. Working from different disciplinary angles, contributors bring reflect on figuration and sensation in biblical culture, medieval Jewish culture, the imagination of the unseen in Islamic settings, Christian assaults on `idolatry' in Africa, baroque and modern Church art, contemporary Eastern Orthodox tradition, photography on the Swahili coast, European opera and literature, and more. The book shows that the three religious traditions have formed sensorial regimes: embodied habits, traditions and standards for seeing, sensing, displaying, and figuring that which could not, or should not, be seen. So, the desire for seeing the invisible and experiencing the beyond are paradoxically confirmed, contested and controlled, by the sensorial regimes in vogue. This carries over even into secularized use of religious figurations in arts and literature. This is an important book for scholars of anthropology, religious studies, Jewish studies, Christian studies, Islamic studies, art history, cultural studies, biblical studies and archaeology. This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com