by Elizabeth Lev (Author)
Not long after Martin Luther's defiance of the Church in 1517, dialogue between Protestants and Catholics broke down, brother turned against brother, and devastating religious wars erupted across Europe. Desperate to restore the peace and recover the unity of Faith, Catholic theologians clarified and reaffirmed Catholic doctrines, but turned as well to another form of evangelization: the Arts.
Convinced that to win over the unlettered, the best place to fight heresy was not in the streets but in stone and on canvas, they enlisted the century's best artists to create a glorious wave of beautiful works of sacred art -- Catholic works of sacred art -- to draw people together instead of driving them apart.
How Catholic Art Saved the Faith tells the story of the creation and successes of this vibrant, visual-arts SWAT team whose war cry could have been "art for Faith's sake!" Over the years, it included Michelangelo, of course, and, amo
Front Jacket
More than 500 years after the Reformation, Elizabeth Lev shows how the Catholic Church responded to this turbulent age by finding an artistic voice to proclaim Truth through beauty. Exploring the works of Bernini, Caravaggio, Michelangelo and countless other Counter-Reformation artists, Dr. Lev shows how Catholic art in the 16th and 17th centuries was designed to confront challenges raised by the Reformation with soothing and persuasive voice of art.