Visual Piety: A History and Theory of Popular Religious Images

by David Morgan

This fascinating study of devotional images traces their historical links to important strains of American culture. David Morgan demonstrates how popular visual images―from Warner Sallman's "Head of Christ" to velvet renditions of DaVinci's "Last Supper" to illustrations on prayer cards―have assumed central roles in contemporary American lives and communities.

Morgan's history of popular religious images ranges from the late Middle Ages to the present day and analyzes what he calls "visual piety," or the belief that images convey. Rather than isolating popular icons from their social contexts or regarding them as merely illustrative of theological ideas, Morgan situates both Protestant and Catholic art within the domain of devotional practice, ritual, personal narrative, and the sacred space of the home. In addition, he examines how popular icons have been rooted in social concerns ranging from control of human passions to notions of gender, creedal orthodoxy, and friendship. Also discussed is the coupling of images with texts in the attempt to control meanings and to establish markers for one's community and belief. Drawing from the fields of music, sociology, theology, philosophy, psychology, and aesthetics, Visual Piety is the first book to bring to specialist and lay reader alike an understanding of religious imagery's place in the social formation and maintenance of everyday American life.

Genres: Art, Religion, Nonfiction, Material Culture, Anthropology, History, Grad School

284 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

David Morgan is Professor of Religious Studies at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, with an additional appointment in Duke's Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies. Morgan served as the Chair in the Department of Religious Studies in Trinity College of Duke University from 2013-2016

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for a class, so I didn't read it in the same way I might read something I picked for personal reading. That said, however, this book was fairly interesting, and the pictures and various figures were certainly useful. The book should contains large amounts of material and should not be read in its entirety in one sitting; it takes time to digest the book.