The Role of Hebrew Letters in Making the Divine Visible

Medieval Jews engaged in various artistic activities and numerous illuminated manuscripts appear as a substantial part of visual culture in central Europe. Among the wealth of Christian visual themes, however, there was one that the Jews could not integrate into their religious culture: they were no...

Verfasser: Kogman-Appel, Ḳaṭrin
Dokumenttypen:Teil eines Buches
Medientypen:Text
Erscheinungsdatum:2016
Publikation in MIAMI:22.11.2017
Datum der letzten Änderung:22.11.2017
Angaben zur Ausgabe:[Electronic ed.]
Quelle:Hamburger, Jeffrey F.; Bedos-Rezak, Brigitte Miriam (Hrsg.): Sign and Design. Script as Image in Cross-Cultural Perspective (300–1600 CE). Washington D. C. : Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection, 2016, S. 153-171
Schlagwörter:Exzellenzcluster Religion und Politik Cluster of Excellence Religion and Politics
Fachgebiet (DDC):090: Handschriften, seltene Bücher
200: Religion
296: Judentum
700: Künste
Lizenz:InC 1.0
Sprache:Englisch
Anmerkungen:Die Veröffentlichung erfolgt mit freundlicher Genehmigung des Verlages Harvard University Press und Dumbarton Oaks Institute. Die Abbildungen im Artikel wurden aus urheberrechtlichen Gründen geschwärzt.
Format:PDF-Dokument
ISBN:978-0-88402-407-1
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:6-00249436050
Permalink:https://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:6-00249436050
Onlinezugriff:kogman-appel_2016_role-of-hebrew.pdf

Medieval Jews engaged in various artistic activities and numerous illuminated manuscripts appear as a substantial part of visual culture in central Europe. Among the wealth of Christian visual themes, however, there was one that the Jews could not integrate into their religious culture: they were not prepared to create anthropomorphic representations of God. This stand does not imply that Jewish imagery never met the challenge involved in representing the Divine. Among the most lavish medieval Hebrew manuscripts is a group of prayer books that contain the liturgical hymns that were commonly part of the Central European prayer rites. Many of these hymns address God by means of the initial word el (God) and other forms that refer to the Divine. The proposed paper will examine these initials and the different ways in which they are integrated into the overall imagery of decorated initial panels, their frames, and entire page layouts.