November 19, 2004

MINNEAPOLIS - New from Fortress Press, Face to Face: Portraits of the Divine in Early Christianity examines how God and eventually Christ are portrayed in early Christian art. With more than one hundred photographs to enhance her presentation, author Robin Margaret Jensen expertly reveals how God and Christ were portrayed in early Christian art. In doing so, Jensen also explores the questions of the relationship between art and theology, conflicts over idolatry and iconography, and how the Christological controversies affected the portrayals of Christ.

"This is a brilliant book of great visual and intellectual significance. The early church wrestled with the problems of religious imagery. In this work of impressive scholarship, all the nuances of that struggle, its fears, hesitations, and scruples are explained with sensitivity and skill. Jensen takes us from the first rare depictions of biblical narrative on to the various portrayals of an imagined Christ and his close followers. She makes us vividly aware of the doubts and devotional needs of those to whom these images were of immense theological import." - Sister Wendy Beckett, author and art critic, and host of the PBS show "Sister Wendy's Story of Painting"

"This book serves four groups of readers well: those who hunger for a glimpse into the early Christian visual imagination, those who wish to understand the long background to the Byzantine Iconoclastic Controversy, those with an interest in the history of Christian art, and finally, and perhaps most especially, those who mull over the roots of the tensions in our own world that are related to religiously and psychologically charged depictions of the sacred." - Roberta Bondi, Professor of Church History, Candler School of Theology

Robin Margaret Jensen is Luce Chancellor's Professor of the History of Christian Worship and Art at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. Her previous works include Understanding Early Christian Art (2000) and The Substance of Things Seen (2004).

Format: Hardcover 224 pages 7 x 10 inches. Item No: 0800660927. Price: $29.00.

Format: Paperback 224 pages 7 x 10 inches. Item No: 0800636783. Price: $20.00.

To order Face to Face call Fortress Press at 1-800-328-4648 or visit the web site at http://www.augsburgfortress.com/. To request review copies or exam copies please call 1-800-426-0115 ext. 234. For interviews, speaking engagements, and writing assignments please call 1-800-426-0115 ext. 234 or email toddb@augsburgfortress.org.

Fortress Press