The Clash of Gods: A Reinterpretation of Early Christian Art (Princeton Paperbacks) [Paperback]

Thomas F. Mathews (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0691009392 | ISBN-13: 978-0691009391 | Publication Date: April 5, 1999 | Edition: Rev Exp Su

Between the third and sixth centuries, the ancient gods, goddesses, and heroes who had populated the imagination of humankind for a millennium were replaced by a new imagery of Christ and his saints. Thomas Mathews explores the many different, often surprising, artistic images and religious interpretations of Christ during this period. He challenges the accepted theory of the "Emperor Mystique," which, interpreting Christ as king, derives the vocabulary of Christian art from the propagandistic imagery of the Roman emperor. This revised edition contains a new preface by the author and a new chapter on the origin and development of icons in private domestic cult.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is a sumptuously illustrated book, in which the pictures are well married to the text. It makes an illuminating way into patristic theology and the religions of the first six centuries. -- Leslie Holden, Theology



Mathews's argument is convincing. In his determination to challenge and overturn a long-held theory, he does not allow his chameleon Christ, who is both man and woman, magician and god, any role as Christ the king. The pendulum may swing back, but not on the same course again. This book has cleared the way for new understandings of the iconography of Christ. It should stimulate a reconsideration of stereotyped readings of other images and in other periods. -- Ann Moffatt, Parergon

From the Back Cover

"This book presents an up-to-date and original survey of Early Christian art and its origins, and attacks the current idea of continuity between the Roman emperor cult and the art of the early church. Conservative readers may well be shocked by this lucid but utterly unconventional presentation of an often treated subject. I find Thomas Mathews's work convincing and impressive."--Hugo Buchthal

"Not only does Mathews present bold arguments that I find persuasive, but his book is exciting to read. He removes the images of Christ from the iconography of the emperor and puts them into the far more plausible context of late antique teachers and wonder-workers."--G. W. Bowersock

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press; Rev Exp Su edition (April 5, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691009392
• ISBN-13: 978-0691009391
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #442,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Refutes a long-dead theory of derivation from political emperor-art, November 6, 2005

By 

Michael Hoffman (Egodeath.com) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Clash of Gods: A Reinterpretation of Early Christian Art (Princeton Paperbacks) (Paperback)

Mathews is primarily concerned to refute a particular early 20th-Century German and Eastern European ideological theory that the portrayal of Jesus in art was derived directly from the detailed portrayal of Roman emperors in art and that this artistic portrayal of Jesus as emperor legitimates imperial political structure, with an emperor, in the contemporary era (of 1920-1950).

Mathews shows that the early artistic portrayal of Jesus presented him as a counter-Jupiter and all-ruler (pantokrator), not as a worldly emperor (kosmocrator). Jesus was also portrayed in early Christian art as androgynous and as the most powerful magician, and as a philosopher. The portrayal of Jesus in art consciously and deliberately presented him as anti-emperor.

Sometimes Mathews confusingly asserts that the way Jesus was portrayed had absolutely nothing to do with the emperor, but in other chapters, originally published as separate articles, he asserts that Jesus was portrayed consciously and deliberately as a non-emperor. Mathews' extremist manner of expression and apparent self-contradiction reveals his succumbing to political fear of 20th-Century re-institution of emperors, resulting in a polemical mode of expression, which lacks precision. Mathews' overweening concern to refute an early 20th-Century political theory causes him to misstate or inconsistently describe his theory about how Jesus was portrayed and what the portrayals meant in the first few centuries.

He ought to strike most of his invective against the very specific, quirky, and particular early 20th-century theory of artistic derivation that he confusingly labels with the ambiguous term "the emperor mystique", and instead explain consistently his positive position about how the Jesus figure did relate to or refute the figure of the emperor -- and, more to the point, how the Christ religion overall was artistically portrayed in relation to how the Roman imperial system of Pax Romana was artistically portrayed.

Mathews ought to engage with the latest theories of Roman imperial theology/ideology, starting with the work of S.R.F. Price, and contribute directly to that effort, rather than devoting so much coverage to a particular 1930s-era view. That's the hardest aspect of reading this book: today's reader comes to it expecting commentary on Price and Horsley, but instead, finds a concern that seems to affirm most of Price and Horsley while being positioned as somehow "against the Emperor Mystique".

This book is dissonant and confusing polemics until you figure out how to harmonize it with the sensible views of Price and Horsley. By the phrase 'the Emperor Mystique', Mathews doesn't have Price and Horsley's view in mind as one naturally expects these days, but rather, a particular quirky, specific theory of artistic-elements derivation of Jesus' portrayal, a theory that was in service of 20th-Century pro-emperor politics.

No scholars are currently asserting that the artistic portrayal of Jesus is directly derived from the portrayal of emperors in their "purely political" function. Rather, what Price, Horsley, and N.T. Wright are stressing these days is that the New Testament books were highly intent on presenting a rebuttal and sociopolitical alternative to the religiously legitimated political ideology and imperial theology of Pax Romana and Roman imperial Ruler Cult -- a view that is supported by Mathews' Christ Pantokrator (almighty all-ruler), magician, and personally caring philosopher.

The book presents a somewhat useful picture of Jesus as philosopher, counter-Jupiter, and healer-magician, but unfortunately that clarification is tangled up with confusing polemics in a self-contradictory, overheated manner of expression, all the more confusing because you get that battle (tilting against a long-dead windmill of 1930s German politics) where you expect instead an engagement with more recent scholarship clarifying the relationship of Christianity and the late-antique Roman empire.

As a rebuttal to the particular artistic-derivation theory of Grabar, the book succeeds, but it doesn't engage with the more general, recent, systematic studies of Christianity as rebuttal and alternative to the system of the Roman empire.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mathews explains clearly why Christanity won over Antiquity., January 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Clash of Gods: A Reinterpretation of Early Christian Art (Paperback)

This is a bold and clear reinterpretation of Early Christian Art. It moves the reader through a cany reseeing that respects and illuminates both the message and the people who received it. Mathews explains in an open and well documented way how Christian images fought and defeated the pagan gods. As an art historian trained with the rather confusing cannon of earlier scholarship I found it delightful reading.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A necessary tool for the understanding of early christianity, March 27, 2001

By 

George A Sherman - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Clash of Gods: A Reinterpretation of Early Christian Art (Princeton Paperbacks) (Paperback)

While Mathews has crafted an thorough polemic against what he calls the "Emperor Mystique" prevalent as a key hermenuetic of early christian art, he stimulated me to go beyond the declared intent of his thoughtful book. The author opens the door to the polyvalence of the symbolism of the art of the church, particularly from the third through the sixth centuries. Mathews presents the adaptation of Greco-Roman art forms and their translation into the competitive contexts of christian origins. While I was persuaded that Alfoldi and Grabar probably went too far in their attempt to link the art of the church with an exclusively imperial model, I still believe that many christians would have recognized elements of this model in viewing the paintings and mosaics of the church. Religious symbolism can function in multiple ways, both singly and in combinations depending on various religious, political, social, and economic agenda. This book is a useful complement to Averil Cameron's "Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire."