Wednesday, December 31
Matthew Alderman in First Things (Again)
Okay, I've managed to penetrate one of the inner sancta of Catholic journalism one more time, First Things. I mean, of course, figuratively, though I did end up going to their wonderful Christmas party and King's College-style carol sing (classy, though fake English accents were vetoed fairly early along in the process), though unfortunately the inner inner sanctum with the map room where they plot Catholic Intellectual World Domination is off-limits to guests. (Either that, or they have a timeshare with the Jesuits, the Propaganda Fide, and Opus Dei.)
This time, it's another book review, on Roland Recht's Gothic magnum opus, Believing and Seeing: The Art of Gothic Cathedrals, a major production on medieval art in all its many splendors--liturgical, theoretical, structural, even commercial. It's a bit shorter than my last one ("To Build Jerusalem," on Ethan Anthony's new Cram book, The Architecture of Ralph Adams Cram and His Office), but I'm sure you'll enjoy it. The book itself is a real treat, and one of the most believable and nuanced treatments of the great Gothic builders I've seen, rescuing them from the Ruskinian mythology of pious clowns messing around with stones a la Red Green; it will challenge and edify both the Catholic and the more secular scholar. Plus, there's a lot of nice pictures, too.
This time, it's another book review, on Roland Recht's Gothic magnum opus, Believing and Seeing: The Art of Gothic Cathedrals, a major production on medieval art in all its many splendors--liturgical, theoretical, structural, even commercial. It's a bit shorter than my last one ("To Build Jerusalem," on Ethan Anthony's new Cram book, The Architecture of Ralph Adams Cram and His Office), but I'm sure you'll enjoy it. The book itself is a real treat, and one of the most believable and nuanced treatments of the great Gothic builders I've seen, rescuing them from the Ruskinian mythology of pious clowns messing around with stones a la Red Green; it will challenge and edify both the Catholic and the more secular scholar. Plus, there's a lot of nice pictures, too.
![[SMMMHDH]](http://www.mgilleland.com/music/smmmhdh.png){kind=small}
