De Boer, Wietse. Art in Dispute: Catholic Debates at the Time of Trent. With an Edition and Translation of Key Documents

Religious image theory remains one of the most fascinating, if challenging, topics for both scholars and students in the fields of art history and religious history.As Wietse de Boer importantly demonstrates in this volume, what has been largely missing from the scholarship is a clear and nuanced understanding of the very long, complex, and contentious history of debates over sacred images within the Catholic Church prior to, during, and after the Council of Trent (1545-63).De Boer delves into these debates, both theological and political, and provides critical historical context as well as essential documentary evidence for understanding the issues and definitions under discussion, scarcely reflected in the well-known but very succinct and hastily prepared decree "Touching the Invocation, Veneration, and on Relics of Saints, and on Sacred Images" drawn up at the Council of Trent's twenty-fifth session (1563).As the volume's title makes clear, de Boer is mostly concerned with Catholic debates.The Protestant attacks on religious images, and the responses of Catholics to them, are outlined only very briefly, although illustrated in a documented exchange between Dominican Matthieu Ory (1492-1557) and John Calvin (1509-64).The first chapter introduces the complex issue of sacred images in "an Age of Religious Crisis" (3; quoting the chapter's title), outlining the Catholic position and its basis in Thomistic theology, the decrees produced by earlier ecumenical councils-notably the Second Council of Nicaea (787)-as well as patristic writings and ancient philosophy.As the chapter illustrates, the need to respond to Protestant charges of idolatry drove much of this debate, but so did controversy within the Catholic Church itself.Particularly valuable here is the way the problem is outlined theologically as de Boer introduces the main issues at stake: types of veneration (dulia versus latria), theories of perception and cognition, the issue of material and presence, semiotics, and the mnemonic function of images.The second chapter leads us into the debate over religious images as represented in important treatises by key figures, including prelate Martn