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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Dear Susan & Chris, the "classic" treatment of this theme is, of course, Emile Male's multi-volume work on medieval (mostly French) iconography, the 13th century volume of which is redily available under the title _The Gothic Image_ (though there is a new translation and edition, which is probably better than that older one). however.... >I've found a very interesting article by Madeline Caviness, "Biblical Stories in Windows: Were They Bibles for the Poor?", but I think much of it is too detailed for my undergraduate students. Madeline Caviness is an absolutely First Rate scholar, an accomplished expert in stained glass (and her papers at Kalamazoo are not to be missed as well), here probably thoughtfully reflecting on the validity Male Paradigm in light of nearly a century's subsequent scholarship. i haven't read this article, but i would imagine that Male's comfortable but rather simplistic synthesis comes in for considerable "fine tuning" in it. the problem is that, while there are quite a few *articles* (like this one, i expect) which offer quite different ways of looking at medieval iconography (in a "secular" context like cathedrals), based upon detailed attention to specific programs in specific places, as far as i know, no one has come up with the kind of wide-ranging, comprehensive Synthesis of the sort which made Male's work the "Bible" of medieval iconography for several generations --at least in the Francophone and English-reading worlds. list member Jim Bugslag is much more au courant on recent works in this area, however, and perhaps he will weigh in with some suggestions which will enlighten us all. best from here, christopher ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html