Interreligious and Global Perspectives of Christian Art in China and Taiwan, 1552-1650

This book considers how European and Asian Christian missionaries communicated religious doctrine through the visual arts in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Greater China. Zooming in on these rich cross-cultural and inter-religious artifacts, Susangeline Patrick reveals how Christian images and visual culture reflected, interacted with, and influenced spiritual and sociopolitical powers during the period. Across eight chapters, Patrick expands the meaning of “liturgical art” within this historical and geographical context, locating religious visual arts within alternative spheres such as Christian charitable institutions, cartography, and bodily behavior, intentionally shedding light on Christian women’s initiatives and participation in art, devotion, and power. In essence, this book underscores the interreligious and global aspects of encounters which shaped and impacted the production, circulation, and outcome of devotional art.