TY - JOUR
T1 - From the Ancient Near East to Christian Byzantium
T2 - Kings, symbols, and cities,by Mario Baghos, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2021, 264pp., £64.99 (hardback), ISBN 9781527566279
AU - Cole, Jonathan
PY - 2021/10/20
Y1 - 2021/10/20
N2 - Modern cities are designed and organized along functional and utilitarian lines, shaped to a large extent by economic and material exigencies. It is true that many of them are still dotted with religious buildings where the faithful congregate once a week to discreetly worship their divinity. But in the most modern cities, skyscrapers quite literally overshadow the churches,mosques and synagogues that once stood as architectural testaments to a city’s religious soul.It is this insight that provides the impetus for Mario Baghos’ fascinating exploration of the religious function and purpose of ancient cities in From the Ancient Near East to Christian Byzantium: Kings, Symbols, and Cities.
AB - Modern cities are designed and organized along functional and utilitarian lines, shaped to a large extent by economic and material exigencies. It is true that many of them are still dotted with religious buildings where the faithful congregate once a week to discreetly worship their divinity. But in the most modern cities, skyscrapers quite literally overshadow the churches,mosques and synagogues that once stood as architectural testaments to a city’s religious soul.It is this insight that provides the impetus for Mario Baghos’ fascinating exploration of the religious function and purpose of ancient cities in From the Ancient Near East to Christian Byzantium: Kings, Symbols, and Cities.
U2 - 10.1080/1462317X.2021.1991749
DO - 10.1080/1462317X.2021.1991749
M3 - Book/Film/Article review
SN - 1462-317X
VL - 22
SP - 765
EP - 767
JO - Political Theology
JF - Political Theology
IS - 8
ER -