To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
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Who took dictation?
TOM PIERSCIONEK is fascinated by the place of slaves in the creation of Christian scripture
Jacob Jordaens, The Four Evangelists, 1625–1630.
[Musee du Louvre/Public Domain]
If you can see past the relentless commodification you will be rewarded by enormously powerful work, suggests JENNY MITCHELL
CHRIS SEARLE revels in the one-off collaboration between an American polymath and a British Muslim, and detects the presence of their revolutionary forebear
GORDON PARSONS revels in an ebullient production of Shakespeare’s magical comedy
BRENT CUTLER welcomes a thoughtful analysis of the Erdogan regime, viewed through the evolving history of a neighbourhood in Istanbul
GORDON PARSONS regrets the price, but is dazzled by an outstandingly ambitious study of the way art restoration in particular, and culture in general was weaponised by the Nazis
God’s Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible
Candida Moss, Little Brown, £25
IT HAS long been accepted by both Biblical scholars and laypersons that a small number of individuals, such as the Gospel authors (Mathew, Mark, Luke and John) and the prolific letter writer St Paul, solely composed large parts of the New Testament.
Candida Moss, biblical scholar and Professor of Theology at the University of Birmingham, shatters this myth in her latest book as she shines a light on the origins of Christian scripture. Moss bestows long overdue credit upon the countless unnamed individuals (many enslaved) who played pivotal roles in composing parts of the New Testament as well as ensuring that Christianity spread across the known world during the precarious climate that existed in the church’s early years.
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