Kunst und Kirche im 20. Jahrhundert

The prologue has written Dr. Friedhelm Hofmann (Würzburg / Germany), expert in the field of ’Art and Church’ and member of the Pontificial Commission of Cultural Goods. The volume comprises 98 colour illustrations (international modern sacred art and architecture) and 71 texts of the Catholic Church’s official teaching about art and artist (1947–2007).

Ralf van Bühren’s comprehensive and fastidiously researched study ... examines the difficult relationship between the Church and the arts from 1800 to the present age. ... The book is published in the prestigious series ’Konziliengeschichte’, and this seems appropriate because of the pivotal role of the Second Vatican Council had in this aspect of the Church’s life. ... Bühren rightly insists that the iconoclasm of the post-conciliar period finds no justification in the conciliar documents or in subsequent ecclesiastical legislation. ... Ralf van Bühren’s wide-ranging study provides a wealth of material that will help to analyse the roots of the present crisis and to find ways for its remedy (Uwe Michael Lang, Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Rome, in: Antiphon. A Journal for Liturgical Renewal 13, 2009, p. 182-184).