Wonder Beyond Belief

What happens when one of Germany’s most important writers, himself a Muslim, immerses himself in the world of Christian art? In this book, Navid Kermani is awestruck by a religion full of sacrifice and lamentation, love and wonder, the irrational and the unfathomable, the deeply human and the divine – a Christianity that today’s Christians rarely speak of so earnestly, boldly and enthusiastically. With the open-minded curiosity of a non-believer – or rather a believer in another faith – Kermani engages with Christian art in its great richness and diversity. The result is an enchanting reflection which reinvests in Christianity both its spectacular beauty and its terror. Kermani struggles with the cross, falls in love at the sight of Mary, experiences the Orthodox Mass and appreciates the greatness of St Francis. He teaches us to see the questions of our present-day lives in the pictures of old masters such as Botticelli, Caravaggio and Rembrandt – not with lectures on art history or theology, but with an intelligent eye for the essential details and the underlying relations to seemingly remote worlds, to literature and to mystical Islam. Kermani’s poetic school of seeing draws us in as we are carried along by his unique perspective on Christianity, rekindling our interest in great art at the same time. We are captivated by his unique and brilliant Islamic reading of the West.

I. MOTHER AND SON 1 MOTHER 3 SON 8 MISSION 15 LOVE I 22 LOVE II 28 HUMILIATION 34 BEAUTY 40 CROSS 47 LAMENTATION 52 RESURRECTION 57 TRANSFORMATION 62 DEATH 78 GOD I 85 GOD II 93 II. WITNESS 101 CAIN 103 JOB 108 JUDITH 115 ELIZABETH 121 PETER 126 JEROME 132 URSULA I 138 URSULA II 142 BERNARD 149 FRANCIS 156 PETER NOLASCO 163 SIMONIDA 169 PAOLO DALL’OGLIO 174 III. INVOCATION 195 VOCATION 197 PRAYER 202 SACRIFICE 208 CHURCH 213 PLAY 220 KNOWLEDGE 226 TRADITION 235 LIGHT 249 LUST I 262 LUST II 267 RECESSIONAL 272 ART 280 FRIENDSHIP 288 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 306 BIBLIOGRAPHY 309 ILLUSTRATION CREDITS 317