Ralf van Bühren

Ralf van Bühren ( born February 3, 1962 in Bad Kreuznach ) is a German art historian, theologian and church historian who teaches in Rome at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce. His art and church history books in general concern the church architecture and Christian pictorial art of the 4th to the 21st century, especially the visual rhetoric in modern times and modern, today's artists pastoral and liturgical art after the Second Vatican Council.

Career

After graduation in 1982 at the Max - Planck -Gymnasium and community service from 1983 to 1984 in the Hospital of the Brothers of Charity in Trier Ralf van Bühren studied from 1984 to 1991 art history, classical archeology and philosophy at the University of Trier and the Ludwig- Maximilians- University in Munich. In 1988 he converted to the Catholic Church in Munich.

At the University of Cologne van Bühren in 1994 received his doctorate in art history. With his dissertation in 1998 under the title The Works of Mercy in the art of the 12th - 18th Century. Was published to change an image motif against the backdrop of modern rhetoric reception, was the first comprehensive treatment of the iconography of charity works. In the context of economic and religious history changes during the Renaissance and Baroque periods as well as in view of the public, clients and artists, the study analyzes the influence of rhetoric theory and art theory to the development of a persuasive presentation mode of the images. Personal viewer reference and narrative storytelling style are considered essential elements of this modern pictorial rhetoric.

From 1992 to 1995 van Bühren was as Pedagogical staff in the "Museum Service Cologne ". active in Cologne at the Wallraf -Richartz Museum and the Museum Ludwig, in computerized, scientific documentation of the Bildarchiv Foto Marburg, Philipps - University of Marburg and as a freelancer for church pedagogy of Domforum at the Cologne Cathedral and the twelve Romanesque churches in Cologne.

From 1996 to 1998 Ralf van Bühren led the editing in the publishing Schnell & Steiner in Regensburg, whose founder Hugo Quick and John Steiner first time in 1934 the "little art guide " laid, now with over 70 million copies of more than 3,100 titles, the largest art guide number of these kind in Europe.

At the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical University of Santa Croce in Rome Ralf van Bühren received his doctorate in 2006. Under the title art and the Church in the 20th century. The reception of the Second Vatican Council, he published his doctoral thesis in 2008 in the historic church 40bändigen number of councils, the world's most comprehensive restatement of the councils and Synodalgeschichte issued from late antiquity to modern times, the Cardinal Walter Brandmüller founded in 1979 and until 2008. The foreword of the book authored Friedhelm Hofmann, Bishop of Würzburg and member of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and the Commission for questions of science and culture of the German Bishops' Conference.

Teaching

Since 2006 van Bühren teaches art history at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce. His research interests and teaching include in the communication department " communication art and faith " at the Theological Faculty " Liturgical art" and " Christian art history." At German universities do not count these subjects to professional standards, curriculum of theological studies, although the Second Vatican Council wanted the inclusion of art. This deficit in theological education attempts to counter the courses offered by the University of Santa Croce.

Publications (selection)

• The works of mercy in the art of the 12th - 18th Century. To change a master image against the background of modern rhetoric Reception (Studies on the History of Art, 115), Hildesheim / Zurich / New York: Georg Olms Verlag 1998, ISBN 3-487-10319-2 - German and English abstract
• Art and the Church in the 20th century. The reception of the Second Vatican Council ( of councils, Series B: studies ), Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh Publishing 2008, ISBN 978-3-506-76388-4 - publishing information and review in " The Cathedral " in 2009 and " Theologie.Geschichte " 2008
• Paul VI. and art. The importance of Montini pontificate for the renewal of pastoral artists after the Second Vatican Council, in: Forum of Catholic Theology 24, 2008, pp. 266-290
• The Immaculate Conception in painting from the 15th to the 18th century. Iconographic Innovation and dogma- historical context, in: Seat of Wisdom. Mario Logical Yearbook 13, 2009, pp. 59-89 (Fig. 9-27 )
• Spirituality of earthly things. The ideological message in the work of Joseph Beuys (1921-1986), in: sacredness and Modern, ed. Hanna- Barbara Gerl - Falkovitz, Villages (Munich): Hawel Verlag 2010, pp. 197-230, ISBN 978-3-9810376-5-4
• Modern church architecture as meaning. The lighting concept Dominic Böhm (1880-1955) as an expression of mystagogic idea of ​​space, in: " Liturgy as a builder "? Modern religious architecture and their equipment between function and form, ed. by Hans Jürgen grains and Vienna, Essen: plain text Verlag 2010, pp. 241-256, ISBN 978-3-8375-0356-2 - Information of the Online Database archINFORM
• Acts, decrees and diaries as council sources. Symposium of the International Society for Konziliengeschichtsforschung in Esztergom, 16th - 20th September 2010, in: Historiae Annuarium Conciliorum 42, 2010, pp. 1-6
• Religious art and modernity. Attempt to balance the view of the Catholic Magisterium in the 20th and 21st century, in: sacredness and Modern, ed. Hanna- Barbara Gerl - Falkovitz, Villages (Munich): Hawel Verlag 2010, pp. 231-330, ISBN 978-3-9810376-5-4
• Pope Benedict XVI. in dialogue with artists. For pastoral importance of the artist meeting in the Sistine Chapel on 21 November 2009 at the context of the modern church history, in: Annales theologici 25, 2011, pp. 305-315 - full text online
• Los Papas y los artistas modernos. La renovación de la actividad con los artistas pastoral después del Concilio Vaticano II (1962-1965), San José (Costa Rica): Ediciones Promesa 2012, ISBN 978-9968-41-216-2 - English Abstract
• 50 years after opening of the Second Vatican Council. Remaining questions about hermeneutics, reception and historiography, in: Theological. Catholic monthly magazine 42, 2012 Sp 381-390 full text online
• Art and Church in the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, three-part series in L' Osservatore Romano. Weekly Edition in German, Part I on February 8, 2013, p 6; Part II on February 15, 2013, p 6; Part III on February 22, 2013, p.6 full text online

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