Description
Book SynopsisIn text and photographs, this book explores the monthly religious visions of Maria Paula Acuña at Our Lady of the Rock in California's Mojave Desert.
Trade Review"'Besides intercessors,' writes Lisa Bitel, 'genuine Christian epiphany also involves... humans.' Her collaboration with photographer Matt Gainer invites readers within a stunningly fine-grained exploration of the everyday making of religion, as two thousand years of Christian revelatory tradition are brought to bear on purportedly modern ways of seeing and explaining, doubting and believing." -- Kenneth Mills, J. Frederick Hoffman Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, coeditor of
Lexikon of the Hispanic Baroque"Our Lady of the Rock examines the development of a contemporary devotion to the Virgin Mary in the Mojave Desert, led by the visionary Maria Paula Acuña. Lisa Bitel and Matt Gainer brilliantly combine historical and ethnographic analysis with visual documentation of the apparition site and the leader of the group. Fundamental to the devotion of those assembled around Acuña is the fascinating practice of photographing the sky where Our Lady appears. As a result, luminous photographs mediate the relationship of pilgrim and heavenly figure, revealing particular messages that keep the pilgrims coming back to the stark place of revelation year after year." -- David Morgan, Duke University, author of
The Lure of Images: A History of Religion and Visual Media in AmericaTable of ContentsPreface: Looking the Wrong Way
1. Déjà Vu
2. The Desert Is Wide
Visual Essay: Our Lady of the Rock, 2006–2011
3. The Model Visionary
4. Looking Like Pilgrims
5. From Witness to Visionary
6. Discernment at a Distance: The Global Culture of Witnessing
Conclusion: The Longue Durée of Christian Religious Vision
Notes
Index
