- Title
- Christ on a Donkey
- Subtitle
- Palm Sunday, Triumphal Entries, and Blasphemous Pageants
- Author
- Max Harris
- Price
- € 132,00 excl. VAT
- ISBN
- 9781641892872
- Format
- Hardback
- Number of pages
- 292
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 04 - 03 - 2019
- Dimensions
- 15.6 x 23.4 cm
- Partner
- Discipline
- History, Art History, and Archaeology
- Flyer
- Download Flyer
- Preview
- Download Preview
- Also available as
- eBook PDF - € 132,00
Introduction: From Pomp to Donkeys
Part One: Pomp
I. Triumphal Entries: From Charlemagne to Oliver Cromwell
1. Charlemagne’s Birthday Pomp
2. Kings Dead or Alive
3. Warrior Popes
4. Mud, Plague, and the Lord Protector
II. Palm Sunday Processions: From Egeria to Peter the Great
5. Palms of Victory
6. Exalted and Eccentric Images
7. Crusaders, Patriarchs, and Emperors
8. The Horse with Donkey’s Ears
Part Two: Parodies / James Nayler and Jesus of Nazareth
9. James Nayler’s Royal Progress
10. Jesus on a Jackass
Part Three: Donkeys
I. A Scarcity of Donkeys: From Udine to El Alto
11. Under Muslim Rule
12. White Horses and Imagined Donkeys
13. Live Donkeys at Last
II. Wooden Christs on Wooden Donkeys: From Augsburg to Chiquitos
14. An Image of the Lord Seated on an Ass
15. The Lord God Belongs to the Butchers
16. The Persecution of the Palmesel
17. Baroque Splendor and Catholic Enlightenment
18. The Donkey that Walked on Water
19. Survivals and Revivals
Conclusion: Christ Dismembered and the Bombing of Lübeck
Reviews and Features
"Max Harris’ extremely well-researched book confronts the general understanding of Christ on a donkey ‘as a sign that he came neither as a warrior nor as one drawn to the trappings of power, but in peace and humility’ (p. 2) with the various ways in which the image was used in medieval and early modern theatrical tradition. His findings are stunning."
- Cora Dietl, European Medieval Drama 22 (2018)
"Once Harris gets the bit between his teeth in terms of his research target, he does not let go. He pursues his investigation with integrity and skill. His scholarly pursuit is achieved through a blend of acute observation, detailed analysis and first-rate field work."
- Dr. Philip Butterworth, University of Leeds
- Cora Dietl, European Medieval Drama 22 (2018)
"Once Harris gets the bit between his teeth in terms of his research target, he does not let go. He pursues his investigation with integrity and skill. His scholarly pursuit is achieved through a blend of acute observation, detailed analysis and first-rate field work."
- Dr. Philip Butterworth, University of Leeds
Max Harris
Christ on a Donkey
Palm Sunday, Triumphal Entries, and Blasphemous Pageants
At once scholarly and entertaining, Christ on a Donkey is a study of Palm Sunday processions and related royal entries as both spectacular instances of processional theater and highly charged interpretations of the biblical narrative to which they claim allegiance. Harris’s narrative ranges from ancient Jerusalem to modern-day Bolivia, from imperial white horses to wheeled wooden images of Christ on a donkey, from veneration to iconoclasm, and from Christ to Ivan the Terrible. A curious theme emerges: those embodied representations of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem that were labeled blasphemous, idolatrous, or superstitious by those in power were arguably most faithful to the biblical narrative of Palm Sunday, while those staged with the purpose of exalting those in power and celebrating military triumph were arguably blasphemous pageants.
Author
Max Harris
Max Harris is the author of five previous books, including Sacred Folly: A New History of the Feast of Fools (2011) which won the Otto Grundler prize. He has served as Executive Director of the Wisconsin Humanities Council and has taught at Yale University and the University of Virginia.
