Virginia Raguin

Virginia Raguin is a distinguished professor of humanities emerita at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

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Michelangelo's 16th-century fresco "The Last Judgment" in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican (Wikimedia Commons/Burkhard Mücke)

Why Michelangelo's 'Last Judgment' endures

The Last Judgment is a common theme in Christian art. But Michelangelo's dramatic imagery in his Sistine Chapel fresco provokes deeper thought: After all, how does anyone on earth know what the saints do in heaven?

Logo with text and icon framed by stone carving.

Catholics are debating whether to remove paintings by a priest accused of abusing women — but let’s not confuse the artist and the art, writes an art historian

"Many revered works of art come from spiritually flawed creators. From my perspective, condemning art, rather than debating how the Catholic Church may have allowed someone accused of abuse to avoid censure for so long, is a diversion at best," writes Virginia Raguin.

 

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