The elusive rationale for the Brescia Casket, an ivory reliquary carved in northern Italy ca. 390, has long tantalized scholars. In The Key to the Brescia Casket, Dr. Catherine Brown Tkacz reveals that the secret to its meaning lies in exegetical typology-the interpretation of Old Testament people and events as prefiguring the Messiah. Typology, Tkacz argues, underlies the sophisticated program of the ivory box, which features an unusually full depiction of the Passion. Among the fifty-nine carvings on the Brescia Casket, most of them depicting biblical events, are five scenes of the Passion, more than any other monument prior to this time period. These are arranged in historical order, which is also rare in fourth-century Christian art. Tkacz contends that the Casket is in effect a visual sermon on the unity of the Bible's two testaments, an important theological issue of the time. This wonderfully illustrated and rigorously interdisciplinary volume, funded by a grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, grounds the typological program of the Brescia Casket in fourth-century thought. In so doing, it suggests the real possibility that typology is more important for the understanding of Early Christian art than has previously been appreciated.

Catherine Brown Tkacz is the first woman to earn the PhD in medieval studies at the University of Notre Dame. She has often lectured on biblical studies and theology, especially at Blackfriars in Oxford and the Ukrainian Catholic University in L'viv. Her over 130 publications include her fourth book, Women as Types of Christ, East and West. Pope Francis has appointed her to his new commission for the study of women and the diaconate.
Douglas Kries is Professor of Philosophy at Gonzaga University, where he researches in political philosophy, including the political thought of St. Augustine. Among his works are The Problem of Natural Law and (with Ernest L. Fortin and Michael W. Tkacz) Augustine: Political Writings. He has previously collaborated with Catherine Brown Tkacz as co-editor of Nova Doctrina Vetusque: Essays on Early Christianity in Honor of Fredric W. Schlatter, S.J.