Imago Dei: the Byzantine Apologia for Icons
Pelikan, Jaroslav. (2011). Imago Dei: the Byzantine Apologia for Icons. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Introduction
Question: the legitimacy of
representational religious art.
Research Aims: “It is the purpose of this
book to explore that puzzling circumstance: that a faith which began by
attacking the worship of images and by resisting it to the death (as Origen
said, and as he went on to prove by his own life and death) eventually embraced
such worship and turned prohibition into permission-and permission into
command.” (p.2)
Chapter 1
The intertwinement of Realpolitik and
religion is the background of the Byzantine conflict over icons. (p.9)
The Analysis of sixth-century tapestry Icon
of the Virgin.
Question: “what was the relation of these
two eternal and heavenly thrones of the Theotokos and of her divine Son to the
temporal and earthly thrones on which, in Byzantium, both the emperor and the
patriarch were seated?” (p.19)
Byzantine answer: “the Christian throne of
empire established by the emperor Constantine I and anchored in Constantinople.”
(p.22)
Chapter 2
The Iconodules think that the existence of
icons is part of the tradition. (p.59)
Chapter 3
The Iconoclastic controversy can be seen as
the question about the nature and function of religious art and the possibility
of a Christian aesthetics. (p.67)
How is possible for the icon of Christ?
A: An image had to be derived from some
prototype, but Christ could not be accurately iconized as he is a single
divine-human person “without confusion [asynchyton]”. (p.74)
~A: “the Incarnation of Christ as divinity
made human did make it possible for Byzantine theology to affirm the validity
of aesthetics” (p.77) “The Transfiguration proved that ‘the invisible one had
an appearance or likeness, the formless one had a
form, and the measureless one came
encompassed within a measure.’” (p.95)
Chapter 4 [This chapter talks about sense, such
as sight. Very important!]
“…in addition to hearing the voice of the
spoken word of God, as faithful believers had done throughout the Old Testament,
New Testament believers were in a position to see the flesh of the incarnate
Word of God. The ancient priority of hearing in biblical thought, therefore,
had now been forced to yield to the priority of seeing, as a consequence of the
Incarnation.” (p.99) Christian develops the metaphysics of light. (p.100)
Plato and Aristotle underscore the sense of
sight. (p.103)
Iconodules mean they need to recover the
significance of sense perception. (p.109)
“The metaphysics of light was especially
important as a way of speaking about Christ.” (p.114) the Light (God the
Father) and the Effulgence (the Son of God).
Chapter 5 [mariology]
“the position that the Mary of orthodoxy
came to occupy, in place of the Christ of the Arians: the crown of creation and
the supreme created embodiment of human nobility.” (p.129)
Chapter 6 [angelology]
How can we “see” angels? How can angels be
iconized?
Angelology aims to distinguish angels from
God and man. By angelology, Christian (John of Damascus) establishes the six
links in the great chain of images: God, beings passing through God (Logos), man,
the language of Scripture, type, and icon. (pp.175-182) “…the Iconoclastic
rejection of the icons was tantamount to a rejection not only of one link but
of the entire chain of images.” (p.182)