Icons in time, persons in eternity : Orthodox theology and the aesthetics of the Christian image / C.A. Tsakiridou.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tsakiridou, Cornelia A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Orthodox Eastern Church.

Icons.

Orthodox Eastern Church--Doctrines.

Aesthetics--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Aesthetics.

Christianity and art--Orthodox Eastern Church.

Christianity and art.

Christian art and symbolism.

Theophanies.

Image (Theology).

Physical Description:

xiii, 355 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Farnham, Surrey, England : Ashgate, [2013]

Summary:

"this within the Orthodox tradition by exploring the ontological and aesthetic implications of Orthodox ascetic and mystical theology. It finds Modernist interest in the aesthetic peculiarity of icons significant, and essential for re-evaluating their relationship to non-representational art. Drawing on classical Greek art criticism, Byzantine ekphraseis and hymnography, and the theologies of St. Maximus the Confessor, St. Symeon the New Theologian and St. Gregory Palamas, the author argues that the ancient Greek concept of enargeia best conveys the expression of theophany and theosis in art. The qualities that define enargeia - inherent liveliness, expressive autonomy and self-subsisting form - are identified in exemplary Greek and Russian icons and considered in the context of the hesychastic theology that lies at the heart of Orthodox Christianity. An Orthodox aesthetics is thus outlined that recognizes the transcendent being of art and is open to dialogue with diverse pictorial and iconographic traditions. An examination of Ch'an (Zen) art theory and a comparison of icons with paintings by Wassily Kandinsky, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko and Marc Chagall, and by Japanese artists influenced by Zen Buddhism, reveal intriguing points of convergence and difference. The reader will find in these pages reasons to reconcile Modernism with the Christian image and Orthodox tradition with creative form in art"-- Publisher's website

Contents:

Part I. Preliminaries. The need to redefine the Christian image

The exemplary work of art

Enargeia and key concepts

Part II. Theology and art. The orthodox icon and modernism

The new iconoclasm

Theological fallacies

Jacques Maritain's dialogue with modernism

Part III. Orthodox iconology. Asceticism and iconoclasm

The mystical lives of beings in St. Maximus the Confessor

The image in St. John Damascene

The living image in Byzantine experience

Part IV. Theophany and art. Human and divine luminaries

The theophanic icon

Theophany and modernism

Enargeia and transcendence in Zen art.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781409447672

1409447677

OCLC:

785390202