Customer Reviews

God's Human Face: The Christ-Icon

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Schonborn does a masterful job in presenting the Trinitarian and Christological foundations of iconography. Actually, I use this book mostly for the Christological sections. It is VERY well done! All the major and minor aspects of Christology are examined and continually related to the role and meaning of the Incarnation and, thus, the meaning and role of icons. A few well chosen color icons are in the book.

This work is highly recommended. I wish I could buy it for you!

"Incarnation of God the Word, as a realization of the perfect man." As such his disclosure to us reveals who God is and who we are as perfected in God. (cited in Ouspensky 483)


Christ, God's supreme icon:
St. Irenaeus wrote, "When the Word of God became flesh, He showed forth the image truly, since He himself became what was His image; and He reestablished the likeness -- by rendering man altogether similar to the invisible Father." Christ is the supreme icon of God and the supreme icon of humanity divinized.
When we think of icons, it is almost, by default, that we think instantly of 'written' images of Jesus and the saints. Developing the New Testament implication of the image of God in Christ, Leonid Ouspensky, Orthodox theologian and icon expert wrote, "Christianity raises the image of Christ before the world. Christianity shows the prototype according to which man was created, now hidden because of his sin. This image lives in Tradition, the mystical memory of the Church, its inner life."

Christ, true image of God:
Eastern Orthodox and Greek Byzantines refer to icons as being 'written' rather than painted, since icons are treated as theological texts, a graphical depiction of scripture. Only Christ is the true image of God. Christ is the prototypical icon: Whoever experience Christ does enter mystically into the Father's presence, in fullness. The icon's place in the church liturgical life is derived from the living personal existence, in whom the unity of the nature of God with sanctified human beings is vividly clear. Through Christ and in Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, human beings are called to something more. Humans are called and allowed to be images of Christ.

Creative Iconographic theology:
Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn discerns the depth of the truth of Cyril's teaching on the unity of Christ, masterfully exposing Origen's Iconclastic Christology, and compares two of his students St. Athanasius and Arius place of image in their systematic theology of the Person of the Word. Eusebius' view, midway between the Orthodox and neoplatonist, expressed a third way of interpreting their common master Origen. The enlightened Cardinal presents the most fascinating expression in the real great Eastern Orthodox, Maximus the confessor, Love as the Icon of God. Part II, the Church sliding into paganism would appeal to Protestants, but is relevant to all of us.

Thanks, your Eminence:
I am amazed and humbled by those authentic Orthodox Catholics who know our fathers, doctors (teachers) of the Church, in such depth and loving understanding that preaches the real unity of the One Holy Universal Apostolic Church. This authentic teacher who wrote "From Death to Life, The Christian Journey," and further, "Living the Catechism: life in Christ," wrote the most compelling, in depth thorough study on the roots of iconography, and a reflection on its supporting Christologies.
I encountered no other book on the subject which ever explained, so deeply the true meaning of God's Human Face. So, read, learn, and meditate on anthropological theology, Christology, and Patrology, all flowing in order,logic and harmony.

Schonborn does a masterful job in presenting the Trinitarian and Christological foundations of iconography. Actually, I use this book mostly for the Christological sections. It is VERY well done! All the major and minor aspects of Christology are examined and continually related to the role and meaning of the Incarnation and, thus, the meaning and role of icons. A few well chosen color icons are in the book.

This work is highly recommended. I wish I could buy it for you!

This is a wonderful book for anyone who wants to understand the Incarnation. The Kindle format is loaded with typos, including referring to Arius variously as "Arms" and even "Anus." We deserve better and so does Archbishop Schonborn! Please clean it up, Amazon!