3 comments about God's Human Face: The Christ Icon.

1. 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!




2. 
   "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.



3. 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!

1 comments about Igniting Worship Advent & Christmas: Services And Video Clips On DVD (Igniting Worship Series).

1. This is a good resource for a "New Church" which in our post-modern society seek new and mulitmedia ways of presenting the traditional stories of the Church. This resource provides guidence for addressing the needs of our the present generation of mulit-media churchgoers. Through the use of DVD clips and contempoary music this series of Igniting Worship gives a new look at the questions raised during the season of Advent and Christmas. A great resouce for the Church and its leadership!

No comments about The Mirror of the Gods: How the Renaissance Artists Rediscovered the Pagan Gods.

No comments about Power To Quit: A Bible Based Key To Stop Smoking Now!.

5 comments about The World of Chick?.

1. I grew up in an evangelical Christian home, so I remember reading my fair share of Chick tracts as a kid, but it wasn't until later in life that I discovered just how disturbing these tracts, as well as their rabidly anti-Catholic comic counterparts were. Mostly I remembered that each one had more violence, demons and grim reapers than any of the mainstream comics or rock albums my parents worked so hard to keep from me. Further research of these tracts and their enigmatic creator Jack Chick led me to Robert Fowler's World of Chick.
   
   This exhaustively researched, painstakingly detailed tome gathers a wealth of information on the personal history and published works of Jack Chick, cataloguing individual tracts and comics, as well as any subsequent revisions, and presents a history of the universe, as interpreted from Chick's works. It's insightful, funny, and is an invaluable resource for anyone fascinated by Chick and his unique brand of whackmobile fundamentalism with a super-sized side of paranoia! Or at least it would be if it weren't so godawfully hard on the eyes.
   
   To be blunt, the interior of the book looks like the product of an aging typewriter and photocopier. I realize it was a self-published project, but given the availability of software like Microsoft Word, there's really no excuse for producing something this hard on the eyes. The total lack of graphics and artwork (it includes reproductions of the back covers, but no front covers or interior artwork - at all - was also disappointing. A well placed picture would have broken up some of the tedious text pages, and presenting the cover and a few interior panels of each tract discussed in the book would have been a great asset. Compared to Daniel Raeburn's illustration-rich analysis of all things Chick in his indy comic The Imp, this book comes across as woefully inferior.
   
   This was obviously a labor of love for the author, and I'm in awe of the amount of research that went into this book, but ultimately the poor presentation proved too difficult to look past, so the best I can rate The World of Chick is 3 stars. I loved the content, but reading it ended up feeling way too much like work. Hopefully future revisions will be better presented.



2. I am a fan of JTC's comics and was amazed at the encyclopedic extent to which this book goes into his work. The referencing system is complex and takes getting used to, but it permits a great deal of rich data to be catalogued and accounted for concisely. Indispensible for the JTC fan.



3. This *book* is much better than the internet sites that cover some of the same material. Robert Fowler's "The World of Chick?" is a work of devotion and love for a uniquely American genre that deserves to be catalogued by scholars of Americana.
   
   For those who collect Chick Tracts and ancillary Chick art works this reference is indispensable.



4. It is necessary that all serious collectors of Chick Tracts buy this book. Everything you need to know (and much more) concerning the history and printing of Mr. Chick's tracts is here. Read the editorial review and the other customer reviews for more information on this book.
   
   That said, it is even more necessary (a matter of life and death) for collectors (and anyone else who reads a Chick Tract) to realize and act on the FACT that Mr. Chick's "views" are absolute truths and that there is no salvation possible for anyone who does not accept Jesus Christ as his (or her) personal savior. There is no other name by which you may be saved but that of Jesus Christ through faith (NOT through good works).
   
   It is love alone which compels so-called fundamentalists like Mr. Chick to speak as he does; love for sinners and lost souls. One reviewer refers to Mr. Fowler's dedication and love in preparing this book. I thank God for Mr. Chick's dedication and love in preparing his tracts so that souls may be saved.
   
   Laugh at me, be angry with me, call me a bigot and much worse. Good people,I write this review not for myself but for you.



5. I actually bought this thinking it would be a collection of chick tracts, but it is not such, since that would violate copyrights. However, what it is, is an extensive catalouge of Chick tracts, and publications. The author manages to construct an encyclopedia of the world view according to Chick. Some may see this as unimportant, but in this day and age, with Christian fundamentalism and all religious fundamentalism growing, it can give an interesting look into a segment of our society.

1 comments about Saints of the Pueblos.

1. Winner of the Twitchell History Award among other honors, Saints of the Pueblos is a wonderful testimony to the influence that the images of saints have upon Pueblo pottery traditions - a unique melding of Hispanic and Pueblo cultures. Each of the nineteen active pueblos is represented with a retablo as created by author Charlie Carrillo of its patron saint, in the style of the pueblo. Four additional, ancestral pueblos are also represented. The colorful imagery, interspersed with black-and-white photography and thoughtful text about the history of each pueblo and its art makes Saints of the Pueblos a distinguished, viscerally visual exploration of how Catholicism and Pueblo culture are inextricably interwoven. A welcome addition to Native American art studies shelves.

No comments about Sacred Spring: God and the Birth of Modernism in Fin De Siecle Vienna.

1 comments about Saints and Their Symbols: Recognizing Saints in Art and in Popular Images.

1. Under the heading of the major section, "Historical Survey or Historical Atlas of the Saints," over 150 saints are included in rough chronological order, beginning with the parents of the Virgin Mary and ending with Theresa Benedicta of the Cross, who died in a German concentration camp in 1942. Along with key biographical facts, entries for each of the numerous saints discuss symbols, settings, poses, clothing, and objects commonly included in paintings or other artistic representations of the respective saint and why these details are associated with him or her. With each entry is a work of art in which the saint is pictured. The large-size, glossy-paged reference has the quality of a coffee-table art book. But its primary purpose is helping reader identify saints in works of art mostly from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, but from other eras as well. The well-thought-out reference is useful in different ways. One can go through the "Historical Survey" in order or randomly to learn about the saints as they have been represented in works of art throughout history and look at the related works of art. The Index, on the other hand, lists the many details found in works of art on saints so that one can find a particular saint from details in a particular work--which one might have seen in a museum or public square in Italy, for example. And there's a third approach to coming to understand and appreciate the the portrayals of saints that have been a large part of Western and Near Eastern visual art in past centuries: The "Dictionary of Saints with Their Attributes" is a visual, alphabetical cataloguing of the saints in typical poses with typical garb and holding or alongside typical symbols or objects. The black-and-white illustrations of the Dictionary can be compared to an image one might have seen or recalled; and then one is directed to the written entry to learn about the saint and the work of art where one saw the image. For its comprehensiveness, attractiveness, and usefulness as a reference, this work is patently a leading work in its field. The authors are involved in different Italian cultural, art, and religious institutions.

2 comments about The Dark Interval: Towards a Theology of Story.

1. I had read this book when I was in college and Crossan's model of story had struck me as very insightful. Re-reading it now, I find it less illuminating. In part, it's because some of Crossan's ideas strike me as conventional wisdom (at least among the group of people who think about epistemology -- and, in fact it may be, as the book's first edition is now more than thirty years old).
   
   My larger criticism, though, is that while quite accessible, this brief book feels more like an extended gloss on a thesis than a fully-developed work. The author spends too much time establishing his premise of parable as one type of story, but too little examining the implications of the model. I would have preferred a significantly deeper discussion of the stories Jesus told and why they should be seen as subversive, particularly in the historical context of his time. (A point of illustration: he recast the story of the Good Samaritan in terms of the Vietnam War. In my head, I substituted Iraq and al-Qaeda for similarly jarring effect.) Indeed, the most powerful chapter of the book is the brief epilogue that discusses the ways in which Jesus' parables were defanged, or at least recast as apologues, to fit the early church's eschatology of the cross.



2. The Dark Interval: Towards a Theology of Story is one of the best introductions to narrative theology in print. Yes, this is the same Crossan associated with the search for the historical Jesus - but avoiding that strain of contemporary theology is no excuse to miss this gem.

   Crossan is widely educated and very comfortably draws from a number of literary, philosophical and theological sources. His argument on the relationship between limit, game, and narrative is especially thought provoking. His analysis of parables as cross-expectations is one of the more interesting and thought-provoking studies of parables.

   The net result of his line of thought is that the reader gains a pratical rather than strictly theorectical understanding of narrative theology ... and comes to see it as a natural tool of interpretation of life - one's own or Christ's/

3 comments about Anselm Kiefer: Heaven And Earth.

1. Anselm's artwork is amazing. This book tells all about the artist, his artwork, and the storys behind them. It has amazing photos and details.



2. This is a fantastic book. Anselm Keifer is one of my favorite artists of today. His work is so powerful that it is difficult to imagine it translated into a printed form, but this book does a great job of an almost impossible task. Keifer's work must be seen in person to be fully felt, but short of that, this book still manages to impress.



3. The German artist Kiefer's first project titled "The Heavens" ("Die Himmel") sounded the note for the major theme of his work through the following decades. This first was a book-like project with several leaves completed in 1969. Coming after this were sculpture-like, installation-like works (before this form was widely practiced) using the earthy materials of lead, brick, metal, wood, cloth, and often cast-off materials, as used in "found" art, though with not nearly the effect. Born in 1945, Kiefer could never free himself from the oppressiveness of the German psychoses and atrocities of the Nazi years, especially being a Jew. "[Kiefer] does not assume the existence of a paradise, only the ancient need to imagine one." One sees in the artist's dense, bewitching works usually made of assorted materials this primitive longing for paradise impacted by the carnage and horrors of 20th century's crazed politics and warfare on a huge scale. The touches of brightness in many of Kiefer's works are sometimes overwhelmed by bricks and other materials the color of cinders, ashes, an unmistakable reference to the Holocaust and the "scorched earth" warfare waged by the German war machine. It is the natural materials of the art works such as leaves, ground, and cotton spun into clothing, not religious visions of Heaven, which offer any hope of transformative redemption and immortality there may be. As noted in the "Introduction," Kiefer regarded the earth as a "kind of alchemical fragment" still being forged. "In Kiefer's cosmology, the universe is an immense athanor, or alchemical oven, where spirit and matter are in continued process of creation and destruction." The book succeeds estimably as a retrospective on the span of Kiefer's career. Varying perspectives from distant to close-up on the art works enable one to grasp the complex historical, cultural, and mythical thoughts reflected in the composite, multilayered works and also the undying struggle between hope and memory embodied in them.