Icons of Jesus

Icons are increasingly popular today among all Christians of every tradition. I am teaching a course on them this semester. One interesting new book that has come forth from the Liturgical Press is:

Francis J. Moloney, Life of Jesus in Icons from the “Bible of Tbilisi” (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2008), 143pp.

           

This is a delightful book illustrating icons found in the Catholic Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption in Tbilisi, Georgia. In over sixty color plates large and small, the reader is taken on a biblical tour of the events of the life of Christ. Each event, including some one almost never sees in books on icons, is portrayed iconographically and then discussed in light of both the relevant biblical passage (reproduced in its entirety) and patristic commentaries on the same—as well as commentaries from the author, an Australian biblical theologian. Origen and Ambrose seem to be quoted most often, but others are to be found, including Ephraim, Augustine, and one who is, curiously, identified each time as Saint Evagrius of Pontus. Iconographers of the strict observance may quibble about details on a few of the icons, which perhaps lack in some ways the more ethereal touch of a Theophanes or Rublev; but in the main the whole book is greatly edifying—perhaps especially for some Protestants new to icons and worried about their relationship to Scripture.