Icon: Studies in the History of An Idea

[This] rewarding journey...of approximately 1,200 years is taken with only small side trips, but even these are enchanting... Valuable to all of us who have inherited a secular culture.
--Academic Library Book Review

Over the centuries, European debate about the nature and status of images of God and sacred figures has often upset the established order and shaken societies to their core. Out of this debate, an identifiable doctrine has emerged of the image in general and of the divine image in particular. This fascinating work concentrates on these historical arguments, from the period of Late Antiquity up to the great and classic defenses of images by St. John of Damascus and Theodore of Studion. Icon extends beyond the immediate concerns of religion, philosophy, aesthetics, history, and art, to engage them all.