Real Presence: In Search of the Earliest Icons

Sister Wendy has been the source of many original books and videos regarding art and its religious significance in a secular world. They are unique in that they invite the reader and viewer into wonder rather than authoritative control. The artistic traditions she examines are viewed through the lens of religious faith and human delight. Her books on the icons of Mary and Jesus lead the reader through a process of discovery. Her process is at once personal (through her own travels and experience) and is well informed. Sister Wendy knows the original purpose of the icons: they are acts of worship rather than objects of desire. She brings together rather than separates the multivalent tangents that, when brought in harmony, allow the person in the presence of the icons into enter them as experiences of faith and love. Of course, she has the ability to do the same for many works of art whether it is Damien Hirst or Titian. But here she does it with a personal delight. I found her analysis added to my experience of icons, my knowledge of them and the renewal of my sense of wonder. While she is in the tradition of other modern authors who have written about icon from the perspective of Faith (e.g.: Henri Nouwen, Rowan Williams) she adds the rigorous dimension of art history as part of her vocabulary of investigation. Sister Wendy increased my knowledge and delight.I was disappointed in the physical book itself. The typesetting and design were below the ordinary expectations of well designed books. A better presentation would have heightened the pleasure and appeal of the book.

Great book, came in perfect condition. Arrived quickly.

THE ICONS REVEAL THE MYSTERY OF GOD AS YOU PRAY. THERE WERE WONDERFUL ICONS IN THE BOOK. BR. BRIAN H.C.

Sr Wendy's books are a joy to read and view.

I made this beautiufl book part of my Lenten experience.

It is very interesting. Sister Wendy is wonderfully gifted. Her ability to define and express paintings and artists is super.

Unfortunately, Sister Wendy is one of those popularizers who give popularizers a bad name when they take on something they aren't really qualified to address. She is described as an "art commentator" and a "student of art," and while she may be those things, she is not an art historian and apparently she doesn't know that much about church history as well. (I'm no expert in those fields either, but one doesn't need to be to spot problems with her book.)Near the beginning of her book Sister Wendy makes the astonishing claim (p. 13) that there is no evidence of icons "until the late fourth and fifth centuries, and even that is only literary." This will come as a surprise to those Christians with a passing knowledge of early Christian funerary and catacomb art. On page 19, she contradicts herself by saying "there actually survive some early Christian wall paintings from the year 240." The earliest icons, she insists, date from the sixth century. It's only at the end of her book (p. 128) that you find out why: she has an eccentric definition of an icon, restricting it to something that is "portable," and rejecting that wall paintings can be icons. I'm pretty certain she is alone in this view.In between, her book is full of errors of fact and problems with her artistic judgment. On page 18, the reader finds the twin howlers that the Arians believed that Jesus Christ "was truly God but not truly man"--it's almost exactly the opposite--and that in response Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicea in 383 (it was 325). She calls the sixth century Emperor Justinian's great church "the Basilica of Santa Sophia" (p. 11) -- it was no basilica, either architecturally or by title, and what are we to make of "Santa Sophia"? "Santa" is a Spanish word, the Greek name is Hagia Sophia, and it means "Holy Wisdom" referring to Jesus Christ, not a female saint named Sophia. She claims that it is the Coptic church that orients its liturgy toward the East, when that is a practice of all Eastern Christians (and Western Christians, too, until they dropped it).In describing some of the ancient icons under consideration in her book, Sister Wendy offers her own, decidedly odd, observations. In an icon of the Crucifixion, she points to the "extraordinary depiction" of the unrepentant thief as a woman--"notice the long hair and the bosoms." This indeed would be extraordinary, but nothing supports such an interpretation--not Scripture, not hymnody, and not anything else in Church tradition, including this very icon. What we see is a long-haired male thief whose breasts (men do have them) are slightly more defined than Sister Wendy would like. She should study another icon in her book--that of the Lord's Nativity on page 82--where the infant Jesus, being washed by the midwives, has a lot of hair and, yes, breasts.Of the ugliest, worst, overpainted icon in her book, that of Mary and the child Jesus on page 71, Sister Wendy has only praise: this is the one icon in her book that "most needs to be seen," about which "our human vocabulary falls short," the example of "precisely what an icon strives to be." All nonsense: it's a bad icon, not made better by its antiquity.There are many more problems with the book, more than can be enumerated here. Part of the problem, I think, is that Sister Wendy, among other things, seems not to know much about icons and trusts too much in Western, as opposed to Eastern, sources. Her bibliography, for example, lacks a reference to any work by an Orthodox Christian authority, such as Leonid Ouspensky or Vladimir Lossky.Let me close with Sister Wendy's own closing words, which are the truest thing about this book: "Looking back on what I have written, I feel disappointed. You can judge for yourself: look at the pictures of the icons and what I have said about them, and decide whether my comments have been of any use to you. To some extent, of course, this is just my own inadequacy...."

great

SISTER WENDY RESUMES THE JOURNEY SHE MADE IN "ENCOUNTERS WITH GOD"TRAVELLING TO REMOTE CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES TO SEEK AND FIND THE EARLIEST ICONS THAT HAVE SURVIVED THE DESTRUCTION OF THE EARLY 8TH CENTURYPRAYERFUL AND HEARTFELT SINCERITY -A REALLY ENLIGHTENING BOOKAS ALWAYS FROM DEAR SISTER WENDY BECKETTTHE READER SHARES IN A VERY EXCITING SPIRITUAL JOURNEY OF HAPPINESS

Lovely and informative. Quietly informing us of ancient viewing of Christianity,. Recommended to anyone who wants to learn about early Christian devotion.

A lovely book, which has interesting and beautiful icons from early medieval times, some from monasteries including St Catherines,it has a chapter of Christ icons and also of Mary among others, it has a lot of information and descriptions.

all ok

Good