Eve is almost always represented, too, and sometimes she is also shown being pulled upward by the hand of Christ. The key element in this icon is Christ firmly grasping the wrist of Adam in the pit, pulling him along as he ascends into heaven. The common Eastern icon of the anastasis shows Christ breaching the gates of hell, generally with two long, broken gates lying in the shape of a cross and a personified Hades or Satan lying conquered under his feet. It does not express the cosmic enormity of the cross and Resurrection in relation to human life. If other humans are present at all, it is often as guards lying asleep by the tomb. Crossan asserts that the image of a solo, triumphant Christ does not tell the entire story. The common Western image of the Resurrection shows Christ as a triumphant yet singular figure.
He explains that the book's emphasis on universal over individual iconography for Christ's resurrection is "remedial education for us Western Christians."
In his own efforts to explain these images, Crossan asks evocative questions about the nature of Christ, the purpose of his death and resurrection and what those things ultimately mean for human existence and salvation. The duo made 20 research trips over the course of 15 years to document images and collect information about extant versions of Christ's resurrection, although the authors prefer to use the Greek word anastasis, which literally means "up-rising."Īccording to John's commentary, "These images are quite simply visual theology, and they challenge verbal theology to explain them - if it can." This question set off a quest that ranged along Byzantium's Greek Tiber, the Syriac Tigris, the Russian Neva and the Coptic Nile. This led them to question why Western Christianity depicts an individual resurrection of Jesus, whereas Eastern Church icons show a universal resurrection for Jesus and all humanity together. Unlike the lone figure of the triumphant Christ generally seen in Western churches, this icon in Turkey showed Christ surrounded by others. This project developed out of the Crossans' curiosity about an engaging image of the Resurrection in an 11th-century Cappadocian church. John is author of more than 20 books, a professor emeritus at DePaul University and a noted biblical scholar whose portrayals of the historical Jesus have often been controversial. Sarah is a veteran photographer and visual artist. The Crossans are helpful tour guides who offer the reader magnificent images and thought-provoking commentary. The book is a mix of travelogue, art history, church history and theology, as the authors examine ancient images of Christ's resurrection in both the East and the West. They share with us specific elements of image and Scripture that can lead to a fuller understanding of what Christ's resurrection means to all of humanity. The authors, John Dominic Crossan and Sarah Sexton Crossan, do this by showing us visual theological expressions of our mutual Christian past.
Resurrecting Easter: How the West Lost and the East Kept the Original Easter Vision, brings the East and West a step closer together.
0 kommentar(er)
