Icons and the Liturgy, East and West - by Nicholas Denysenko (Hardcover)

About the Book

Icons and the Liturgy, East and West offers a critical assessment of the status of liturgical arts in postmodern Catholicism and Orthodoxy and an analysis of the continuity with tradition in creatively engaging the creation of sacred art and icons.

Book Synopsis

Icons and the Liturgy, East and West: History, Theology, and Culture is a collection of nine essays developed from papers presented at the 2013 Huffington Ecumenical Institute's symposium "Icons and Images," the first of a three-part series on the history and future of liturgical arts in Catholic and Orthodox churches. Catholic and Orthodox scholars and practitioners gathered at Loyola Marymount University to present papers discussing the history, theology, ecclesiology, and hermeneutics of iconology, sacred art, and sacred space in the Orthodox and Catholic traditions.

Nicholas Denysenko's book offers two significant contributions to the field of Eastern and Western Christian traditions: a critical assessment of the status of liturgical arts in postmodern Catholicism and Orthodoxy and an analysis of the continuity with tradition in creatively engaging the creation of sacred art and icons. The reader will travel to Rome, Byzantium, Armenia, Chile, and to other parts of the world, to see how Christians of yesterday and today have experienced divine encounters through icons. Theologians and students of theology and religious studies, art historians, scholars of Eastern Christian Studies, and Catholic liturgists will find much to appreciate in these pages.

Contributors: Nicholas Denysenko, Robert Taft, S.J., Thomas M. Lucas, S.J., Bissera V. Pentcheva, Kristin Noreen, Christina Maranci, Dorian Llywelyn, S.J., Michael Courey, and Andriy Chirovsky.

Review Quotes

"These essays will extend one's appreciation of icons well beyond that of art." --Spirituality & Religion

"The book is beautifully produced with vivid illustrations. It is a pleasure to read, and raises intriguing and important questions that will leave the reader thinking and reflecting. It is a challenging and thought-provoking addition to the growing library of books about icons." --Church Times

"This collection of essays exploring icons East and West, their history, theology, and culture, has no equal in print. It is riveting, surprising, exciting, and as beautiful as the sacred images the authors take up, from Taft, Lucas, Pentcheva, and Noreen to Maranci, Llywelyn, Courey, and Chirovsky. A major contribution from Nicholas Denysenko and the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles." --Michael Plekon, professor emeritus, Baruch College-CUNY

"I find all the essays very clearly written. I enjoyed reading them, and I found much to admire. This book offers such a diversity of scholarship." --Robin Jensen, Patrick O'Brien Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame

"The collection contains significant research for specialist and student alike, and it is further unique and important by bringing together a healthily ecumenical gathering of scholars, which is rare in books on iconography." --Adam A. J. DeVille, chair, Department of Philosophy and Theology, University of Saint Francis, and editor of Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies

About the Author

Nicholas Denysenko is the Emil and Elfriede Jochum Professor and Chair at Valparaiso University. He is the author of Theology and Form: Contemporary Orthodox Architecture in America (University of Notre Dame Press, 2017).