Imaging Death
Posted on 24 February 2010
Table of contents for On Death: Lenten Reflections
In his On Thinking the Human, Robert Jenson claims the only way to think death in a way faithful to the Christian life is (a) to think first of Christ’s death in the second person, and (b) to do this thinking while reflecting on Christian liturgy or iconography. He suggests this Byzantinian anasastis icon as the best for this kind of reflection.
If he is correct, then what do we gain from meditating on this icon that can instruct and (re)orient our thoughts on death?
3 responses to Imaging Death
Could you explain the icon first? I’m assuming Jesus is front and center, but who are the other characters in the story?
Nana,
Jesus is grasping Adam and Eve, and David and Moses, I believe, are watching, and on the other side, we see a company of saints.
Chris,
I read the article you sent…it definitely opened a lot of doors. I also read some literature about faith in the Byzantine world. The Byzantine believers used art as an expression of their faith. What they believed was proclaimed on the walls of their churches; icons in the midst of worship. Reminders.
I agree with Jenson regarding the anasastis or Resurrection. This particular icon, reminds me of the “already, not yet”, it’s anticipatory and comforting. The yes and no. It portrays a healing beyond our knowledge of the beyond.
Imagine death obliterated and eternity opened. A world, a universe healed…already but not yet.