Praying with Icons.

Praying with Icons

By Jim Forest

(Orbis, 1997, 2008)

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

As the world gets smaller, it is not enough simply to concentrate on the physical dimensions of a world that now stretches our consciousness beyond the local. Being able to find Novgorod or Vladimir on a map is not enough to satisfy the need to understand the people of another place. There are better ways to do that than simply studying geography: travel, art, music, literature, religion, for instance. And even better than such isolated approaches, perhaps, the art of a religion.

Jim Forest's revised Praying with Icons does just that. It blends the two to make a bridge between West and East. By using the art of iconography, Forest gives us a privileged glimpse into the splendors of Orthodox Christianity.

More than simply describing icons, Forest enables the Western Christian to understand even better the spiritual perspectives that enkindle the religious art of the Orthodox Christian, both here and abroad.

The text gives us a fresh look at our own stories, symbols, and theological customs by discovering what we each emphasize. By recognizing the theological weight of what we don't see in an icon, we broaden our own insights into the image. Just as iconographers, in the language of the art, "write" an icon, Forest teaches us how to read one. In his hands icons become a lectio divina, a holy reading, of color.

While Forest introduces us to the art of iconography, its process, and symbol systems, he goes further. He explains the Orthodox theology the art implies. He points out, for instance, that in the Orthodox icon of the holy supper, Jesus does not sit at the head or even the center of the table, as he does in classic Western depictions. "Jesus' place at the table," he points out, "is not top center, as one might expect, but-emphasizing his choice not to rule but to serve-on the upper left of a circular table around which the twelve are seated."

The book is an excursion through the faith from the point of view of the Eastern church. It is one that enriches our own and binds East and West closer and closer as one church at the same time. We will need a book such as this for a long, long time in this changing world.

Reviewed by Sister Joan Chittister, O. S. B., an international lecturer and co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women, a U.N.-sponsored organization working for worldwide peace and justice. She is author of the book The Gift of Years (Bluebridge, 2008).