Catholicism 'does' art, but it often seems to find Byantine icons 'alien'. Some short introductory thoughts about why that might be the case.

A recent commission which I finished is an icon entitled Behold I make All Things New . This is an explanation of this new design... enjoy!

What images of Jesus did the first Christians have? How did they depict him?

Looking at some fragments of evidence I speculate on what images the first Christians had of Jesus and what he might have looked like... and its not quite as you might think...

The 7th Ecumenical Council wasn't so much about images per se but about Christology and the implications of who Jesus was for the way Christians worshipped. This episode is a bit of a tour de force about the way Christology shaped the early Church and eventually led it to see images as essential in its worship.

Early Christians had seven different words they could choose to describe a sacred image. They chose just one...

Icons belong to the liturgy, but the Catholic and Orthodox forms differ. Trying to find a way for a renewal of iconography is complicated both by these differences but also because of secularisation which affects both communities differently.,,

A short response to a few of the points raised by by Gavin Ortlund (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) who serves as senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Ojai in this video

https://youtu.be/_ytYX4dXpRo?si=cMWXP56lYZDgR6yJ

Orthodox icons in Catholic Churches...

Orthodox icons are rarely signed, but western liturgical art is often about the artist. This is a big difference between east and west, but many contemporary iconographers feel uncomfortable not signing their name on the front as they would with any other painting. What should we make of this difference?

The Byzantine icon is the 'gold medal' winner of liturgical art.