Van Der Leeuw’s point that western
religious iconography was met with such fervent resistance when the icons
representing the divine took the form of human was thought provoking. My first
question is why this has not been more sharply discussed around the personhood
of Jesus in recent years. Second, why are humans so significant? Perhaps we
symbolize ourselves. When we see humans in art, we project ourselves onto them;
our loves, dislikes, imperfections, fears, problems. Aspects of the self like
fear and imperfection are uncharacteristic of the divine. We often think of the
divine as free from our own shortcomings and failures. Perhaps the idea of God
being like offends our hope, “If God’s just like me, then He’s just as much of
a lying, cheating, and slandering mess as me.” Maybe there in lies the answer
the my first question. Jesus is meant to be what man was meant to be. He was
without our failings and shortcomings. In the image of Jesus, we have the
chance to see the symbol of our messy manhood, and the hope and purpose found
within the divine. Jesus is the perfection of holy icons because he is the most
holistic of images.
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