Overview
Learning to read Orthodox icons is an opportunity to engage Holy Scripture with greater depth and understanding. It allows viewers to uncover fresh dimensions and encounter the Kingdom of God from within the created world. The meaning of icons, which are often referred to as "windows into heaven," reaches beyond the limits of the natural world and into the divine realm.
Eve Tibbs is an Orthodox insider and veteran teacher who has devoted her career to translating the faith for evangelicals. Her comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the history, theology, spirituality, and role of icons in Eastern Orthodoxy is followed by an immersive experience--a narrative journey through eighteen pivotal events in the life of Jesus Christ as depicted in the New Testament Gospels. Each event is illuminated through the form and color of Orthodox icons accompanied by descriptions of the messages they convey. Here "interpretation" works in two ways: to guide the curious, artists, students and even the lifelong Orthodox in interpreting icons and to show how icons interpret the biblical text.
Seeing the Gospel presents a visual biblical language for a visual culture and even describes how icons can be used in other faith traditions. The book includes a foreword by Richard J. Mouw and features ninety full-color icons throughout.
Eve Tibbs is an Orthodox insider and veteran teacher who has devoted her career to translating the faith for evangelicals. Her comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the history, theology, spirituality, and role of icons in Eastern Orthodoxy is followed by an immersive experience--a narrative journey through eighteen pivotal events in the life of Jesus Christ as depicted in the New Testament Gospels. Each event is illuminated through the form and color of Orthodox icons accompanied by descriptions of the messages they convey. Here "interpretation" works in two ways: to guide the curious, artists, students and even the lifelong Orthodox in interpreting icons and to show how icons interpret the biblical text.
Seeing the Gospel presents a visual biblical language for a visual culture and even describes how icons can be used in other faith traditions. The book includes a foreword by Richard J. Mouw and features ninety full-color icons throughout.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Dr. Richard J. Mouw
Preface: Orthodox Icons: "More Than Meets the Eye!"
Introduction
Pictures of People We Love
A Visual Biblical Language for a Visual Culture
The Icons: Old and New, Near and Far
The Audience
An Exegetical Approach
How This Book Should Be Read
Part 1: A Basic Introduction to Icons
1. A Visual Biblical Worldview
The Visible Reveals the Invisible
A Unique Form of "Show and Tell"
Reading and Writing Icons
How Icons Function
The Icon, the Opera, and Presence
True Image and False Image
2. The Iconoclast Controversy
A "Perfect Storm" of Misunderstanding
Theological Issues of the Controversy
The Seventh Ecumenical Council
Part 2: Seeing the Gospel in Icons
3. Christ, the Giver of Light
Darkness and Light
4. Messengers of God
John the Forerunner
Archangel Michael, "Commander of the Lord's Army"
5. The Annunciation to Mary
Gabriel and Mary
6. The Nativity
Christ Is Born! Glorify Him!
The Icon
The Mountain and the Light
Mary, the Mother of God
The Baby and the Crib
The Ox and the Donkey
The Angels and the Shepherds
Joseph, the Protector
The Jesse Tree
The Star and the Magi
The Washing Scene
7. The Meeting of Our Lord in the Temple
A Meeting of Old and New
Simeon and Anna
The Offering of Mary and Joseph
8. The Baptism of Christ
The Beginning of Christ's Ministry
John the Baptist
Jesus and the Jordan River
The Human Condition Is Baptized
9. Ministry, Discipleship, and Revelation
The Samaritan Woman at the Well
Christ Calming the Storm at Sea
The Feeding of the Five Thousand
The Transfiguration
10. Jerusalem before the Cross
The Raising of Lazarus
Palm Sunday: The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
The Mystical Supper
The Washing of Feet
11. The Cross, the Tomb, the Resurrection
First Things First: What Is the Problem?
The Crucifixion
Images of the Resurrection
The Myrrhbearing Women at the Empty Tomb
The Resurrection Icon
12. After the Resurrection
Forty Days Later: The Ascension of Christ
Fifty Days Later: The Descent of the Holy Spirit
Epilogue
Glossary of Terms
Index
Preface: Orthodox Icons: "More Than Meets the Eye!"
Introduction
Pictures of People We Love
A Visual Biblical Language for a Visual Culture
The Icons: Old and New, Near and Far
The Audience
An Exegetical Approach
How This Book Should Be Read
Part 1: A Basic Introduction to Icons
1. A Visual Biblical Worldview
The Visible Reveals the Invisible
A Unique Form of "Show and Tell"
Reading and Writing Icons
How Icons Function
The Icon, the Opera, and Presence
True Image and False Image
2. The Iconoclast Controversy
A "Perfect Storm" of Misunderstanding
Theological Issues of the Controversy
The Seventh Ecumenical Council
Part 2: Seeing the Gospel in Icons
3. Christ, the Giver of Light
Darkness and Light
4. Messengers of God
John the Forerunner
Archangel Michael, "Commander of the Lord's Army"
5. The Annunciation to Mary
Gabriel and Mary
6. The Nativity
Christ Is Born! Glorify Him!
The Icon
The Mountain and the Light
Mary, the Mother of God
The Baby and the Crib
The Ox and the Donkey
The Angels and the Shepherds
Joseph, the Protector
The Jesse Tree
The Star and the Magi
The Washing Scene
7. The Meeting of Our Lord in the Temple
A Meeting of Old and New
Simeon and Anna
The Offering of Mary and Joseph
8. The Baptism of Christ
The Beginning of Christ's Ministry
John the Baptist
Jesus and the Jordan River
The Human Condition Is Baptized
9. Ministry, Discipleship, and Revelation
The Samaritan Woman at the Well
Christ Calming the Storm at Sea
The Feeding of the Five Thousand
The Transfiguration
10. Jerusalem before the Cross
The Raising of Lazarus
Palm Sunday: The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
The Mystical Supper
The Washing of Feet
11. The Cross, the Tomb, the Resurrection
First Things First: What Is the Problem?
The Crucifixion
Images of the Resurrection
The Myrrhbearing Women at the Empty Tomb
The Resurrection Icon
12. After the Resurrection
Forty Days Later: The Ascension of Christ
Fifty Days Later: The Descent of the Holy Spirit
Epilogue
Glossary of Terms
Index
Endorsements
“Convinced that the gospel appears not only in textual form but also in visual form, Eve Tibbs explores iconography as a divinely given exegetical guide. The beautiful presentation of this book—with numerous icons depicted in full color—is testimony to Tibbs’s as well as the publisher’s commitment to the beauty and truth that shape us through the veneration of icons. Seeing the Gospel combines spiritual insight with academic knowledge and meditative prose. A most compelling, winsome guide to Orthodox icons!”
Hans Boersma, Saint Benedict Servants of Christ Chair in Ascetical Theology, Nashotah House Theological Seminary
“Eve Tibbs’s book presents a refreshing and profound perspective on the Church’s mission today, emphasizing that art is not merely an accessory but the very language of the Church. By uniting the visual biblical language of Byzantine iconography with the teachings of the Fathers, this book demonstrates how icons illuminate the gospel. Tibbs invites us to rediscover the Church’s message through its primary tool—sacred art—offering a vital and transformative vision for proclaiming the faith in our time.”
Most Rev. Maxim Vasiljević, Bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America
“Eve Tibbs offers an exceptional insight into the extraordinary world of icons. Just as icons provide a window to the divine Word, this book presents an initiation into the divine image. The reader is invited to participate in a generous banquet of aesthetic beauty accompanied by a treasure house of spiritual commentary. So ‘taste and see that the Lord is good.’”
Fr. John Chryssavgis, executive director, Huffington Ecumenical Institute
Author
Eve Tibbs
Eve Tibbs (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is affiliate professor of theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. She has more than twenty years of experience teaching Western systematic theology and Eastern Orthodox theology in academic and ecclesial settings. Tibbs is a member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, is the ministry lead for Christian education for the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco, and attends Saint Paul's Greek Orthodox Church in Irvine, California. She is the author of A Basic Guide to Eastern Orthodox Theology: Introducing Beliefs and Practices.