>Josef Gulka wrote:
>As to church fathers, preferring their art to
>be symbolically abstracted, it seems to me precisely the opposite.
>Abstractions, and hence 'reductions' of the human were seen as
>Christological distortions, and were discouraged if not actively
>prohibited.
Sorry, Josef, that was my error of a poorly chosen metaphor. I did not
intend 'church fathers' in the accepted sense in which it is commonly used
on this List (Augustine, etc). Correctly, the church fathers understood -
as did dear Jacobus de Voragine and Sor Juana - the power of a good story,
whether written, sung, painted or sculpted.
My reference was meant to those inheritors, if you will, of their
authority - - the priests/pastors, deacons, and other parties responsible
for selecting the visual enhancements to a given church's worshipful
ambience.
Thanks, nonetheless, for the references to John of Damascus, et al. The
more things change ....
jmichael
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