What’s a Good Baptist Doing with Icons?

A friend is currently pursuing a course in Spiritual Direction using the practices of Ignatian Spirituality developed by Ignatius of Loyola.  It occurred to me that it might be appropriate to share with him an icon of the saint. So where did that idea come from?  Baptists have traditionally criticized the use of images as a part of worship linking the practice as idolatry.

 

Icons have a long history in Christian tradition.  An icon is a religious work of art, usually a painting, often created in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.  

Eastern Orthodox tradition holds that the production of Christian images dates to the earliest days of Christianity, but most modern art scholars believe the earliest religious icons were created in the third century.  

 

Widespread destruction of images occurred in the Eastern Orthodox Church during the Byzantine iconoclasm (destruction of icons) of 726–842, although this conflict did settle the question of the appropriateness of the use images in worship. 

 

My first icon was a gift from Molly Marshall, one commonly called “the Old Testament Trinity” or the “Hospitality of Abraham.”  Created by the Russian painter Andrei Rublev in the early 15^th century, it depicts the three angels who visited Abraham (Genesis 18:1-8). The painting is very symbolic, however and is interpreted as an icon of the Holy Trinity.

 

What are we supposed to do with icons?  Those of the Baptist tradition often think that our Christian brothers and sisters in the Catholic or Orthodox traditions worship the images, but actually they are meant to appeal to our senses (much like stained glass windows) and draw us into the worship of God.

 

Many of us are familiar with the tradition of Lectio divina, a spiritual practice that calls us to allow scripture to speak through reflection, meditation, and prayer. In Lectio, we move from the “What does the scripture mean?” to “What is God saying to me through this scripture?”

 

Icons may be used in Visio divina, a practice that invites the viewer into "divine seeing."  Visio divina invites us to encounter the divine through images. A prayerful consideration of and interaction with a photograph, an icon, a piece of art, or other visual representation allows the viewers to experience the divine in a unique and powerful way.  You can learn more about Visio divina here.

 

In subsequent blogs, I will share about the two other icons that hang in my office and why they are there.