Icons and the Mystical Origins of Christianity - New Edition

Luzac Oriental Ltd, Revised Edition, 2001, good condition, corners of covers a little worn, reinforced.

This notable book uses the imagery of icons as the basis for an exploration of the true mystical source of the Christian faith. Icons themselves are essentially mystical at heart. for they hold the key to a stream of knowledge aimed at the civilisation of the whole person - body, soul and spirit - which developed from Platonic throught, the school of Alexandria and the Orphic mysteries. Richard Temple finds evidence for this `universal knowledge' in the writings of pre-Christian and very early Christian philosophy, and shows how the imagery and composition of icons together provide a graphic record of a rich and profound tradition that was largely forgotten or ignored by Western Christianity, and by Western art historians...