Seeing the Gospel: An Interpretive Guide to Orthodox Icons - Paperback

by Eve Tibbs (Author), Richard J. Mouw (Foreword by)

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.

Back Jacket

"Winsomely presented and lavishly illustrated"

This book offers a guide to the visual language of Orthodox icons in order to engage Holy Scripture with greater depth and understanding.

"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, Nashotah House Theological Seminary

"Tibbs's book presents a refreshing and profound perspective on the Church's mission today, emphasizing that art is 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 Vasiljevic, Bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America

"Tibbs is a seasoned expositor of Orthodoxy for non-Orthodox Christians. In this winsomely presented and lavishly illustrated book, she responds to suspicions about icons and presents the justification for them. She then moves on to a richly informative presentation about many icons related to the Gospels' presentation of Christ, along the way unpacking hidden treasures of insight from the details in each icon. This beautifully produced volume invites and rewards careful reading."
--James R. Payton Jr., McMaster Divinity College; author of Light from the Christian East: An Introduction to the Orthodox Tradition

"Tibbs offers exceptional insight into the extraordinary world of icons. The reader is invited to participate in a generous banquet of aesthetic beauty accompanied by a treasure house of spiritual commentary."
--Fr. John Chryssavgis, executive director, Huffington Ecumenical Institute

Author Biography

Eve Tibbs (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is affiliate professor of theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. She has more than 20 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.