This book would make a nice companion for last month’s selection, on contemplating with icons. Sister Wendy Beckett is familiar to America readers and CBC members (her book Encounters With God was a club selection in 2009). She is a cloistered nun who lived nearly 20 years as a hermit before appearing on the public stage. In searching out icons of the Virgin Mary from the sixth century for her last book, she tells the reader, she discovered “they were not the only early icons….[and] have a presence that I can only call holy.” Hence the title of this book.
The monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai is the repository for these early gifts. Beckett writes knowledgeably and engagingly of the history of these icons, which take on many forms—including, for example, wall paintings. Her text is an extended spiritual and prayerful reflection, which draws on Scripture as well as the writings of scholars. Reproductions of many icons appear throughout the book, including representations of saints, madonnas and, of course, Jesus. We walk through this fascinating book as members of a guided tour, so to speak, listening and learning from a master. Not a book of captions, Real Presence is an informed and fascinating study of the origin and development of ancient iconographic art. As the author puts it, “icons do not appeal to the imagination, they appeal to the spirit.” Each person’s response is different and unique—his or her personal encounter with God.
We suggest you make this book part of your Lenten journey.
Purchase Real Presence: Sister Wendy on the Earliest Icons
This article appears in February 28 2011.
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