180 Giakalis, [Mansi 12, 1067B] 1994, p. 55.
181 Ugolnik, 1989, p. 45.
182 Ibid.
183 Ugolnik, 1989, p. 45.
184 Ibid, p. 46.
Certainly, we believe the Eucharist should at least be respected, no matter how evangelical (and anti-symbol) we think we are.
A healthy understanding of symbol must contain an appropriate sense of accountability between material reality and spiritual reality. Because evangelicalism is rooted in the enlightenment and subsequent modernity there is often a profound sense of the lack of continuity between the material and the spiritual. Orthodox doctrine is helpful in this light. “… it is endemic to Orthodoxy itself, precisely because “enlightenment” encloses the single, inquiring mind within an isolated, interpreting self separated not only from a creator but from the social framework of other minds.”185 An evangelical post enlightenment understanding of symbol must account for this compartmentalization. Lack of proper theology regarding matter has allowed westerners (and evangelicals in particular) to largely remove accountability in this area. Rather, the relationship between man and matter is seen as autonomous (matter and spirituality are unrelated). North American evangelicals are, for the most part, blind to this fact. This is reflected in treatment of creation as well as in practices of worship. However, this approach is no longer acceptable. For example, the absence of beauty from our contemporary churches has created a hunger for a deeper spirituality and we are experiencing a revival of religious art and icon painting.186
185 Ugolnik, 1989, p. 66.
186 Zibawi, 1993, p. 53.
The contemporary evangelical church exists in a visual age. Protestants need a proper visual theology that is incarnational. “Thus, in a world replete with the images that shower down upon us from billboards, pour from the television screen, adorn our cities and public parks, and inhabit our entire interior landscape, the religious image has little power of itself to claim its own dominion over the imagination.”187 Effective ministry will require the appropriate use of symbol. Leadership in this area is important in order to avoid trivialization of the symbolic. In North American culture, religious images are often more fashion statements than true icons, though they sometimes use historical content and appear icon-like. At best they are merely reminders.188 This leadership is essential because “When the church confines its territory to the heavenly realm alone, it surrenders the material world totally to the secular powers.”189 We have definitely seen the triumph of the secular in the area of symbol during modernity.
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