A preface for the next few posts

A brief look at what's coming...

The feeding of Elijah in the wilderness, Solrunn Nes

I love good stories, especially those which contain mythology and drama. The best such stories for me are those found in Scripture. (Another source I am fond of is Norwegian fairytales, collected by Asbjørnen and Moe in the mid-nineteenth century. Many of these tales have morals influenced by Christian values — for example, showing generosity to others, especially to those who seem small and insignificant, the message being that you will get it back manifold. The most striking biblical statement of this lesson is, of course, expressed in the Sermon on the Mount.)

Much of my activity as an iconographer is to create depictions of Christ, the Mother of God with the child, significant persons from Scripture, and saints who had an important role in Church history. In addition to these motifs are the festival icons of the church year and events in the Old Testament that are relevant to the divine plan of salvation.

Some years back I decided to work on a series of biblical stories, namely visual representations of the Rosary. These consisted of twenty events taken from the lives of Jesus and Mary. My husband, Addison Hodges Hart, then wrote reflections on each of these mysteries, and the resulting book was Silent Rosary (Wipf & Stock, 2021), which many of you have read.

Lately, I have been occupied with yet another cycle of images depicting themes from the Old Testament, so-called prefigurations or types, which have their fulfillment or antitypes in the New Testament. When reading vivid stories, we naturally create inner images of what is described. 

This new series has eight motifs already completed, and it begins, perhaps unsurprisingly, in the Garden of Eden. Here, Adam is given the task of giving names to the animals — and that will be the subject with which I will launch reflections on each of the eight motifs over the next few posts. The subjects to follow will be the Fall, the expulsion from Paradise, the hospitality of Abraham, the sacrifice of Abraham, the crossing of the Red Sea, the prophet Elijah’s ascent to heaven, and the story of Jonah.

Please join me in reflecting on these icons in our future posts.