"Anvaya and Vyatireka": The Byzantine Iconophile's Christological Dilemma
This article employs an important yet underused method in theological studies of icons: comparative theology. It seeks to intervene in a Christian theological debate about icons by bringing to bear dialectical resources derived from a Hindu tradition, the nineteenth-century theological tradition of...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Univ.
2022
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| In: |
Journal of Hindu-Christian studies
Year: 2022, Volume: 35, Pages: 1-16 |
| IxTheo Classification: | BK Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism CC Christianity and Non-Christian religion; Inter-religious relations KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity KAD Church history 500-900; early Middle Ages KCD Hagiography; saints NBF Christology |
| Online Access: |
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| Summary: | This article employs an important yet underused method in theological studies of icons: comparative theology. It seeks to intervene in a Christian theological debate about icons by bringing to bear dialectical resources derived from a Hindu tradition, the nineteenth-century theological tradition of Swaminarayan Hinduism, founded by Swaminarayan (1781-1830). In helping resolve an important Christological dilemma deployed against iconophiles by the Horos of the Council of Hiereia (754), this article leverages a distinction between the anvaya (immanent) and vyatireka (transcendent) forms of God delineated in the Vacanāmṛt, a collection of Swaminarayan's discourses. The dilemma is predicated on the Christian iconophile’s alleged inability to defend the creation of icons of Christ while affirming the doctrine about Christ’s nature defined in the Chalcedonian Creed. We argue in this article the following conditional claim: If the distinction between the anvaya and vyatireka forms of God can be countenanced by a Christian iconophile, they can escape this Christological dilemma. In so doing, the article rereads passages from Origen's On First Principles and John Damascene's On the Divine Images through the hermeneutical lens afforded by the distinction drawn by Swaminarayan. |
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| ISSN: | 2164-6279 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Hindu-Christian studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1819 |