Stephanie Rumpza has provided a unique and important text for scholar and student alike. Phenomenology of the Icon is an exploration of the concept of mediation between the finite and the infinite that concentrates on the icon as the primary form of such an encounter. Drawing on phenomenology as the primary methodology, her approach to the icon is through the lens of prayer rather than through the abstract philosophical inquiry.
Rumpza’s arguments are disciplined and logical. Beginning with the patristic roots of the icon, she traces its history as an object of prayer as well as an art form. With this foundation established she then explores the icons’ capacity to function as a medium for the divine during finite encounters of faith. Choosing the hermeneutical phenomenology of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Jean-Luc Marion as her two dialogue partners, she provides valuable insight into the icon where the medium is the place of event, where encounter with the icon is encounter with the kenotic self-gift of Christ, where prayer before the icon becomes a glimpse through visual symbol towards the presence of God’s love, and much more.
This rich use of Gadamer and Marion to explore the icon as a medium of divine and finite encounter is developed in the text in four parts. She begins first with Gadamer’s use of art as “Representation,” even though his work never deals directly with the icon per se. Gadamer does open the world of art as a form event or medium for mediation that can then be applied to the icon. Building on this, Rumpza then presents Marion’s understanding of “Presence” wherein Marion explicitly presents the encounter between believer and God, but he does so by presenting a reversal of the expected pattern of this engagement. In presenting themselves to the icon, the believer in prayer finds that God is already present and awaiting the believer’s loving expectation. In the third part of the text, Rumpza, through Marion, uses the concept of “Substitution” as understood in the context of prayer to offer up new possibilities of relational communication with the icon, thus avoiding any charge of the icon being seen as an idol. Finally, the fourth part focuses on the icon and mediation through “Performance” in the context of the liturgy, here understood narrowly as primarily an encounter with divine presence leaving aside the quality of the “aesthetic forms” of the liturgy as of lesser concern.
Given the cost, this text would best be purchased for library reference use and will make an excellent choice as material for graduate studies in theology and philosophy. It will be especially helpful in courses where students have had some foundational reading in hermeneutics and are familiar with but not limited to the work of Gadamer and Marion.
There are two sections in the book which, if used as part of coursework, would benefit from engagement with other theological dialogue partners. First is the last section on “Performance” in the context of liturgy. It is here where ritual structure and liturgical quality are largely dismissed in light of a greater focus on encounter with the divine. Liturgical theology and ritual studies would utilize quite different arguments regarding the role of ritual structure and its importance in communicating the divine in communal prayer. One alternative perspective from someone who also draws on phenomenology as a dialogue partner is the French sacramental theologian Louis-Marie Chauvet, who would be an excellent choice to include in conversation. The second area is a passage in the “Presence” section (184–187), where Rumpza attempts to draw parallels between the Western understanding of real presence as encountered in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and iconic presence. Here students would be well served by further theological engagement beyond these brief arguments. This topic treated so summarily here could be a text unto itself given the complex and nuanced history of the theology in the West. As presented by Rumpza, the material does not lend itself to the comparison in the few short pages allotted to it. Supplemental materials by Nathan Mitchell and David Power, OMI, to name just two possibilities, are readily available.
Rumpza shows herself to be a truly gifted scholar. Drawing from the phenomenology developed in the text, she presents a uniquely powerful understanding of the icon as mediation of a relationship of love using the image of a love letter. Initiated by God beyond our understanding, place or time, this relationship, mediated by the icon (the love letter), is one in which we can but offer our own response of love. “In sum, an iconic mediation is one of both superfluidity and abundance, as grounded in a relationship of kenotic love.”Footnote 1
This text is a worthy addition to any university library and adds an important and thought-provoking perspective for all who engage in theological and philosophical hermeneutics of image and icon.
