Image, Word and God in the Early Christian Centuries

’An important book for anyone interested in the history and interpretation of the word from the Old and New Testaments through pagan and Christian antiquity up to contemporary debates in Barth, Derrida and others. Edwards provides an invaluable and masterly guide to the interpretation of scripture, the many contrasts between Christianity and Platonism, and the complex history of thought ranging from the Bible to Plato, Philo, Tertullian, Clement, Origen, Plotinus, Porphyry, Dionysius the Areopagite, and Augustine.’ Kevin Corrigan, Emory University, USA 'The distinctive feature of this intriguing book is the way pagan and Christian are set side by side grappling with similar questions in different ways. The meticulous exposition of key material from selected philosophers and theologians, the adamant refusal to assimilate Christian thought to Platonism, and the sharp identification of significant contrasts in the final theses is characteristic of Mark Edwards’ careful work, here as elsewhere. Without highlighting epistemology hermeneutics or revelation, he nevertheless explores the issues that lie at the heart of these subjects: the relation of seeing and hearing to what is seen and heard, and how this shapes understanding of word and image, text and incarnation.’ Frances Young, University of Birmingham, UK ’Edwards' new book is a rich and pathbreaking account of the relationship between the scriptural and incarnate Word of God and the notion of a divine image in early Christianity. Full of new insights and packed with information previously inaccessible to all but a handful of specialists, Image, Word and God will be of great interest to students in a variety of fields, ranging as it does from creation, the imago Dei, and patristic Christology to the devotional use of plastic images and the central authority and the iconic status of Scripture - all within a larger argument about the distinctiveness of early Christianity in contrast