In the spirit of Aidan Hart’s last series for OAJ (Holy Icons in Today’s World: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3),  his most recent book, “BEAUTY MATTER SPIRIT: Icons in the Modern World”,  focuses on the implications of the icon and its theology for our lives in the twenty-first century.

256 pages. Over 30 colour plates. 240mm x 170mm. Soft cover, £14.99. Gracewing publishers, 2014. ISBN 978 085244 782 6 

Here are a few short reviews.  For more details see:  http://aidanharticons.com/new-book-out-soon/

“Aidan Hart, one of the greatest living icon-painters, reflects in this book of essays on the place of the Icon in the Christian mystery. Drawing on wide and diverse reading… Aidan helps us to see how the icon reveals a vision in which matter is transfigured, the meaning of mystery reaches throughout the whole cosmos, and human kind, in the image of God, is restored to its role as microcosm and mediator, through God’s embracing matter itself in the Incarnation. This is a profound and arresting book, full of insights and surprises.”

Revd. Prof. Andrew Louth FBA, Professor Emeritus of Patristic and Byzantine Studies, Durham University UK.

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“Aidan Hart’s booked is rich and refreshing. It has a striking spiritual depth, deriving from profound knowledge of the Orthodox theological tradition and the wisdom of a creative artist whose art is rooted in prayer. It also has breadth since he is open to the insights of other Churches and artists from all faiths and none.”

Father Timothy Radcliffe OP, author and from 1992 to 2001 Master of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans). 

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“Reviving the classical art of the essay, Aidan Hart has also revived a sensitivity for God’s presence in all things—God, one of whose names is Beauty. This book is rich in wisdom drawn from the iconographic tradition, illuminating the material cosmos, history, the virtues, and the challenges of contemporary life.”

Stratford Caldecott, Editor, Second Spring Journal.