Ideas and Images Serving Christianity

<p><span style=color: rgba(23 43 77 1)>It is worth remembering that Christianity established by the Word of God is essentially a religion of the word. Based on the word of the sacred Scriptures the Old and New Testament Christianity also needed for its diffusion and consolidation to constantly employ a varied range of words that are structured in the form of patristic exegesis theological treatises apologetic writings catechetical teachings homilies and liturgical hymns. In turn the image appeared from the very beginnings to indicate that in Christianity isas a necessary support and a complement to the word as it makes a way of making visible the contents of the invisible words. That way words become images forming as the visible shapes of ideas. In the meantime the words supported the images acting as explanations of the images especially when their iconic appearance is not evident. Therefore words and images have become essentially intertwined in Christianity: the words reflected in the images and the images revealed by the words. The current Reprint of the </span><em style=color: rgba(23 43 77 1)>Religions</em><span style=color: rgba(23 43 77 1)>' Special Issue Ideas and Images Serving Christianity: Words Illustrated by Forms and Forms Explained by Words brings together thirteen studies by specialists in various academic fields such as theology Mariology philosophy iconography arts and humanities cultural studies Church history literature and sociology. Each of them has cooperated in an outstanding manner to this monograph that undoubtedly provides a valuable contribution to the existing scholarship.</span></p>