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VANSAC Peter - Acta PATRISTICA, volume 15, issue 31/2024

ICONOGRAPHY AND ITS FUTURE IN HUMAN THERAPY
/IKONOGRAFIA A JEJ FUTURUM V TERAPII ČLOVEKA/

/ Pavol KOCHAN, Presov : University of Presov, Faculty of Orthodox
Theology, 2024, 76 p., ISBN 978-80-555-3363-6. – Pavol KOCHAN, Prešov : Prešovská univerzita v Prešove, Pravoslávna bohoslovecká fakulta, 2024, 76 s., ISBN 978-80-555-3363-6./

(review)

Peter VANSAC, professor, St. Elizabeth University of Health and Social sciences, Institute of Beatific M. D. Trček in Michalovce, Partizánska 23, Michalovce 071 01, Slovakia, peter.vansac@seuniversity.eu, ORCID: 0000-0003-1007-9130

 

The monograph entitled Iconography and its Future in Human Therapy, with a scope of 76 pages, can be considered topical and beneficial for the field of spiritual therapy of a person, but also in therapy in the art therapy environment. The monograph is divided into four chapters with several subchapters, preceded by an introduction and followed by a conclusion. The work is enriched with photographic material from the implementation of partial projects focused on the topic of the work and also a name register. At the end, the amount of domestic and foreign scientific and professional literature that was used in the creation of the scientific monograph indicates the author's good orientation in the topic. The formal side of the monograph is at a sufficient level. Looking at the technical and linguistic side, we conclude that the work is written grammatically and stylistically well, the text is clear and understandable. The readability of the text is optically good, also thanks to the larger font size used. Although the monograph has not undergone official language proofreading, we do not notice any significant linguistic shortcomings in it. The content of the work demonstrates the author's sufficient professional knowledge in the topic. The work is methodologically mastered at an appropriate level. The monograph is divided into two basic parts: theoretical and practical. At the same time, they intersect and support each other to a certain extent. The theoretical part focuses on theoretical knowledge in the field of spiritual therapy of man, which is supported by theological ideas about man, i.e. about the creation of man and patristic commentaries on the topic of soul and body, the image and likeness of God. At the same time, in the topic of man, it also brings closer historical and contemporary knowledge of human therapy in the field of art therapy with its current development. The most important topic is, of course, the topic of the icon and Byzantine iconography, which is the basis of the entire monograph. The author comes to conclusions that point to the interconnectedness of the theological view between the icon and the image of God in man, or rather finds their common starting points, which are the person of the Son of God, the Logos. At the same time, it brings closer the soteriological aspect of these starting points.

The second part is the author's attempt to link the spiritual dimension of Byzantine iconography, its level of spiritual therapy, and its practical proximity to the patient's art therapy. This is an innovative undertaking, because at present we see several attempts to incorporate iconography into art therapy in an appropriate way, since iconography has its own specifics due to its unique style, which has gradually formed historically. The author confirmed his effort with simple empiricism in the form of a casuistic genre and also on the basis of the results achieved in iconography in the form of several years of implementation of courses in Byzantine iconography. The photographic appendix of the implemented iconography courses only confirms the author's high level of engagement and his professional orientation in the topic.

We can conclude that the author has found a strong area for scientific and practical research, which has considerable potential and applicability in various areas of the humanities in practice. As author states, today iconography can become a serious tool for the field of spiritual and psychological-social therapy. The monograph, with its scope and content, as well as its perspective, meets all the requirements to be a contribution to the researched area.

 

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Updated by: Pavol Kochan, 04.02.2025