The Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Loyola Marymount University was established to bring Catholic and Orthodox scholars and practitioners together in dialogue. The nine short papers in this volume, first presented at “Icons and Images,” a symposium held at the Institute in 2013, address history, theology, ecclesiology, and hermeneutics of iconology, sacred art, and sacred space in the Orthodox and Catholic traditions. The authors include prominent theologians, art historians, priests, and icon painters, who look at the subject of sacred art from both academic and personal perspectives. Some of the essays are highly specialized; others offer sweeping views of the subject. The essay on “Vital Inbreathing” by Bissera Pentcheva, focusing on iconicity beyond representations in Late Antiquity, will engage scholars familiar with the encoded language of theological and mystagogical texts. The beautifully written essay by Thomas M. Lucas, S.J., engaging a wider audience, traces the history of sacred imagery and attitudes toward images in the Catholic Church, shifting from a historical account to a personal narrative. Given the breadth of topics, the broad chronological range of the essays, and the appeal to widely different audiences, it is difficult to assess the contribution of this volume as a whole, a difficulty addressed by the editor in his conclusion.

“Anthropological and Cultural Treatments” is the most integrated section of the publication. In this section, two art historians, Kirstin Noreen and Christina Maranci, and a theologian, Dorian Llywelyn, S.J., examine the use of specific icons, reliefs, and statues in liturgical celebrations, including local rituals. The authors move seamlessly across time, asking readers to consider connections between medieval and modern practices. Noreen focuses on the Lateran icon of Christ in the Sancta Sanctorum in Rome, carefully tracing its history and its important role in the celebration of the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin. Processed through the streets of the city, the icon visited important shrines of the Virgin before being deposited on the altar of Santa Maria Maggiore. Lining the route were carved stone reliefs, frequently decorated with the face of Christ, which left a material record of the annual celebration. Noreen's essay ends with a discussion of the Peregrina, an exact copy of the Virgin of Guadalupe image on the sacred tilma, today in Mexico City. Her analysis of the procession of the Peregrina in Los Angeles offers interest insights for understanding the display and reception of the earlier Lateran icon.

Christina Maranci's essay focuses on a single sculpted relief in the Armenian church of Mren, which was constructed ca. 638. After closely analyzing the relief's imagery and the history of scholarship on the church, Maranci opens a discussion about connections between dedication rites and the decoration of church façades. For Maranci, relief imagery on the building exterior and on sculpted stelae may be related to ritual movement around the church and sites of prayer. She raises important questions about the seasonal and diurnal illumination of the exterior reliefs, observing that Step‘anos Siwnec‘i's eighth-century commentary on the hours of the Divine Office features an allegorical interpretation of the liturgical day and of the passage of sunlight. Visual and symbolic connections between the carved surfaces of the church and the mountainous landscape from which stones were quarried are also emphasized. Maranci's questions emerge from on-site analysis as well as from careful study of Armenian written sources. The essay concludes with a warning about the perilous condition of the church at Mren, whose reliefs may soon be lost to the world.

Dorian Llywelyn's fascinating essay, “From Trent to Tierra del Fuego,” examines the central role that the cult of Jesús Nazareno de Caguach plays in the faith-life of Chilotes, residents of a remote archipelago that lies off the Pacific coast of Chile. Llywelyn traces the origins of the feast of Jesús Nazareno on the islands of Chiloé, a feast that was first shaped by a competitive canoe race in 1776. The statue, housed on the small island of Caguach, “la isla de la devoción,” and its cult are critical to Chilotes’ sense of identity, especially the identity of those in diaspora. Llywelyn asserts that devotion to “nuestro” Jesús Nazareno is strengthened by the statue's physical appearance—life-size and with coloration that mirrors the complexions of Chilotes. Looking at the annual procession of a copy of the Jesús Nazareno de Caguach statue in Punta Arenas, 1,500 miles from Caguach, Llywelyn relates a modern practice to its medieval roots. The processions of the copy and the original are linked to one another, but they are also tied to the Holy Land of the first century, collapsing time and space. As with many liturgical celebrations, the procession of the statue, which takes place at the beginning of the sowing season in August, also “expresses the rhythms of the pastoral and agricultural cycles that lie in the deep archetypes of the substrate of the Pascha—grace, as it were, building on nature” (139).

This volume contains a number of essays that will be of interest to scholars working in the field of sacred art. Many of the essays, written for the general public, can also be used for teaching sacred art in churches or to the lay public. The essay by Robert Taft, S.J. at the beginning of the volume, for example, is a quick introduction to theological issues surrounding sacred art. A reflection by Fr. Michael Courey, offering important insights into the working methods of a modern-day iconographer, will be of interest to those investigating the relationship of the painter and the sacred. The editor helpfully concludes the volume with translations of texts on sacred images from the Seventh Ecumenical Council and the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.