Bloomsbury Academic

Bloomsbury Academic

English

In this volume, Matthias Smalbrugge argues convincingly that we have lost track of the fundamentally referential nature of images. That images are referential at best, Smalbrugge argues, is demonstrated by Augustine’s doctrine of mankind’s fall. By stressing the dogma that sin broke the image of God that mankind possessed in paradise, Augustine focused on dissimilarity, or deconstruction, on an epistemological, moral and ontological level. In the time since Augustine, however, the West has forgotten the notion of the constructive relation of similarity that binds an image and its original. Consequently, we approach images as realities that stand on their own and have lost sight of the originals that stand behind them. This essay – erudite, eloquent, and thoroughly researched – is highly recommended both for specialists in Augustine and ancient thought as well as for anyone who wants to reflect on the history of Western thought and contemporary culture. It invites us to imagine, to hold our images up to the light, and to see them for what they really are.