Overview

Mirrors of the Divine brings into focus how four influential authors of the late ancient world--Tertullian of Carthage, Clement of Alexandria, Gregory of Nyssa, and Augustine of Hippo--employ language of vision and of mirrors in their discursive struggles to construct Christian agency, identity, and epistemology. Early Christian authors described the vision of God through the Pauline verse 1 Corinthians 13:12: ""For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face."" Yet each author interpreted this verse differently, based on a diverse set of assumptions about how they understood seeing and mirrors to function: does vision occur by something leaving or entering the eye? Is one impacted by seeing or by being seen? Do mirrors offer trustworthy knowledge?Spanning the second through fourth centuries CE in both Eastern and Western Christianity, Mirrors of the Divine analyzes these four authors' theological writings on vision and knowledge of God to explore how contradictory theories of sight shaped their cosmologies, theologies, subjectivities, genders, and discursive worlds. As Emily R. Cain demonstrates, how the authors portray eyes reveals how they envisioned one's relationship to the world, while how they portray mirrors reveals how they imagined the unknown. Both have dramatic impacts on how one interprets what it means to see God through a mirror dimly. She shows that arguments about the phenomenon of visual perception are deeply intertwined with broader debates about identity, agency, and epistemology, and uncovers some of the most self-conscious ways that late ancient Christians thought of themselves, their worlds, and their God.

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"Cain's Mirrors of the Divine is ambitious; it is impressive to find a book that spans from Clement to Augustine, from Egypt to Cappadocia to modern-day Algeria. She takes up a significant and understudied topic—the idea of vision, at the intersection of ancient medicine, philosophy, and religion—and in doing so offers a social history that includes important and delightfully surprising turns, touching on everything from gender to ancient cataract surgery. * Laura Salah Nasrallah, Yale University * In Mirrors of the Divine, Cain offers a rich analysis of the powerful metaphor of vision in early Christianity. This is a compelling and detailed examination of the concept of 'visual subjectivity' in early Christianity. Cain illuminates the diverse ways in which early Christian authors theorized sight, especially one's vision of God, as shaping the Christian self. Cain deftly shows how the relationship between person and deity in so much of early Christian thought depended on even more ancient theories of vision developed by Plato, the Stoics, and other classical writers. * Caroline T. Schroeder, author of Monastic Bodies: Discipline and Salvation in Shenoute of Atripe * In this carefully researched and well-argued book, Cain explains how early Christians leveraged scientific, medical, and philosophical theories of vision to suit their argumentative needs. She shows how they used concepts of sight, optical illusions, mirrored reflections, or refracted distortions to grapple with constructions of self and other, spiritual piety, and knowledge of God. Cain's analysis persuasively demonstrates that visuality was much more than mere rhetoric, but rather essential to the very structuring of early Christian thought. * Kristi Upson-Saia, Occidental College * Cain's clear writing, skill at historical comparison, and mastery of a diverse range of primary sources and secondary literature made this book a joy to read; it is an excellent contribution that helps readers better understand metaphorical rhetoric, scriptural hermeneutics, and theological anthropology in the patristic era. This book should prove a stimulating conversation partner for systematic theologians writing on the beatific vision and perhaps even for pastoral/practical theologians exploring how ""sight"" language in scripture and Christian liturgies relate to spiritual formation in the Christian life. * Religious Studies Review, Vol. 49, No. 3 * Cain superbly integrates ancient optical theory into the discussions of Tertullian, Clement, Gregory of Nyssa, and Augustine. She decisively demonstrates that analyses of spiritual vision must be grounded in that writer's understanding of physical vision. She insightfully observed that each author combined more than one visual theory--and their combinations were different from one another - leading to different anthropologies, sociologies, and theologies. Finally, I appreciate Cain's emphasis on how our ""flawed"" bodies are not only something to be overcome but are the vehicles of our transformation. * Jaeda C. Calaway, RBL 06/2024 *"

Cain's Mirrors of the Divine is ambitious; it is impressive to find a book that spans from Clement to Augustine, from Egypt to Cappadocia to modern-day Algeria. She takes up a significant and understudied topic-the idea of vision, at the intersection of ancient medicine, philosophy, and religion-and in doing so offers a social history that includes important and delightfully surprising turns, touching on everything from gender to ancient cataract surgery. * Laura Salah Nasrallah, Yale University * In Mirrors of the Divine, Cain offers a rich analysis of the powerful metaphor of vision in early Christianity. This is a compelling and detailed examination of the concept of 'visual subjectivity' in early Christianity. Cain illuminates the diverse ways in which early Christian authors theorized sight, especially one's vision of God, as shaping the Christian self. Cain deftly shows how the relationship between person and deity in so much of early Christian thought depended on even more ancient theories of vision developed by Plato, the Stoics, and other classical writers. * Caroline T. Schroeder, author of Monastic Bodies: Discipline and Salvation in Shenoute of Atripe * In this carefully researched and well-argued book, Cain explains how early Christians leveraged scientific, medical, and philosophical theories of vision to suit their argumentative needs. She shows how they used concepts of sight, optical illusions, mirrored reflections, or refracted distortions to grapple with constructions of self and other, spiritual piety, and knowledge of God. Cain's analysis persuasively demonstrates that visuality was much more than mere rhetoric, but rather essential to the very structuring of early Christian thought. * Kristi Upson-Saia, Occidental College *

Cain's Mirrors of the Divine is ambitious; it is impressive to find a book that spans from Clement to Augustine, from Egypt to Cappadocia to modern-day Algeria. She takes up a significant and understudied topic—the idea of vision, at the intersection of ancient medicine, philosophy, and religion—and in doing so offers a social history that includes important and delightfully surprising turns, touching on everything from gender to ancient cataract surgery. * Laura Salah Nasrallah, Yale University * In Mirrors of the Divine, Cain offers a rich analysis of the powerful metaphor of vision in early Christianity. This is a compelling and detailed examination of the concept of 'visual subjectivity' in early Christianity. Cain illuminates the diverse ways in which early Christian authors theorized sight, especially one's vision of God, as shaping the Christian self. Cain deftly shows how the relationship between person and deity in so much of early Christian thought depended on even more ancient theories of vision developed by Plato, the Stoics, and other classical writers. * Caroline T. Schroeder, author of Monastic Bodies: Discipline and Salvation in Shenoute of Atripe * In this carefully researched and well-argued book, Cain explains how early Christians leveraged scientific, medical, and philosophical theories of vision to suit their argumentative needs. She shows how they used concepts of sight, optical illusions, mirrored reflections, or refracted distortions to grapple with constructions of self and other, spiritual piety, and knowledge of God. Cain's analysis persuasively demonstrates that visuality was much more than mere rhetoric, but rather essential to the very structuring of early Christian thought. * Kristi Upson-Saia, Occidental College *

Author Information

Emily R. Cain received her Ph.D. in History of Christianity in 2016 from Fordham University, where she specialized in Christianity in Late Antiquity. She is currently an Assistant Professor of History of Christianities at Loyola University Chicago.

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