Jörg Splett: BILD – WORT – BILD

Image is defended against the primacy of the word. The image/picture prohibition is directed only against idols. Image is, instead of copy and likeness, appearance; the presence of the one appearing. Truth lies between the two. It becomes what we talk about. Even word gets forbidden (and yet, if God did not want to be named and addressed in a human way, he would not have created us). Or it is scorned, because (when image is seen as copy) it is understood as describing and not as expressing, acclaiming, and above all self-pledging. – Image and word become united in the created person as a conscious image-presence of her creator: the revelation of his (before-all-creation) inner divine love in the circling "three game" of Trinitarian life.

Keywords: picture, word, appearance, person, Trinity