In my monograph and related articles and book chapters I have definitely moved the subject beyond the state of the art. In fact, despite Byzantine Iconoclasm has been the object of intense investigation, the discourse has been based on a limited set of sources. Moreover, the modalities in theological ideas and religious attitudes travelled and were disseminated, and the specific effects they eventually had on western religious mentality and on the production of literary and visual imagery have been rarely addressed. While it is usually agreed that the Byzantine “image struggle” impacted on western society, very little is known about the specifics of that process. Much needs to be understood, and it has to be admitted that a few methodological problems have hindered a wider picture. Firstly, I had to overcome the usual separation of Medieval from Byzantine studies, and secondly the separation of textual from visual studies. I have consistently applied an interdisciplinary approach involving different kinds of primary and secondary sources (textual, visual). As I have tested during the public lectures I delivered, my method has inspired scholars and a general audience to embrace a wider cultural-historical frame when dealing with the past.
In my reconstruction I have incorporated literary sources as well as material evidence, from the East and from the West, which I have analysed for the first time against the background of Byzantine Iconoclasm. I have discussed theological issues vis-à-vis with textual and visual materials within a scenario which embraces the Mediterranean, the Continent, and occasionally the British Isles. In particular, I have focussed on themes related to the Virgin Mary and her role in the Incarnation. Since the monothelete controversy of the mid-seventh century about the single will of God, the figure and the role of Mary were of a fundamental importance, since she had been the vehicle for the Incarnation which made God fully human, visible, and therefore depictable, defying logical explanations. Though, her position with regards to Iconoclasm is not clear yet. While recent and on-going investigation has reassessed Mary’s cult in Byzantium highlighting her consolidation after Iconoclasm, the connection between Mary and the iconophile stance has not yet been demonstrated. What has also escaped the attention of scholar, is that the way Mary came to be perceived in the western collective imagination – at least until the Protestant Church Reformation – was informed by the period of the Byzantine Iconoclasm. As for the impact on the wider society, the definition of Mary’s status in the medieval western culture can lead to a deeper understanding of Mary as role model for rulership and leadership: how her figure informed the way female and male leaders conceived of themselves? Which virtues they associated with their role? Moreover, the issue of Iconoclasm and the related subversion of values is – unfortunately – not confined to the study of the past, but part of the daily news. My forthcoming monograph, which is aimed not only at an academic audience, wishes to stimulate reflections on religious-political controversies and the possibility of agreeing shared cultural values to overcome differences.
