This pioneering study of Christian sun symbolism describes how biblical
light motifs were taken up with energy in the early Church. Kevin Duffy
argues that, living in a world of 24/7 illumination, we need to
reconnect with the sun and its light to appreciate the meaning of light
in the Bible and Christian tradition. With such a retrieval we can
appreciate Pope Francis's insistence that, like the moon, the Church
does not shine with its own light, and assess the claim that the
Eucharist is to be celebrated 'Ad Orientem', that is towards the rising
sun in the East. Liturgy, architecture, poetry and the writings of
saints and theologians such as Augustine, Hildegard of Bingen, Francis
of Assisi, and Thomas Traherne offer abundant resources for a much
needed ressourcement.
While Christ was preached as the True Sun among sun-worshipping Aztecs,
and the consecrated host was placed in a solar monstrance on Baroque
altars, in the modern era solar themes have been neglected. In this
accessible work, the author suggests that we rebalance a spiritual
symbolism that has over-emphasised darkness and cloud at the expense of
light and sun. He proposes a creative retrieval of the traditional title
of Christ as the Sun of Justice. This title blends the personal, the
social and the cosmic/ecological, and speaks powerfully to a
secularising era that contemporaries Friedrich Nietzsche and Thérèse of
Lisieux both described as one where the sun does not shine.
