The face is the prophecy of the Kingdom: an introduction to the work of Olivier Clément

This is a study of the life work of the French Orthodox theologian Olivier Clément, which asks if it is possible to articulate a “theology of the face” in his writings. After setting his work in context, this study explores the themes of transcendence and “seeing beyond”: as expressed in symbolic language; in matter and the created world; in person and hypostasis; and in icon and face. This study first seeks to establish the adequacy of symbolic language as an expression of the transcendental, and then to define the terms that Clément uses to express this seeing through to another world. This study then explores the Patristic understanding of matter, as an original transparency lost in the Fall that becomes shrouded in opacity. Christ’s Incarnation, Crucifixion and Resurrection offer the possibility of restoring the world to its original transparency. This leads to an exploration of Clément’s approaches to the person created in the image and likeness of God. Through the ascetic path and through communion, we are offered the possibility of restored transparency. Finally, these themes come together in the exploration of the face. The person is only fully revealed through the face-to-face encounter, and this encounter is Eucharistic. This radical encounter underlies Clément’s conception of a renewed Christianity.