As a Roman Catholic theologian, there are many elements of ancient Near Eastern Christianity that are vibrantly alive in my faith life. In particular, a bit of my academic research is focused on developing a more robust theology of presence surrounding visual arts as one sees in the East for the Roman Catholic Church. Many of the theological debates that develop this thought on icons and their metaphysical qualities are from a period of Church History that is more unified than divided, and I believe that such theology can bridge the gaps between East and West in a profound manner. I believe the best parallel to the Eastern icon is indeed the stained-glass window, and there exists shared bibliographies across theologians and architects from both the East and West that inform how churches are built well into the 1400s. I highly recommend examining the impact of the visual image (and materiality itself) for your Christian faith. Jn 1:14.
