Lost Icons

In his remarks upon being named Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams spoke of “the Christian creed and Christian vision (that) have in them a life and a richness that can embrace and transfigure all the complexities of human life.” Confidence in that creed, he said, “saves us from being led by fashion.”

Lost Icons: Reflections on Cultural Bereavement explores Williams’ concern that fashion dictates how we understand and respond to the world around us, rather than long-accepted behavioral and relational norms, or icons. Whereas fashion comes and goes, cultural icons arise from generations of conversation, and “represent some of the basic constraints on what human beings can reasonably do and say together if they are going to remain within a recognizably human conversation.”

CONTENTS
- Preface
- Introduction
- Childhood and Choice
- Charity
- Remorse
- Lost Souls
- Index

"A society that pushes us towards dependent and frustrated patterns of behaviour will not enable adults to be 'at home' with their limits and their choices in a way that makes it possible to welcome or nurture those who are bound to be dependent, who are still learning their own freedom. How then do we, how are we encouraged to, understand the nature of adult choice in our environment?" from Lost Icons p31.

Specifically, Williams explores images of childhood, our awkwardness at speaking about community, our unwillingness to think seriously about remorse, and our devastating lack of vocabulary for the growth and nurture of the self through time.