Cornelia received a PhD in Philosophy from Georgetown University and holds MA degrees in Philosophy and History from Temple University. She is the author of three monographs, The Orthodox Icon and Postmodern Art: Critical Reflections on the Christian Image and its Theology, Tradition and Transformation in Christian Art: The Transcultural Icon, and Icons in Time, Persons in Eternity: Orthodox Theology and the Aesthetics of the Christian Image. Her earlier work includes the edited volume Reviewing Orpheus: Essays on the Art and Cinema of Jean Cocteau. She is also the translator with M. Spanos of St. Paisios the Athonite, With Pain and Love for Contemporary Man.
In this episode, Cornelia and I explore how the material and relational dimensions of Orthodox worship—from the intimacy of confession to the tactile presence of sacred objects—mediate time, eternity, and divine presence. We also discuss how modernism and postmodern thought intersect with Orthodox theology, including the challenges icons pose to contemporary aesthetics and the ways photography can gesture toward the eternal present.