Christophany

The appearance of Christ and his Sacred Heart to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque and to Mary of the Divine Heart
The pre-incarnate Christ expels Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden; St Albans Psalter

A Christophany is an appearance or non-physical manifestation of Christ. Traditionally the term refers to visions of Christ after his ascension, such as the bright light of the conversion of Paul the Apostle.[1]

Also, following the example of Justin Martyr who identified the Angel of the Lord with the Logos,[2] some appearances of angels in the Old Testament are also identified by some Christians as preincarnate appearances of Christ.[3]

  1. ^ Carey C. Newman Paul's glory-christology: tradition and rhetoric p164 1992 "The thesis defended below can be simply stated: the Damascus Christophany is the interpretive "origin" of Paul's ... That is, the vision of the resurrected and exalted Jesus, the Christophany, was the catalyst for the apostle's ...
  2. ^ in The new Schaff-Herzog encyclopedia of religious knowledge: vol 11,1912 "the practise of the Greek Fathers from Justin Martyr, who identified the "angel of the Lord " with the Logos, furnish excuse for conceiving also the theophanies of the Old Testament as christophanies."
  3. ^ Ron Rhodes What Does the Bible Say About...?, 2007, p.125 "I believe that theophanies in the Old Testament were actually preincarnate appearances of Christ. The principal theophany of the Old Testament is the Angel of the Lord (or, more literally, Angel of Yahweh)"