Iconoclasm, Image and Idolatry
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Iconoclasm and the Enlightenment Museum1
Iconoclasm and the Enlightenment Museum1 James Simpson English Department, Harvard University KEY WORDS Iconoclasm; art gallery; museums; iconoclastic aesthetics; Kant; Calvin. ABSTRACT The Enlightenment would seem to prize and protect images. On the contrary, the Enlightenment attitude to art is intimately responsive to, and shaped by, iconoclasm. Not only that, but, more interestingly, the Enlightenment is itself an iconoclastic movement. After 150 years or so of failed iconoclasm, Northern Europeans were exhausted. They invented three alternatives to literal iconoclasm: the scientific Enlightenment exercised a philosophical iconoclasm by describing ideology as an idol that enthralls the naive and that must be broken; the sentimental Enlightenment neutralized the image by placing it in the museum and by calling it Art; and thirdly, Enlightenment taste commodified the image under the market’s hammer. This essay focuses on the second of these alternatives to iconoclasm, the formation of the gallery. 1 Iconoclasm and the Enlightenment Museum On the face of it, the Enlightenment museum is the place where images are protected from the iconoclast’s hammer. That persuasion is part of a larger narrative: the Enlightenment protects us against religious violence. In this short essay I argue that the deeper history of the image’s passage from church to museum is more complex. The Enlightenment attitude to art is intimately responsive to, and shaped by, iconoclasm. Not only that, but, more interestingly, the Enlightenment is itself an iconoclastic movement in three profound ways. After 150 years or so of failed iconoclasm, Northern Europeans were exhausted. They invented three alternatives to literal iconoclasm. In the first place, the scientific Enlightenment exercised a philosophical iconoclasm by describing ideology as false consciousness, an idol that enthralls the naive and that must be broken. -
Aspects of Reforming
STUDIES IN CHRISTIAN HISTORY AND THOUGHT Aspects of Reforming Theology and Practice in Sixteenth Century Europe Edited by Michael Parsons Foreword by David W. Hall CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY LIBRARY FORT WAYNE, INDIANA 46825 CHAPTER2 No alternatives to Jesus: Luther's understanding of idolatry as evident in his house postils Cameron A. MacKenzie Although the Eucharist and Christology are the two most prominent topics cited when pointing to differences between Martin Luther and the Reformed, another issue that arose in Luther's controversies with fellow Evangelicals was that of sacred images. While reformers like Andreas Karlstadt said, 'Pull them down,' Luther responded, 'Not so fast.' Subsequently, Lutherans and other Protestants continued to develop along different lines with the former being quite tolerant of much of what the latter denounced as idolatry. 1 But that does not mean that the German reformer was 'soft' on 'false gods'. Quite the contrary. In fact, Lu ther's understanding of idolatry went far beyond statues, and in his discussion of the First Commandment in his Large Catechism he explained that a person's 'god' is whatever he trusts most-whether he calls it 'god' or not.2 In the con- I Even before the Evangelicals began to divide over the presence of Christ's body in the sacrament, they were disagreeing over sacred images. Carlos Eire has pointed this out in summary fashion in his article on 'Iconoclasm' in Hans J. Hillerbrand (ed.), Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation (New York: OUP, 1996) and at greater length in his book, War Against the Idols: The Reformation of Worship from Erasmus to Calvin (Cambridge: CUP, 1986), 54-73. -
Iconoclasm: a Christian Dilemma
ICONOCLASM: A CHRISTIAN DILEMMA - A BYZANTINE CONTROVERSY By STEPHEN CHARLES STEACY •• Bachelor of Arts Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma 1969 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS December, 1978 ICONOCLASM: A CHRISTIAN DILEMMA - A BYZANTINE CONTROVERSY Thesis Approved: '. ~- Dean of the Graduate College 1019541 ii P~F~E This thesis is concerned with Iconoclasm, the religious upheaval which troubled the Byzantine conscience for over a century. There have been numerous theories adduced by his torians to account for this phenomenon. It is the purpose of this study to view the varying interpretations, analyze their shortcomings, and to put forth a different view of the controversy, one that more adequately expresses the deeply rooted religious nature of the movement, a movement not only of the eighth and ninth centuries but an idea which was nurtured in fertile soil of the Old Testament and Apostolic Christianity. The author wishes to express heartfelt appreciation to his thesis adviser, Dr. George Jewsbury, whose unflagging solicitude, support, and inspiration were instrumental in the preparation of this work. A note of thanks is given to Mrs. Karen Hoyer, whose typing expertise, in the final analysis, made the difference between success and failure. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION AND HISTORIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY 1 II. THEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL COURSES OF THE CONTROVERSY. • • . • . • • . • . 13 Genesis of the Cult of Icons .•.• 13 The Scriptures as the Foundation of Iconoclasm. 26 Precursors of ·the Iconoclast Movement . 30 Origen . 31 Eusebius . -
Hindi Beliefs: from Monotheism to Polytheism
jocO quarterly, Vol.1, No.2. Winter 2014 Hindi Beliefs: From Monotheism to Polytheism Shohreh Javadi This article retrieved from the research project of “the interplay Ph. D in Art history, University of Tehran of Indian and Iranian Art” and a field research trip, which was organized in 2012 by NAZAR research center. [email protected] Abstract Religious culture was out of access for Indian public, and deep philosophical religious texts were exclusively for the class of privileged and clergymen; So over many years, popular religion was collected in a book called Veda (means the Indian knowledge) including poems, legends and mystical chants which sometimes were obscure. This set is known as the world's oldest religious book and the mother of religions. Most researchers do not re- member it as a religion, and consider it as culture and rituals of living. Religion, ritual and popular beliefs in India were accompanied with the fabulous ambiguous curious adventures. What is understood from the appearance of Hindu ritual is polytheism, idolatry and superstition. But it is not true. The history of Hinduism and its branches expresses the monotheism and belief in the unity of the creator. As the Hindu-Iranian Aryans were always Unitarian and were praising various manifestations of nature as gods. They never were idolaters and believed in monotheism, although they had pluralistic beliefs. The interpretation of monotheistic in Semitic religions1 is different from Hinduism as a gradually altered religion. My field researches in India and dialogues with Hindu thinkers demonstrated that today’s common ritual in Hinduism is a distorted form of a monotheistic belief, that originally had believed in the Oneness of the Creator, as mentioned in the Upanishads. -
Legacy of Iconoclasm Volume
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by St Andrews Research Repository The Legacy of Iconoclasm: Religious War and the Relic Landscape of Tours, Blois and Vendôme, 1550-1750 Eric Nelson St Andrews Studies in French History and Culture ST ANDREWS STUDIES IN FRENCH HISTORY AND CULTURE The history and historical culture of the French-speaking world is a major field of interest among English-speaking scholars. The purpose of this series is to publish a range of shorter monographs and studies, between 25,000 and 50,000 words long, which illuminate the history of this community of peoples between the later Middle Ages and the late twentieth century. The series covers the full span of historical themes relating to France: from political history, through military/naval, diplomatic, religious, social, financial, gender, cultural and intellectual history, art and architectural history, to historical literary culture. Titles in the series are rigorously peer-reviewed through the editorial board and external assessors, and are published as both e-books and paperbacks. Editorial Board Dr Guy Rowlands, University of St Andrews (Editor-in-Chief) Professor Andrew Pettegree, University of St Andrews Professor Andrew Williams, University of St Andrews Dr David Culpin, University of St Andrews Dr Sarah Easterby-Smith, University of St Andrews Dr David Evans, University of St Andrews Dr Justine Firnhaber-Baker, University of St Andrews Dr Linda Goddard, University of St Andrews Dr Bernhard Struck, University -
An Introduction to the Sattra Culture of Assam: Belief, Change in Tradition
Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics 12 (2): 21–47 DOI: 10.2478/jef-2018-0009 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SATTRA CULT URE OF ASSAM: BELIEF, CHANGE IN TRADITION AND CURRENT ENTANGLEMENT BABURAM SAIKIA PhD Student Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore University of Tartu Ülikooli 16, 51003 Tartu, Estonia e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT In 16th-century Assam, Srimanta Sankaradeva (1449–1568) introduced a move- ment known as eka sarana nama dharma – a religion devoted to one God (Vishnu or Krishna). The focus of the movement was to introduce a new form of Vaishnava doctrine, dedicated to the reformation of society and to the abolition of practices such as animal sacrifice, goddess worship, and discrimination based on caste or religion. A new institutional order was conceptualised by Sankaradeva at that time for the betterment of human wellbeing, which was given shape by his chief dis- ciple Madhavadeva. This came to be known as Sattra, a monastery-like religious and socio-cultural institution. Several Sattras were established by the disciples of Sankaradeva following his demise. Even though all Sattras derive from the broad tradition of Sankaradeva’s ideology, there is nevertheless some theological seg- mentation among different sects, and the manner of performing rituals differs from Sattra to Sattra. In this paper, my aim is to discuss the origin and subsequent transformations of Sattra as an institution. The article will also reflect upon the implication of traditions and of the process of traditionalisation in the context of Sattra culture. I will examine the power relations in Sattras: the influence of exter- nal forces and the support of locals to the Sattra authorities. -
Iconoclasm in Visual Music
EMMANOUIL KANELLOS Iconoclasm in Visual Music Abstract From the earliest experimental film works to today’s contemporary and diverse use of moving image platforms, the notion of visual music is considered synonymous with abstract animation, because in part, abstract imagery is employed across the vast majority of musical visualisation. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the absence of figuration and representation in visual music can now reengage with the problematic debate of representation versus abstraction - a debate that has taken place in other art forms and movements in the past. Introduction Visual music is a type of audio-visual art, which employs the use of moving abstract images that are synchronised with music/sound. This approach to moving image works started prior to Modernism. However, it was during this period that it developed significantly and continues to expand the field in a variety of expressive ways in our current digital era. Although the subject area of this paper is visual music it will start with an outline of several known abstraction-representation dialectics in art and more specifically, the rejection of representation caused by different ideologies, political dogmas, and spiritual beliefs. In doing so, it will demonstrate the lack of representation in the creation of artworks throughout history and focus on the past and current situation in visual music. The abstraction-representation debate in visual arts is deep-rooted and has triggered some of the greatest conflicts in the history of art. Such examples include: two iconoclasms in Byzantine Empire in the eighth and ninth centuries; the label ‘Degenerate Art’ to describe Modern art during the Nazi regime; and the violent reactions in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Pakistan in 2006 over the cartoons that depict Muhammad. -
Early Protestant Views of Hinduism: 1600-1825
Norvin Hein : Early Protestant Views of Hinduism | 29 Early Protestant Views of Hinduism: 1600 - 1825 Norvin Hein Yale Divinity School Te question of the Christian view of Hinduism remains as acute as ever for the church today, externally and internally. In foreign missions there is no consensus on this matter, and within Christian lands certain forms of Hinduism stand almost alone in power to attract respectful attention of thinking western people to eastern religion. Our greatest modern books on Christianity and the non-Christian religions are based primarily on Hinduism or deal prominently with that faith. Teir authors could not have done otherwise. Tis paper attempts to make a historian’s contribution to the discussion of the problem. It undertakes a survey of how Protestant writers have described and interpreted Hinduism during the earlier part of the three and a half centuries in which Protestants and Hindus have been in contact. We shall confne our attention to authors who were avowedly Christian in training and occupation, who were acquainted with Indian religion at frst hand, and who wrote on Hinduism in some detail, We stop with the year 1825 because our present tradition of Protestant missions in India was well-begun by that time, and the nature of Protestant thinking about Hinduism thereafter is likely to be relatively well known to students of the history of missions. Te time of pristine impressionability among Protestants was then past, also. Distinctive attitudes were already established. Some were of recent formation, and some had been long developing in generations of writers whose works we seldom hear of, and almost never read. -
Luther on Idolatry: a Lutheran Response to Contemporary False Belief
Concordia Seminary - Saint Louis Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Concordia Seminary Scholarship 5-1-2013 Luther on Idolatry: A Lutheran Response to Contemporary False Belief Michael Lockwood Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.csl.edu/phd Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Lockwood, Michael, "Luther on Idolatry: A Lutheran Response to Contemporary False Belief" (2013). Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation. 60. https://scholar.csl.edu/phd/60 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Concordia Seminary Scholarship at Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. For more information, please contact [email protected]. It is the trust and faith of the heart alone that make both God and an idol.... Anything on which your heart relies and depends, I say, that is really your God. Luther, Large Catechism I 2-3. The highest forms of religion and holiness, and the most fervent forms of devotion of those who worship God without the Word and command of God, are idolatry.... every such form of religion, which worships God without His Word and command, is idolatry. The more spiritual and holy it appears to be, the more dangerous and destructive it is; for it deflects men from faith in Christ and causes them to rely on their own powers, works, and righteousness. Luther, 1535 Galatians Commentary, LW 27:87- 88. -
Heresy the Word Heresy Developed Within Christianity, Where It Signifies
Heresy The word heresy developed within Christianity, where it signifies the deviation by Christians from what is judged to be true belief. Who does the judging has depended on the viewpoint, but for Roman Catholics it has been a role of pope and bishops. Historians will need to construct their own definition for analytical purposes, for two reasons. Firstly, the meaning of the word 'heresy' has not been stable within Christianity. In the late Antique/early medieval period it could still be used for a deviation from a doctine only later defined (and in this sense a dead pope could be designated as heretical for). Later the word would only be applied to defiance of a doctrine already defined. A second reason for constructing a clinical analytical concept or 'ideal-type' is that it enables comparisons between Christianity and other religions, which obviously do not use the same word but who may have similar attitudes. The comparison is useful precisely because it shows how much more highly developed or 'rationalised' the attitude was in Christianity and especially in Catholicism. Heresy can thus be defined for analytical purposes and in a value-neurtral way as 'beliefs arising from a religion system regarded by some of its adherents so false as to exclude those who hold them from belonging to it properly'. Within Catholicism the authority to identify such beliefs is seen as belonging to pope and bishops. In practice, such beliefs have been proscribed and seriously persecuted only when they have attracted a popular following outside intellectual ivory towers. A key development within Catholicism was the idea of development itself: with the consequence that a view can be licit up to the date of an authoritative document, and heretical after it. -
Santa Muerte Honors Thesis Master File.Docx
VENERATING DANGER: IDENTITY AND RITUAL IN THE CULT OF SANTA MUERTE by Kailey Muñoz Honors Thesis Appalachian State University Submitted to the Department of Philosophy and Religion in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts May 2021 Laura Ammon, Ph.D., Thesis Director Cuong Mai, Ph.D., Second Reader Laura Ammon, Ph.D., Departmental Honors Director Santa Muerte is a Mexican folk saint that is the female personification of death. The cult of Santa Muerte is characterized as being one of the fastest-growing religious movements in the Americas, with an estimated 10 to 12 million devotees. This large following was amassed quite quickly as the cult has only become widely public since 2001. This growing popularity for Santa Muerte hints at the many appealing qualities she has. Arguably one of her most enticing characteristics is her multidimensionality. Even though she is the saint of death she deals with a variety of issues and concerns that her devotees have. Santa Muerte is most commonly known for being the saint of healing, wisdom, prosperity, protection, love sorcery, justice, and even vengeance. It is through this multifaceted aspect of her character that many of her devotees feel like they can come to her for any reason. In this cult there is a strong emphasis on the materiality and physicality of Santa Muerte’s multidimensionality. This is best expressed through the different colored votive candles that are each representative of a different aspect of Santa Muerte’s character. Red symbolizes her work with love and troubles of the heart. -
The Albigensian Heresy and the Gnostic Tradition
Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 8-1983 The Albigensian Heresy and the Gnostic Tradition John Stine Penman Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the History of Religion Commons, and the Medieval History Commons Recommended Citation Penman, John Stine, "The Albigensian Heresy and the Gnostic Tradition" (1983). Master's Theses. 1621. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/1621 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ALBIGENSIAN HERESY AND THE GNOSTIC TRADITION by John Stine Penman A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of'M aster of Arts Medieval Studies Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan August 1983 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE ALBIGENSIAN HERESY AND THE GNOSTIC TRADITION John Stine Penman, M.A. Western Michigan University, 1983 That the Albigensian heresy represents a resurgence of early Christian Gnosticism is the thesis of this work. The study defines Gnosticism in terms of its pattern of prevalent characteristics and traces the course of Gnosticism and its emergence as the Albigensianism of the Middle Ages. Using the finding of Hans Soderberg's La Religion des Cathares: Etudes, sur le gnosticisme de la basse antiquite et du moyen Sge. as a point of departure through the analysis of documents discovered since 1949, the study shows that Gnosticism and the Albigensian heresy represent a continued tradition of religious expression as a recognizable alternative to the accepted and established institutions of Christianity in the Western world.