A Storm of Images (eBook)

Iconoclasm and Religious Reformation in the Byzantine World

Philip Jenkins (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2023
287 Seiten
Baylor University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4813-1824-2 (ISBN)

Infos

In the eighth century, the Byzantine Empire began a campaign to remove or suppress sacred images that depicted Christ, the Virgin, or other holy figures, whether in paintings, mosaics, murals, or other media. In some cases, the campaign extended to breaking or wrecking images through what became known as iconoclasm. Over the following years, the emperors' zealous movement involved other acts that closely foreshadowed the Reformation movement that would sweep Western Europe in the sixteenth century. Like that later Reformation, iconoclasm marked an authentic revolution in religious sensibility, with all that implied for theology, culture, and visual perceptions of holiness. This was a pivotal moment in the definition of Christianity and its relationship to the material creation. It was also a time of critical encounters with the other Abrahamic religions of Judaism and Islam.

With A Storm of Images, Philip Jenkins offers a compelling retelling of the saga of how the iconoclastic movement detonated ferocious controversy within the church and secular society as icon supporters challenged the image breakers. Decades of internal struggle followed, marked by rebellions and civil wars, purges and persecutions, plotting and coups d’état. After their cause triumphed, image supporters made the cult of icons ever more central to the faith of Orthodox Christianity. Iconoclasm marked a watershed in the history of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, and it contributed to Western attempts to establish new empires.

The questions raised during these struggles are all the more relevant at a time when such controversy rages over public depictions of history and the removal of statues, monuments, and names associated with hated figures. As in those earlier times, debates over images serve as vehicles for authentic cultural revolutions.

Autor

Philip Jenkins is Distinguished Professor of History at Baylor University. He is also the author of Fertility and Faith: The Demographic Revolution and the Transformation of World Religions.

Inhalt

Note on Usage

Acknowledgments

Map: The Heart of the Isaurian Empire

Map: The Byzantine World under Leo III

1. The Image Struggle: Myths and Realities

2. Roman and Byzantine

3. Leo’s Revolution

4. Abraham’s Children

5. Against Images

6. Images of Truth

7. Constantine’s Battles

8. Irene’s Revolution

9. The Second Iconoclasm

10. Legacies: East and West

11. Iconoclasm(s)

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.9.2023
• Zusatzinfo: 2 maps
• Verlagsort: Waco
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Kunstgeschichte / Kunststile
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Mittelalter
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Religionsgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Kirchengeschichte
• Schlagworte: Byzantium, Byzantine history, icons, iconoclasm, Eastern Orthodoxy, church art, Christianity and art, art history, medieval history, John of Damascus, Theodore of Stoudios, Irene of Athens, Empress Theodora
• ISBN-10: 1-4813-1824-1 / 1481318241
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4813-1824-2 / 9781481318242