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Religious Icons in today's world may evoke many different responses, from religious reverence to secular indifference they can be beautiful, quirky, touching or strange but few I think would find them controversial. Their history however involves the most controversial debate in the Christian Church and one that will define the religion and change the face of the world. Take a moment to imagine an art history book with out the patronage of the church. Not only was it responsible for funding countless artisans and guilds but today influences scores upon scores of contemporary artists. None of that would exist however, if the founders of one of the worlds most influential religions had decided to side with the Iconoclasts and ban all images in their churches. Eva Haustein-Bartsch writes extensively on how as the early Christian church grew it needed to get its story straight. Who or what exactly was Jesus? Was he a man that God spoke through or was he actually God. The council of Nicaea in 325, after much debate, determined he was a little of both and as a result it was decided that Icons (in Greek Eikon which means a depiction or likeness) could be made but could not be worshiped. Muslim conflicts in the 8th century left the church divided again and this civil war led to the destruction of nearly every Icon that existed in the Byzantine empire and eventually brought about the second council of Nicaea in 787. Icons were defended by the church's belief in Acheiropoietos which are Icons not made by human hands such as the Veil of Veronica (veri=true icon=image).The church determined that these along with a portrait of the Virgin Mary that was believed to be painted with her permission by John (the Hodegetria) were sanctioned by God and therefore allowed. Also it was determined that these images like the cross were mearly symbols. This was extended to include any images directly copied from these sources and so churches all over Christiandom were allowed their own versions which as time when on and more copies were made became more and more unique. From this point onward science more so than theology will most greatly influence the course of art history from the use of lenses and the focus on humanity of the Renaissance, to the invention of photography and now digital media in our contemporary world but none if it might exist if the early church had decided to take a literal read on one of the Ten Commandments and ban images in their entirety. |