Iconoclasm  

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'''Iconoclasm''' is the deliberate [[destruction]] within a [[culture]] of the culture's own [[religion|religious]] [[icon]]s and other [[symbol]]s or monuments, usually for [[religious]] or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes. It is thus generally distinguished from the destruction by one culture of the images of another, for example by the Spanish in their American conquests. The term is also not generally used of the specific destruction of images of a ruler after his death or overthrow (''[[damnatio memoriae]]''), for example [[Akhenaten]] in [[Ancient Egypt]]. '''Iconoclasm''' is the deliberate [[destruction]] within a [[culture]] of the culture's own [[religion|religious]] [[icon]]s and other [[symbol]]s or monuments, usually for [[religious]] or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes. It is thus generally distinguished from the destruction by one culture of the images of another, for example by the Spanish in their American conquests. The term is also not generally used of the specific destruction of images of a ruler after his death or overthrow (''[[damnatio memoriae]]''), for example [[Akhenaten]] in [[Ancient Egypt]].
== Reformation iconoclasm == == Reformation iconoclasm ==
- +:''[[The Reformation and art]], [[Reformation iconoclasm]] ''
Some of the [[Protestantism|Protestant]] reformers, in particular [[Andreas Karlstadt]], [[Huldrych Zwingli]] and [[John Calvin]] encouraged the removal of religious images by invoking the [[Ten Commandments|Decalogue's]] prohibition of idolatry and the manufacture of graven images of God. As a result, statues and images were damaged in spontaneous individual attacks as well as unauthorised iconoclastic riots. However, in most cases images were removed in an orderly manner by civil authorities in the newly reformed cities and territories of Europe. Some of the [[Protestantism|Protestant]] reformers, in particular [[Andreas Karlstadt]], [[Huldrych Zwingli]] and [[John Calvin]] encouraged the removal of religious images by invoking the [[Ten Commandments|Decalogue's]] prohibition of idolatry and the manufacture of graven images of God. As a result, statues and images were damaged in spontaneous individual attacks as well as unauthorised iconoclastic riots. However, in most cases images were removed in an orderly manner by civil authorities in the newly reformed cities and territories of Europe.
 +==Major instances==
 +*Most of the Polytheistic religious deities and texts of Pre-Western Americas, Oceania, and Africa, were destroyed by Christian missionaries and their converts.
 +*In [[Judaism]], King [[Hezekiah]] purged [[Solomon's Temple]] in [[Jerusalem]] and the [[Land of Israel]] of figures, including the [[Nehushtan]], as recorded in the [[Books of Kings|Second Book of Kings]]. His reforms were reversed in the reign of his son [[Manasseh of Judah|Manasseh]].
 +*During [[Constantinian shift|the process of Christianisation]] under [[Constantine I|Constantine]], groups destroyed the images and sculptures expressive of the [[Roman Empire]]'s [[polytheist]] state religion.
 +*The [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] had a period of [[Byzantine iconoclasm]] during the late medieval years, in which some groups destroyed the church's religious imagery.
 +*During the [[Protestant Reformation]] and the [[European wars of religion]], known as the [[Beeldenstorm]] in the Netherlands, [[Protestant]]s destroyed [[Catholic Church|traditional Catholic]] images in churches, including paintings, sculptures and other representations. In some instances, Protestants destroyed the imagery of other Protestants.
 +*Most of the [[moai]] of [[Easter Island]] were [[History of Easter Island#The "statue-toppling"|toppled during the 18th century]] in the iconoclasm of civil wars.
 +*During the [[French Revolution]], people widely destroyed religious and monarchical imagery.
 +*During and after the [[October Revolution|Russian Revolution]], widespread destruction of religious and secular imagery took place, as well as destruction of imagery related to [[Nicholas II of Russia|the Czar]].
 +*During and after the [[Xinhai Revolution]] in China, as well as during the later [[Cultural Revolution]], there was widespread destruction of religious and secular imagery in China, including in [[Tibet]].
 +*After the [[Second Vatican Council]] in the late twentieth century, some Roman Catholic parish churches [[Wreckovation|discarded]] much of their traditional imagery, art, and architecture.
 +*During the [[1956 Hungarian Revolution]] in [[Stalin Monument (Budapest)|Budapest]], and through the [[fall of Communism]] in 1989, protesters often attacked and took down sculptures and images of [[Joseph Stalin]], leader of the USSR.
 +*The [[Taliban]] destroyed two ancient [[Buddhas of Bamyan|statues of Buddha]] at [[Bamyan, Afghanistan|Bamyan in Afghanistan]].
-Significant iconoclastic riots took place in [[Zürich]] (in 1523), [[Copenhagen]] (1530), [[Münster]] (1534), [[Geneva]] (1535), [[Augsburg]] (1537), and [[Scotland]] (1559). The [[Seventeen Provinces]] (now the [[Netherlands]] and [[Belgium]] and parts of Northern France) were hit by a large wave of Protestant iconoclasm in the summer of 1566. This is called the "[[Beeldenstorm]]" and included such acts as the destruction of the statuary of the Monastery of [[Saint Lawrence]] in [[Steenvoorde]] after a ''"Hagenpreek"'', or field sermon, by Sebastiaan Matte; and the sacking of the Monastery of [[Anthony the Great|Saint Anthony]] after a sermon by Jacob de Buysere. The ''"Beeldenstorm"'' marked the start of the [[Eighty Years' War|revolution]] against the Spanish forces and [[Roman Catholic Church|the Catholic church]]. See [[Flanders]] for more on its history.+==See also==
- +*[[Aniconism]]
-During the [[English Civil War]], Bishop Joseph Hall of [[Norwich]] described the events of 1643 when troops and citizens, encouraged by a Parliamentary ordinance against superstition and [[idolatry]], behaved thus:+*[[Art destruction]]
-<blockquote>Lord what work was here! What clattering of glasses! What beating down of walls! What tearing up of monuments! What pulling down of seats! What wresting out of irons and brass from the windows! What defacing of arms! What demolishing of curious stonework! What tooting and piping upon organ pipes! And what a hideous triumph in the market-place before all the country, when all the mangled organ pipes, vestments, both copes and surplices, together with the leaden cross which had newly been sawn down from the Green-yard pulpit and the service-books and singing books that could be carried to the fire in the public market-place were heaped together.'</blockquote>+*[[Art vandalism]]
- +*[[Censorship]]
-[[Image:Foxe-martyrs-iconoclasm-1563.png|thumb|300px|An illustration from a 1563 edition of ''[[Foxe's Book of Martyrs]]'' depicts "The Temple well purged," "Burning of images", and "the [[Papist]]s packing away their paltry."]]+*[[Censorship by organized religion]]
-The keen [[puritan]] [[William Dowsing]] was commissioned and salaried by the government to tour the towns and villages of [[East Anglia]] destroying images in churches. His detailed record of his trail of destruction through Suffolk and Cambridgeshire survives:<ref>[http://www.archive.org/details/journalofdowsing00whituoft 1885 edition of the diaries of the English puritan iconoclast William Dowsing on-line from Canadian libraries]</ref>+*[[Chronoclasm]]
- +*[[Natural theology]]
-<blockquote>We brake [sic] down about a hundred superstitious pictures; and seven fryers [sic] hugging a nun; and the picture of God, and Christ; and divers others very superstitious. And 200 had been broke down afore I came. We took away 2 popish inscriptions with Ora pro nobis and we beat down a great stoneing cross on the top of the church. ([[Haverhill, Suffolk]], January 6, 1644)</blockquote> +*[[Taboo]]
- +*[[Iconolatry]]
-Protestant Christianity, however, was not uniformly hostile to the use of religious images. [[Martin Luther]], initially hostile, came round to the view that Christians should be free to use religious images as long as they did not worship them in the place of God. Calvin, Zwingli and others for the sake of saving the Word rejected all art; Luther, with an equal concern for the Word, but far more conservative, would have all the arts to be the servants of the Gospel. +==Namesakes==
- +*''[[Iconoclasts: A Book of Dramatists]]'' by James Huneker
-“I am not of the opinion” said Luther, “that through the Gospel all the arts should be banished and driven away, as some zealots want to make us believe; but I wish to see them all, especially music, in the service of Him Who gave and created them.” Again he says: “I have myself heard those who oppose pictures, read from my German Bible. … But this contains many pictures of God, of the angels, of men, and of animals, especially in the Revelation of St. John, in the books of Moses, and in [[Book of Joshua|the book of Joshua]]. We therefore kindly beg these fanatics to permit us also to paint these pictures on the wall that they may be remembered and better understood, inasmuch as they can harm as little on the walls as in books. Would to God that I could persuade those who can afford it to paint the whole Bible on their houses, inside and outside, so that all might see; this would indeed be a Christian work. For I am convinced that it is God’s will that we should hear and learn what He has done, especially what Christ suffered. But when I hear these things and meditate upon them, I find it impossible not to picture them in my heart. Whether I want to or not, when I hear, of Christ, a human form hanging upon a cross rises up in my heart: just as I see my natural face reflected when I look into water. Now if it is not sinful for me to have Christ’s picture in my heart, why should it be sinful to have it before my eyes?”+*''[[The Temple of Iconoclasts]]'' by Juan Rodolfo Wilcock
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Revision as of 19:56, 9 March 2014

This page Iconoclasm is a part of the protestantism series.  Illustration: The image breakers, c.1566 –1568 by Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder
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This page Iconoclasm is a part of the protestantism series.
Illustration: The image breakers, c.15661568 by Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder

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Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction within a culture of the culture's own religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually for religious or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes. It is thus generally distinguished from the destruction by one culture of the images of another, for example by the Spanish in their American conquests. The term is also not generally used of the specific destruction of images of a ruler after his death or overthrow (damnatio memoriae), for example Akhenaten in Ancient Egypt.

Contents

Reformation iconoclasm

The Reformation and art, Reformation iconoclasm

Some of the Protestant reformers, in particular Andreas Karlstadt, Huldrych Zwingli and John Calvin encouraged the removal of religious images by invoking the Decalogue's prohibition of idolatry and the manufacture of graven images of God. As a result, statues and images were damaged in spontaneous individual attacks as well as unauthorised iconoclastic riots. However, in most cases images were removed in an orderly manner by civil authorities in the newly reformed cities and territories of Europe.

Major instances

See also

Namesakes




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