Early Christian Attitudes Toward ImagesFor all iconophiles, that is, those who accept the dogma of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, but especially the Orthodox who claim that the icon has a sacramental and mystical character, it is naturally disquieting to hear the claim that the early Christians were aniconic and iconophobic. If this claim is true, the theology and the veneration of the icon are seriously undermined. It is, therefore, natural for iconophiles to attempt to disprove the thesis according to which the early Christians had no images whatsoever (aniconic) because they believed them to be idols (iconophobic). It is equally natural for iconophiles to want to substantiate, as much as this is possible, their deep intuition that the roots of Christian iconography go back to the apostolic age. This study weakens the notion and credibility of the alleged hostility of the early Christians to non-idolatrous images, providing a more balanced evaluation of this question. |
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Contents
PREFACE | 1 |
The Jewish Attitudes toward IMAGES | 21 |
7 | 28 |
Between the Exile and Herod the Great | 34 |
The New Testament | 87 |
The PreConstantinian Literature | 105 |
The Archaeological Monuments | 174 |
Common terms and phrases
2nd Commandment accepted advocates ancient Christians aniconic apostolic archaeological artistic attitude toward images authenticity biblical bishop bronze Byzantine Cæsarea canon Carpocratians catacomb category of images chapter cherubim chrétienne Christian art Christian images Church claim Clement coins condemned CONSTANTINE IV context Council Council of Elvira council of Hieria decoration divine Dura-Europos early Christians emperor Eusebian Eusebian writings Eusebius Eusebius of Cæsarea existence figurative art gods Gospel Herod historical Holy honor hostility theory Ibid iconoclasts iconodules iconophile iconophobia icons idolatrous idolatrous images idolatry idols image of Christ Irenæus Jerusalem Jewish Christian Jews John of Damascus Josephus Josephus's Judaism kinds of images Lactantius Letter to Constantia lions Liturgie monuments Nicæa non-idolatrous images nonetheless Old Testament Origen orthodox pagan painted Paneas Paris passage period Philo problem question rabbis rejected rigorist interpretation Roman says sculpted Shepherd shows Solomon statue symbolic synagogue Temple Tertullian theological tion tradition veneration word worship