Encore Post: Iconoclasm is a $0.25 word we don’t hear in our circles much these days. We are, however, surrounded by it effects in our American Christian culture. Iconoclasm is an English word derived from two Greek words (εἰκών, I-kohn, “image, figure” and κλάω, Klah-ō, “to break”). Iconoclasts throughout history, in various religions, and in the public sphere have sought to “break images.” In earlier times these breakings were literal, violent acts. We moderns are far more enlightened. We stick to character assassination rather than physical violence.
For this discussion, We’ll treat iconoclasm, aniconism, and iconophobia as roughly interchangeable terms. The first refers to destroying images. The second implies the avoidance of images. The third suggests a fear of images. Since, the thumbnail image would make them all similarly uncomfortable, we can speak of them all in a categorical group.
Iconoclasts are a historical minority in Christianity. Widespread use of Christian images, statuary forms, and crucifixes appeared only after Constantine’s legalization of Christianity in the Roman empire around the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.
Byzantine Emperor, Leo III, issued edicts between 726-730 AD, against the veneration of images. Wealthier, Greek speaking Byzantines in the West resisted these measures. Poorer, Slavic, Arabic, and Farsi speaking Byzantines in the East embraced these policies. The issue may have been fueled the strict outlawing of images in the theocracies of the Islamist world with whom the poorer, Eastern Byzantines were interacting.
When the fires of iconoclasm dwindled again. The Eastern and Western Christian churches developed very different aesthetics concerning icons or images in the church. In the West, realism in painting and statues become the norm. Three dimensional statues and paintings with a perceptible depth of field gathered common use in churches and homes, including primarily images of Jesus’s crucifixion.
In the East, iconography developed into a specific type of flattened painting style. Eastern Christian icons use a field of vision where the near ground is lower in the picture and sometimes larger. The background is higher and sometimes smaller. These also make significant use of words and names in the image to identify the subjects and events, including primarily the crucifixion of Our Lord.
In both cases, preference was given to events in the life of Christ, the prophets, and saints of the church.
In the reformation era, Thomas Müntzer and Andreas Karlstadt (associates of Martin Luther) sought to purge the reforming churches in Germany by removing their statues and stained glass imagery. Luther opposed them. Afterward, Lutherans retained a love of sacred art and statuary at home and in their churches.
The radical reformers of the 16th century including Calvin and Zwingli rejected icons and statuary in their churches. These groups and their pogeny certainly influenced American revivalist Christianity and as a result, the common American expression of the faith. Ours could be called a semi-iconoclastic culture.
In the 16th & 17th centuries, one could scarcely find an example of crosses in use without some or most displaying a corpus (Jesus’s body). In modern America, we are nearly afraid seeing Jesus on the cross … in a statuary form … on our walls at home or altars at church. (Paintings at home were fine for some reason). I think for German-American Lutherans this stems from a uniquely American German expression: das ist Katolisch (that is Catholic).
[“I would also add that the specific Old Testament Commandments concerning graven images are right after they have left Egypt and aptly describe the mixture of animal and human characteristics in the idols of Egypt. Whereas God, who says make no such graven images, then immediately begins to tell the Israelites how to make the Ark, the Menorah the symbols of the Angels on the Ark, how to stitch Angels into the fabric and tapestry of the paraments for the Tabernacle, and then the Temples. Even in the tablets given to Moses, the Lord is clearly not opposed to sacred images, but to pagan, idolatrous ones.” (Rev. Larry R. Görlitz, in conversation, 22 May 2024) (cf. Exodus 25-28, 30-31, 35:30-39:43)]
German-American Lutherans were very sensitive to being confused by Baptists, Methodists, and the Reformed with Roman Catholics. Our chanted liturgy, non-English services, use a vestments, stodgy hymnody, and short preaching may have fed that confusion. But, the reaction, das ist Katolisch, revealed a willingness to allow some practices and images to slip away. There was a need to be seen as uncatholic.
These days arguments will revolve around statements of Spiritualized Christianity like: “We worship a risen Jesus.” Or, “The empty tomb is our hope.” The rarity of a barren cross and the near complete absence open tomb in pre-enlightenment Christian art should warn us against those errors.
[In a podcast from 21 May 2024, a former LCMS president parroted this exact error. He was bemoaning the apparent Catholic shift among current LCMS pastors (das ist Katolisch). This form of iconophobia runs deeply in American Christianity and even in the 21st Century LMCS.]
We are better to speak with Paul, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:22-23). The risen Jesus is the proof of it. But, Christ and Him crucified is our salvation. It is the very price paid for sin. Jesus’s death frees us from the fear of the pain of death in ourselves. We ought to celebrate and revere it.
Also, don’t forget the condition of Jesus as the disciples saw Him in the resurrection. “Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe’” (John 20:26-27). The lamb, who was slain and yet He lives, still bears the marks of our salvation in His flesh for us.
Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX
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