ipl-logo

Idolatry Vs. The Use Of Icons

1553 Words7 Pages

The representation of features beyond human experiences has a long history since ancient times. In the Old Testament, under the Ten Commandments, God prohibits the use of images to represent God, an act that is described as idolatry. However, in the contemporary understanding of the use of icons and images, people have tried to justify their use through the representation of what is invisible. According to Freedberg, there is a clear difference between idolatry and the use of icons. In his argument, Freedberg states that there is no writing without image and therefore people cannot do away with images and icons. The images are different from the exact original creature or God in this context. Therefore, as John of Damascus expresses ‘I venerate …show more content…

Being realistic, just as it is safe for children to have an image depiction of the texts they read, it is also salient for the worshippers to have a pictorial representation of the divine being, whom they worship; the representation mean veneration before the invisible God. The narrative dimension of the church that is a characteristic of the Bible stories like the Exodus book is laced by the ritual aspect, which is characterized by certain practical activities in the church. For example, the sacrament activity in Roman Catholic Church is a symbolic feast that Jesus partook with his disciples. If indeed narratives should be laced by practical ceremonies in the church, then the iconoclasts would be so wrong in the destruction of images (Barber 16). An image is a representation whose first appearance in time and place is removed, and therefore an image can never be an exact representation but an artwork that complements the original text. Additionally, people would not have fear for images if they were not so important to them. Therefore, the fact that images mean so much in understanding what is hard to visualize, makes people view them with great fear. More figurative images than the text should be created rather than images than put people at the danger of idol worshipping. So, people should commute the perspective of images as so fearful but as being informative to written theories about the existence of the deity and all aspects of life from divine power. (Morgan

Show More
Related
561 Words | 3 Pages

(Paulsen, 67). Paulsen uses Imagery in this passage to show that him

Read More
1171 Words | 5 Pages

Each of these symbols acknowledge Jesus’ actions and how he influenced the world. When analyzed, the source reveals many elements of both

Read More
835 Words | 4 Pages

In conclusion this paragraph shows how the author of the text,“Dark They Were And Golden Eyed '', uses imagery as a technique to set the

Read More
823 Words | 4 Pages

Imagery is a literary device that is seen in all the selection, due to the way Jonathan Edwards preached and described. Imagery is when the author uses words to create a visual picture in the reader’s mind. Since Edwards mostly talked about the eternal wrath, fire, flames, everything having to do with hell, imagery took a great part on the reader’s mind while reading. Some examples are “…it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath…”

Read More
950 Words | 4 Pages

In The Arrival of Kent, Christians realized that how they presented themselves to King Ethelbert was crucial: "But they came furnished with divine, not with magic, power, bearing a silver cross for their banner, and the image of our Lord and Saviour painted on a board;” Christians used images that did not demand attention, as displayed in the image of a silver cross. The Roman Empire oppressed Christians for centuries. After being mistreated, Christians recognized that to survive they needed to present themselves in an inoffensive way. Along with inoffensive images, Christians were required to use images that could be understood by anyone. But why were images with obvious meanings necessary?

Read More
617 Words | 3 Pages

Imagery is visually descriptive and allows the audience to to virtually see the glories of heaven, and the fears and trepidation of hell. Edwards uses descriptions to set the fear of hell into his audience. Edwards uses imagery to recall God's wrath in the Old Testament, “If God should only withdraw his hand from

Read More
830 Words | 4 Pages

Take, for example, Edward’s relation between the wrath and a bow and arrow; again mentioning that it is only held back by God’s pleasure and can be released at any time, conveying to the listener that they can be struck at any time if they continue on the sinful path they are on. Another example is his comparison between great rivers behind a flood gate and God’s wrath; this paints an image in the listener’s mind of the amount of power that can build against someone due to the continuation of sin. “If God should only withdraw his hand from the flood gate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God would rush forth….” These pictures that are painted throughout the sermon allow the powerful forces at hand to have a visual image to better relay how terrifying God’s wrath can be towards sinners. Words don’t always make a difference, but a picture can make the words have a reality to

Read More
488 Words | 2 Pages

There are many other things that represent biblical

Read More
1048 Words | 5 Pages

The only image that the council believes to be acceptable to worship is the lord’s supper. The council states, “The only admissible figure of the humanity of Christ, however, is bread and wine in the Holy Supper. This and no other form, this and no other type, has he chosen to represent his incarnation. Bread he ordered to be brought, but not a representation of the human form, so the idolatry might not rise” (67).

Read More
1148 Words | 5 Pages

(p.117) which is depicted in Judgment of Hunefer Before Osiris. Both pieces of art depict a God who judges all and those less fortunate would be

Read More
120 Words | 1 Pages

However, we can see in the upper classes, some kind of model or a goal to reach. It is normal to aspire of a better life and to look like what is impossible to achieve or to denigrate what one really is. That is what George Orwell wants to say in his autobriography entitled The Road to Wigan Pier (Doc A2), “it is in fact very difficult to escape, culturally, from the class into which you have born.” We can then implement any strategy to avoid looking like ours. This is what George Orwell is trying to show us in these examples like the millionaire who wants to improve his speech but it doesn't change who he really is.

Read More
678 Words | 3 Pages

The world presently determines itself on the understanding of various symbols, and without them, the basis of human thought withholds little

Read More
1336 Words | 6 Pages

[.]. In Christianity, blindness is a symbol of gaining true sight but could also be seen as a spiritual awakening. One that can be seen in the narrator transformation during the intense experience of the cathedral drawing scene. The author uses the symbolic interaction of the Cathedral drawing scene to represent a shared understanding of Robert and the narrator, an understanding that goes beyond words. When the main character tries to describe cathedrals in an ekphrasis way (a verbal description of a visual work of art), he understands the barrier of his semantics.

Read More
1820 Words | 8 Pages

The moves and plots, which produce different fields of understanding, should arise from the nature of scripture. There are moments in consciousness termed immediacy, reflection, and praxis. Symbol’s task in consciousness is in different ways. Since scripture functions in these different ways, sermons also are plotted to work in human consciousness to shift congregational consciousness.

Read More
332 Words | 2 Pages

Not only was the inherent power of images recognized in this period, it was also mobilized in particular ways, specifically in the discourse of theology. The iconoclastic debate centered on the appropriate use of icons in religious veneration, and the precise relationship between the sacred personage and his/her image (Brook 2001). Given the newfound significance of images, it was feared that the viewer would misdirect their worship toward the image, rather than toward the holy person represented in the image. This fear, in conjunction with the scriptural prohibition against worshipping graven images (Exodus 20:4) fueled much of the religious iconoclasm in Byzantium.

Read More

More about Idolatry Vs. The Use Of Icons

Related Topics

Open Document