Idolatry Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Christianity=== {{Main|Religious images in Christian theology|Aniconism in Christianity}} [[File:BMVB - Juan AndrΓ©s Ricci - Sant Benet destruint els Γdols - 8610.tif|thumb|[[Benedict of Nursia|St. Benedict]] destroying a pagan idol, by [[Juan Rizi]] (1600β1681)]]Ideas on idolatry in Christianity are based on the first of [[Ten Commandments]]. {{Blockquote|You shall have no other gods before me.<ref name="Wray2011p164">{{cite book|author=T. J. Wray|title=What the Bible Really Tells Us: The Essential Guide to Biblical Literacy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OAewArzQ624C |year=2011|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-4422-1293-0|pages=164β165}}</ref>}} This is expressed in the Bible in Exodus 20:3, [[Matthew 4:10]], Luke 4:8 and elsewhere, e.g.:<ref name="Wray2011p164"/> {{Blockquote|Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary.|[[Book of Leviticus|Leviticus]] 26:1β2, King James Bible<ref>{{cite book|author=Terrance Shaw|title=The Shaw's Revised King James Holy Bible|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FAsMFyVX8_AC&pg=PA74|year=2010|publisher=Trafford Publishing|isbn=978-1-4251-1667-5|page=74}}</ref>}} The Christian view of idolatry may generally be divided into two general categories: the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] view which accepts the use of religious images,<ref name="Flinn2007p358">{{cite book|author=Frank K. Flinn|title=Encyclopedia of Catholicism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxEONS0FFlsC&pg=PA358|year=2007|publisher=Infobase|isbn=978-0-8160-7565-2|pages=358β359}}</ref> and the views of many [[Protestant]] churches that considerably restrict their use. However, many Protestants have used the image of the [[Christian cross|cross]] as a symbol.<ref name="Leora Batnitzky 2009 147β156">{{cite book|author=Leora Batnitzky|title=Idolatry and Representation: The Philosophy of Franz Rosenzweig Reconsidered|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_lZYGuU7wCAC&pg=PA147| year=2009| publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-2358-1|pages=147β156}}</ref><ref name="Ryan K. Smith 2011 79β81">{{cite book|author=Ryan K. Smith|title=Gothic Arches, Latin Crosses: Anti-Catholicism and American Church Designs in the Nineteenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OoMJo0kJQTsC&pg=PA79| year=2011| publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-0-8078-7728-9|pages=79β81}}</ref> ====Catholicism==== {{multiple image | align = right | image1 = Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus, Marija Bistrica.JPG | width1 = 121 | alt1 = | caption1 = | image2 = Santa Maria di Licodia Madonna del Carmelo Procession.jpg | width2 = 180 | alt2 = | caption2 = | footer = The veneration of Mary, Jesus Christ, and the Black Madonna are common practices in the Catholic Church. }} The Roman Catholic and particularly the Orthodox Churches have traditionally defended the use of icons. The debate on what images signify and whether reverence with the help of icons in church is equivalent to idolatry has lasted for many centuries, particularly from the 7th century until the [[Reformation]] in the 16th century.<ref name="Halbertal1992p39">{{cite book|author1=Moshe Halbertal|author2=Avishai Margalit|author3=Naomi Goldblum|title=Idolatry |url= https://archive.org/details/idolatry00halb |url-access=registration|year=1992|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-44313-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/idolatry00halb/page/39 39]β40, 102β103, 116β119}}</ref> These debates have supported the inclusion of icons of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Apostles, the iconography expressed in stained glass, regional saints and other symbols of Christian faith. It has also supported the practices such as the Catholic mass, burning of candles before pictures, Christmas decorations and celebrations, and festive or memorial processions with statues of religious significance to Christianity.<ref name="Halbertal1992p39"/><ref name="Craighen1914">{{cite book|author=L. A. Craighen|title=The Practice of Idolatry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K4tbAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA21|year=1914|publisher=Taylor & Taylor|pages=21β26, 30β31}}</ref><ref name="Vance1989p5">{{cite book|author=William L. Vance|title=America's Rome: Catholic and contemporary Rome |url=https://archive.org/details/americasrome00vanc |url-access=registration|year=1989|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-04453-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/americasrome00vanc/page/5 5]β8, 12, 17β18}}</ref> St. [[John of Damascus]], in his "On the Divine Image", defended the use of icons and images, in direct response to the [[Byzantine iconoclasm]] that began widespread destruction of religious images in the 8th century, with support from emperor [[Leo III the Isaurian|Leo III]] and continued by his successor [[Constantine V]] during a period of religious war with the invading [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyads]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Stephen Gero|title=Byzantine Iconoclasm During the Reign of Leo III: With Particular Attention to the Oriental Sources |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xIEwAAAAYAAJ |year=1973|publisher=Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium: Subsidia|pages=1β7, 44β45|isbn=9789042903876 }}</ref> John of Damascus wrote, "I venture to draw an image of the invisible God, not as invisible, but as having become visible for our sakes through flesh and blood", adding that images are expressions "for remembrance either of wonder, or an honor, or dishonor, or good, or evil" and that a book is also a written image in another form.<ref>{{cite book|author=Saint John (of Damascus)|title=St. John Damascene on Holy Images: (pros Tous Diaballontas Tas Agias Eikonas)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ibnUAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA5|year=1898|publisher=T. Baker|pages=5β6, 12β17}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Hans J. Hillerbrand|title=A New History of Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pmBUIcGW4T4C&pg=PA367|year=2012|publisher=Abingdon|isbn=978-1-4267-1914-1|pages=131β133, 367}}</ref> He defended the religious use of images based on the Christian doctrine of Jesus as an [[incarnation]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Benedict Groschel|title=I Am with You Always: A Study of the History and Meaning of Personal Devotion to Jesus Christ for Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Usg9r1NZjcC&pg=PA58|year=2010|publisher=Ignatius|isbn=978-1-58617-257-2|pages=58β60}}</ref> St. [[John the Evangelist]] cited John 1:14, stating that "the Word became flesh" indicates that the invisible God became visible, that God's glory manifested in God's one and only Son as Jesus Christ, and therefore God chose to make the invisible into a visible form, the spiritual incarnated into the material form.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jeffrey F. Hamburger|title=St. John the Divine: The Deified Evangelist in Medieval Art and Theology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5S0lDQAAQBAJ |year=2002|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-22877-1|pages=3, 18β24, 30β31}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Ronald P. Byars|title=The Future of Protestant Worship: Beyond the Worship Wars|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yu_jMWKICzcC&pg=PA43|year=2002| publisher=Westminster John Knox Press| isbn=978-0-664-22572-8|pages=43β44}}</ref> [[File:August Kraus Pius V verehrt den Gekreuzigten.jpg|thumb|right|[[Pope Pius V]] praying with a crucifix, painting by August Kraus]] The early defense of images included exegesis of Old and New Testament. Evidence for the use of religious images is found in [[Early Christian art]] and documentary records. For example, the veneration of the tombs and statues of martyrs was common among early Christian communities. In 397 St. [[Augustine of Hippo]], in his [[Confessions (St. Augustine)|Confessions]] 6.2.2, tells the story of his mother making offerings for the tombs of martyrs and the oratories built in the memory of the saints.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kenelm Henry Digby|title=Mores Catholici : Or Ages of Faith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=joxbnoov0EkC&pg=PA408| year=1841|publisher=Catholic Society |pages=408β410}}</ref> {{Quote box |quote = <poem> Images function as the Bible for the illiterate, and incite people to piety and virtue. </poem> |source = β [[Pope Gregory I]], 7th century<ref name="Seaman2012p23"/> |bgcolor=#ccccff |align = right }} The Catholic defense mentions textual evidence of external acts of honor towards icons, arguing that there are a difference between adoration and veneration and that the veneration shown to icons differs entirely from the adoration of God. Citing the Old Testament, these arguments present examples of forms of "veneration" such as in Genesis 33:3, with the argument that "adoration is one thing, and that which is offered in order to venerate something of great excellence is another". These arguments assert, "the honor given to the image is transferred to its prototype", and that venerating an image of Christ does not terminate at the image itself β the material of the image is not the object of worship β rather it goes beyond the image, to the prototype.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Horst Woldemar Janson|author2=Anthony F. Janson|title=History of Art: The Western Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MMYHuvhWBH4C&pg=PT386|year=2003|publisher=Prentice Hall|isbn=978-0-13-182895-7|page=386}}</ref><ref name="Seaman2012p23">{{cite book|author1=Natasha T. Seaman|author2=Hendrik Terbrugghen|title=The Religious Paintings of Hendrick Ter Brugghen: Reinventing Christian Painting After the Reformation in Utrecht|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LngM5fhurbMC&pg=PA23|year=2012|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-1-4094-3495-5|pages=23β29}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Henry Ede Eze|title=Images in Catholicism ...idolatry?: Discourse on the First Commandment With Biblical Citations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2h3gcuWJTlcC&pg=PA11 |year=2011|publisher=St. Paul Press|isbn=978-0-9827966-9-6|pages=11β14}}</ref> According to the ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'': {{Blockquote|The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, "the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype," and "whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it." The honor paid to sacred images is a "respectful veneration," not the adoration due to God alone:}} {{Blockquote|Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is.<ref>{{cite book |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church - Paragraph # 2132 |url=http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2132.htm |access-date=26 May 2021}}</ref>}} It also points out the following: {{Blockquote|Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc.<ref name=Catechism>''Catechism of The Catholic Church'', passage 2113, p. 460, Geoffrey Chapman, 1999</ref>}} The manufacture of images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Christian saints, along with prayers directed to these has been widespread among the Catholic faithful.<ref name="Jones1898p1">{{cite book|author=Thomas W. L. Jones|title=The Queen of Heaven: MΓ mma Schiavona (the Black Mother), the Madonna of the Pignasecea: a Delineation of the Great Idolatry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TEQQAAAAIAAJ|year=1898|pages=1β2}}</ref> ====Orthodox Church==== The [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] has differentiated between ''[[latria]]'' and ''[[Dulia (Latin)|dulia]]''. A ''latria'' is the [[latria|worship]] due God, and ''latria'' to anyone or anything other than God is doctrinally forbidden by the Orthodox Church; however ''dulia'' has been defined as veneration of religious images, statues or icons which is not only allowed but obligatory.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Kathleen M. Ashley|author2=Robert L. A. Clark|title=Medieval Conduct|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z6M_9muo654C&pg=PA211 |year=2001|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-3576-4|pages=211β212}}</ref> This distinction was discussed by [[Thomas Aquinas]] in section 3.25 of ''Summa Theologiae''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bernard Lonergan|title=The Incarnate Word: The Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, Volume 8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RnqMCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA310 |year=2016|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-3111-3|pages=310β314}}</ref> [[File:Ostrabrama-prayer.jpg|thumb|The veneration of images of Mary is called [[Marian devotions|Marian devotion]] (above: Lithuania), a practice questioned in the majority of Protestant Christianity.<ref>{{cite book|author=Rev. Robert William Dibdin|title=England warned and counselled; 4 lectures on popery and tractarianism|url=https://archive.org/details/englandwarnedan00dibdgoog|year=1851|publisher=James Nisbet|page=[https://archive.org/details/englandwarnedan00dibdgoog/page/n38 20]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Gary Waller|title=Walsingham and the English Imagination|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qzHL_q84028C&pg=PA153|year=2013|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-1-4094-7860-7|page=153}}</ref>]] In Orthodox [[apologetics|apologetic]] literature, the proper and improper use of images is extensively discussed. Exegetical Orthodox literature points to icons and the manufacture by Moses (under God's commandment) of [[Nehushtan|the Bronze Snake]] in Numbers 21:9, which had the grace and power of God to heal those bitten by real snakes. Similarly, the [[Ark of the Covenant]] was cited as evidence of the ritual object above which Yahweh was present.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sebastian Dabovich|title=The Holy Orthodox Church: Or, The Ritual, Services and Sacraments of the Eastern Apostolic (Greek-Russian) Church|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5jJDAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA21|year=1898|publisher=American Review of Eastern Orthodoxy|pages=21β22|isbn=9780899810300}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Ulrich Broich|author2=Theo Stemmler|author3=Gerd Stratmann|title=Functions of Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YNs9AAAAIAAJ|year=1984|publisher=Niemeyer|isbn=978-3-484-40106-8|pages=120β121}}</ref> Veneration of icons through ''[[proskynesis]]'' was codified in 787 AD by the [[Seventh Ecumenical Council]].<ref name=giakalis1>{{cite book|author=Ambrosios Giakalis|title=Images of the Divine: The Theology of Icons at the Seventh Ecumenical Council|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x6bYAAAAMAAJ |year=2005|publisher=Brill Academic|isbn=978-90-04-14328-9|pages=viiiβix, 1β3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Gabriel Balima|title=Satanic Christianity and the Creation of the Seventh Day |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pNfqjbX2GQgC&pg=PA72 |year=2008|publisher=Dorrance|isbn=978-1-4349-9280-2|pages=72β73}}</ref> This was triggered by the Byzantine Iconoclasm controversy that followed raging Christian-Muslim wars and a period of iconoclasm in West Asia.<ref name=giakalis1/><ref>Patricia Crone (1980), Islam, Judeo-Christianity and Byzantine Iconoclasm, ''Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam'', Volume 2, pages 59β95</ref> The defense of images and the role of the Syrian scholar John of Damascus was pivotal during this period. The Eastern Orthodox Church has ever since celebrated the use of icons and images. [[Eastern Rite Catholic Churches|Eastern Rite Catholics]] also accepts icons in their [[Divine Liturgy]].<ref>{{cite book|author=James Leslie Houlden|title=Jesus in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=17kzgBusXZIC&pg=PA369|year=2003|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-856-3|pages=369β370}}</ref> ====Protestantism==== The idolatry debate has been one of the defining differences between papal Catholicism and anti-papal Protestantism.<ref name="Milton2002p186">{{cite book|author=Anthony Milton|title=Catholic and Reformed: The Roman and Protestant Churches in English Protestant Thought |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=stwluHDJsQgC&pg=PA186 |year=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-89329-9|pages=186β195}}</ref> The anti-papal writers have prominently questioned the worship practices and images supported by Catholics, with many Protestant scholars listing it as the "one religious error larger than all others". The sub-list of erring practices have included among other things the veneration of Virgin Mary, the Catholic mass, the invocation of saints, and the reverence expected for and expressed to pope himself.<ref name="Milton2002p186"/> The charges of supposed idolatry against the Roman Catholics were leveled by a diverse group of Protestants, from [[Anglicanism|Anglicans]] to [[Calvinism|Calvinists]] in Geneva.<ref name="Milton2002p186"/><ref>{{cite book|author=James Noyes|title=The Politics of Iconoclasm: Religion, Violence and the Culture of Image-Breaking in Christianity and Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmcBAwAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Tauris|isbn=978-0-85772-288-1|pages=31β37}}</ref> [[File:Altar and bible st Johns Lutheran.jpg|thumb|right|[[Altar]] with Christian Bible and [[crucifix]] on it, in a Lutheran Protestant church]] Protestants did not abandon all icons and symbols of Christianity. They typically avoid the use of images, except the cross, in any context suggestive of veneration. The cross remained their central icon.<ref name="Leora Batnitzky 2009 147β156"/><ref name="Ryan K. Smith 2011 79β81"/> Technically both major branches of Christianity have had their icons, states [[Carlos Eire]], a professor of religious studies and history, but its meaning has been different to each and "one man's devotion was another man's idolatry".<ref name="Eire1989p5">{{cite book|author=Carlos M. N. Eire|title=War Against the Idols: The Reformation of Worship from Erasmus to Calvin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=95sDFZbl4S4C |year=1989|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-37984-7|pages=5β7}}</ref> This was particularly true not only in the intra-Christian debate, states Eire, but also when soldiers of Catholic kings replaced "horrible [[Aztec]] idols" in the American colonies with "beautiful crosses and images of [[Protestant views on Mary|Mary]] and the saints".<ref name="Eire1989p5"/> Protestants often accuse Catholics of idolatry, [[iconolatry]], and even [[paganism]]; in the [[Protestant Reformation]] such language was common to all Protestants. In some cases, such as the [[Puritan]] groups denounced all forms of religious objects, regardless of whether it was a statue or sculpture, or image, including the [[Christian cross]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Richardson |first=R. C. |title=Puritanism in north-west England: a regional study of the diocese of Chester to 1642 |year=1972 |publisher=[[Manchester University Press]]|location=Manchester, England|page=[https://archive.org/details/puritanisminnort0000rich/page/26 26]|isbn=978-0-7190-0477-3|url=https://archive.org/details/puritanisminnort0000rich|url-access=registration }}</ref> The [[Waldensians]] were accused of idolatry by inquisitors.<ref name="Mankey 2022 p. 24">{{cite book | last=Mankey | first=J. | title=The Witches' Sabbath: An Exploration of History, Folklore & Modern Practice | publisher=Llewellyn Worldwide, Limited | year=2022 | isbn=978-0-7387-6717-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JwhUEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT24 | access-date=2023-03-14 | page=24}}</ref> The [[Crucifix|body of Christ on the cross]] is an ancient symbol used within the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] Churches, in contrast with some Protestant groups, which use only a simple cross. In Judaism, the reverence to the icon of Christ in the form of cross has been seen as idolatry.<ref name="Batnitzky2000p145">{{cite book|author=Leora Faye Batnitzky|title=Idolatry and Representation: The Philosophy of Franz Rosenzweig Reconsidered|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOvdLMZLghUC&pg=PA145|year=2000|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-04850-5|page=145}}</ref> However, some Jewish scholars disagree and consider Christianity to be based on Jewish belief and not truly idolatrous.<ref name="OU-Avoda Zarah">{{cite web|last=Steinsaltz|first=Rabbi Adin|title=Introduction - Masechet Avodah Zarah|url=http://www.ou.org/ou/print_this/73452|work=The Coming Week's Daf Yomi|access-date=31 May 2013}}, Quote: "Over time, however, new religions developed whose basis is in Jewish belief β such as Christianity and Islam β which are based on belief in the Creator and whose adherents follow commandments that are similar to some Torah laws (see the uncensored Rambam in his Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Melakhim 11:4). All of the rishonim agree that adherents of these religions are not idol worshippers and should not be treated as the pagans described in the Torah."</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page