Iconoclasm

[TW]

During the course of discussion on another thread, Full Quiver was making a comparison between two churches that belong to the same organization, and are in close proximity to one another. In his comments, he states: “on the other hand you have an "artsy" (words of a member) congregation and ministry.” The congregation to which he refers is my home church, and he is correct in the “artsy” appellation. This is a reflection of the vision of our pastors, and the congregation as a whole. Our pastors feel that it is time for Christians to take bake the arts from Satan. The AOG promotes this view in general, and some congregations pursue it actively, my church being one of them We feel that the church, particularly the protestant branches, long ago mistakenly abandoned the arts. During the Reformation, many of the leaders were concerned with the possibility that some religious statuary was being used for idolatry, with people worshiping the statue rather than God. 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. The images that they objected to were removed in an orderly fashion; the more radical reformers however interpreted these acts as a license to remove all religious art. Inciting the masses, a wave of iconoclastic riots spread across Europe. In the wake of these riots untold numbers of artifacts were destroyed, statues smashed, paintings and hymnals burned, church buildings defaced and looted, stained glass windows ripped out and broken up. Along with this physical destruction, the zealots denigrated the other arts, music, dance and drama faired no better than the visual arts under their attack.

However not all the leaders of the Reformation shared these extreme views. Martin Luther wrote: “I am not of the opinion 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.” He goes on to say: “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 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?”

Is it time to reclaim God’s gift of art? I believe it is. If so, we must ask ourselves: “What are we doing to take back what the devil has stolen?”


Your brother in Christ,
TW