The Forbidden Image: An Intellectual History of Iconoclasm

Alain Besancon

ISBN 10: 0226044149 / ISBN 13: 9780226044149

Published by University Of Chicago Press, 2009

About this Item

Traces the dual strains of 'iconophilia' and iconoclasm, the privileging and prohibition of religious images, over a span of two-and-a-half millennia in the West. This book addresses arguments regarding the moral authority of the image in European Christianity from the medieval through the early modern periods. Translator(s): Todd, Jane Marie. Num Pages: 448 pages, 32 halftones. BIC Classification: HRCM; HRLB. Category: (G) General (US: Trade); (UF) Further/Higher Education. Dimension: 226 x 156 x 23. Weight in Grams: 614. . 2009. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780226044149

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Forbidden Image: An Intellectual History of Iconoclasm
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226044149
• ISBN 13: 9780226044149
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

 

Philosophers and theologians have long engaged in intense debate and introspection over the representation of the deity, its possibilities and its proscriptions. The Forbidden Image traces the dual strains of “iconophilia” and iconoclasm, the privileging and prohibition of religious images, over a span of two and a half millennia in the West.

Alain Besançon’s work begins with a comprehensive examination of the status of the image in Greek, Judaic, Islamic, and Christian thought. The author then addresses arguments regarding the moral authority of the image in European Christianity from the medieval through the early modern periods. Besançon completes The Forbidden Image with an examination of how iconophilia and iconoclasm have been debated in the modern period.

“Even the reader who has heard something of the Byzantine quarrels about images and their theological background will be surprised by a learned and convincing interpretation of the works of Mondrian, Kandinsky, and Malevich in terms of religiously inspired iconoclasm. . . . This is an immensely rich and powerful masterpiece.”—Leszek Kolakowski, Times Literary Supplement

 

About the Author

Alain Besançon is the director of studies at L’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. A specialist in Russian politics and intellectual history, he has written a number of books, including Anatomie d’un spectre and Les origines intellectuelles du léninisme.