Aniconism in Christianity

Aniconism In Christianity

Christianity has not generally practised aniconism, or the avoidance or prohibition of types of images, but has had an active tradition of making and venerating images of God and other religious figures. However there are periods of aniconism in Christian history, notably in the Early Christian church, in the Byzantine iconoclasm of the 8th century, and following the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, when Calvinism in particular rejected all images in churches. Puritanism also rejected images and some of these practices continue today in Fundamentalist Christianity, as well as among other evangelicals.

However, the use of religious icons and images continues to be advocated by the highest level religious leaders of major Christian denominations such as Anglicans and Catholics. The veneration of icons is also a key element of the doxology of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Christian aniconism has only very rarely covered general secular images, unlike aniconism in Islam; Anabaptist groups such as the Amish are rare exceptions.