Aniconism in Christianity - Among Christians Today

Among Christians Today

Calvinist aniconism, especially in printed material, and stained glass, can generally be said to have weakened in force, although the range and context of images used are much more restricted than in Catholicism or parts of Anglicanism. The Pentacostal and other Evangelical churches ultimately springing from the Moravian rather than Calvinist tradition are readier to use large crosses and other images, though not with the profusion of traditional Catholicism. Hence works like the 52 ft tall Lux Mundi statue in Ohio. Bob Jones University, a standard bearer for Protestant Fundamentalism, has a major collection of Baroque old master Catholic altarpieces proclaiming the Counter-Reformation message, though these are in a gallery, rather than in a church.

The Amish and some other Mennonite groups continue to avoid photographs or any depictions of people; their children's dolls usually have blank faces. The Brethren in Christ, another branch of Anabaptism, rejected all use of photography until the mid-20th century.

The use of icons and images of Jesus continues to be advocated by the highest level religious leaders of major Christian denominations such as Anglicans and Catholics. The veneration of icons is a key element of the doxology of the Eastern Orthodox Church which continues to celebrate the Feast of Orthodoxy which originally marked the end of iconoclasm and the reintroduction of images into churches.

In his 2003 book on praying with icons of Christ, Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams referred to 2 Corinthians 4.6: "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" and wrote that meditation on the icons of Christ "gives us the power to see all things freshly". Williams states that the arguments in favor of the use of images of Christ eventually won over iconoclasm among Christians at large because the use of icons is "so closely connected with the most essential beliefs of Christians about Jesus Christ himself".

In his 29 October 1997 general audience, Pope John Paul II reiterated the statement of Lumen Gentium (item 67) that: "the veneration of images of Christ, the Blessed Virgin and the saints, be religiously observed". In his 6 May 2009 general audience Pope Benedict XVI referred to the reasoning used by John of Damascus who wrote: "In other ages God had not been represented in images, being incorporate and faceless. But since God has now been seen in the flesh, and lived among men, I represent that part of God which is visible. I do not venerate matter, but the Creator of matter" and stated that it forms part of the theological basis for the veneration of images. The use of significant representations of Jesus has continued among Catholics, e.g. with the 2008 parishioner funded 50 foot statue of Jesus in Mindanao, Philippines.