iconoclasm

iconoclasm
/uy kon"euh klaz'euhm/, n.
the action or spirit of iconoclasts.
[1790-1800; ICONOCL(AST) + -asm on model of such pairs as enthusiast: enthusiasm]

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Destruction of religious images.

In Christianity and Islam, iconoclasm was based on the Mosaic prohibition against making graven images, which were associated with idolatry. The making of portraits of Christ and the saints was opposed in the early Christian church, but icons had become popular in Christian worship by the end of the 6th century, and defenders of icon worship emphasized the symbolic nature of the images. Opposition to icons by the Byzantine emperor Leo III in 726 led to the Iconoclastic Controversy, which continued in the Eastern church for more than a century before icons were again accepted. Statues and portraits of saints and religious figures were also common in the Western church, though some Protestant sects eventually rejected them. Islam still bans all icons, and iconoclasm has played a role in the conflicts between Muslims and Hindus in India.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Iconoclasm — • The name of the heresy that in the eighth and ninth centuries disturbed the peace of the Eastern Church, caused the last of the many breaches with Rome that prepared the way for the schism of Photius, and was echoed on a smaller scale in the… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • iconoclasm — ICONOCLÁSM s.n. Mişcare socială, politică şi religioasă din sec. VIII IX, în Imperiul Bizantin, care, sub forma luptei împotriva cultului icoanelor, a fost îndreptată împotriva aristocraţiei laice şi ecleziastice. – Din fr. iconoclasme. Trimis de …   Dicționar Român

  • Iconoclasm — I*con o*clasm, n. [Cf. F. iconoclasme. See {Iconoclast}.] The doctrine or practice of the iconoclasts; image breaking. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • iconoclasm — index blasphemy Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • iconoclasm — (n.) 1797 in reference to breaking of idols; 1858 in reference to beliefs, institutions, etc.; see ICONOCLAST (Cf. iconoclast) + ISM (Cf. ism) …   Etymology dictionary

  • iconoclasm — [ī kän′ə klaz΄əm] n. [< ICONO + Gr klasma, a breaking < klaein: see ICONOCLAST] the actions or beliefs of an iconoclast …   English World dictionary

  • Iconoclasm — Reformation iconoclasm in the 16th century. Relief statues in St Stevenskerk in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, attacked in the Beeldenstorm …   Wikipedia

  • Iconoclasm —    Greek for the breaking of images, referring to any attempt to destroy religious images (icons [q.v.]), and referring more specifically to the attempt by certain eighth and ninth century emperors (q.v.) to cleanse Byzantium (q.v.) of what they… …   Historical dictionary of Byzantium

  • Iconoclasm — ♦ The destruciton of icons; iconoclasm was a policy of some Byzantine emperors between 725 and 842; eventually repudiated by the Christian churches of the medieval east and west. (Lynch, Joseph H. The Medieval Church: A Brief History, 362) …   Medieval glossary

  • iconoclasm —    This word (from the Greek eikōn, meaning image, and klastēs, meaning breaker ) refers to a movement that began in the eighth century in the Eastern Churches in opposition to the use of images in worship. The Second Council of Nicaea (787)… …   Glossary of theological terms

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