Available From UC Press

Even the briefest glance at an art museum’s holdings or an introductory history textbook demonstrates the profound influence of Christian images and art. From Idols to Icons tells the fascinating history of the dramatic shift in Christian attitudes toward sacred images from the third through the early seventh century. From attacks on the cult images of polytheism to the emergence of Christian narrative iconography to the appearance of portrait-type representations of holy figures, this book examines the primary theological critiques and defenses of holy images in light of the surviving material evidence for early Christian visual art. Against the previous assumption that fourth- and fifth-century Christians simply forgot or ignored their predecessors’ censure and reverted to more alluring pagan practices, Robin M. Jensen contends that each stage of this profound change was uniquely Christian. Through a careful consideration of the cults of saints’ remains, devotional portraits, and pilgrimages to sacred sites, Jensen shows how the Christian devotion to holy images came to be rooted in their evolving conviction that the divine was accessible in and through visible objects.

Robin M. Jensen is Patrick O’Brien Professor of Theology and Fellow at the Medieval Institute and the Nanovic Institute, University of Notre Dame.

“From Idols to Icons is a sweeping work that tackles diverse aspects of image worship, including theological issues, the perception of the senses, and the various meanings of viewing. The question, in Robin Jensen’s view, is not really about whether images were acceptable or powerful but about whose images were to be tolerated. The result is an original and well-documented study that brings together the views of Christian and non-Christian authors, apologists, philosophers, and sophists as well."—Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony, Martin Buber Professor of Comparative Religion, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

“This book is set to be a standard work in Christian art history, theological aesthetics, and the cultural history of late antiquity. A rarity in the field, Jensen's account is attentive to both the material culture that is early Christian art and the theological lenses through which it was and is understood. A masterful achievement." —Christopher Beeley, Jack and Barbara Bovender Professor of Theology, Duke University