Cult image
In the practice of
The term idol is an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship,[1][2][3] while idolatry is the worship of a "idol" as though it were God.[4][5][6]
Ancient Near East and Egypt
The use of images in the
Cult images were a common presence in ancient Egypt, and still are in modern-day Kemetism. The term is often confined to the relatively small images, typically in gold, that lived in the naos in the inner sanctuary of Egyptian temples dedicated to that god (except when taken on ceremonial outings, say to visit their spouse). These images usually showed the god in their sacred barque or boat; none of them survive. Only the priests were allowed access to the inner sanctuary.
There was also a huge range of smaller images, many kept in the homes of ordinary people. The very large stone images around the exteriors of temples were usually representations of the pharaoh as himself or "as" a deity, and many other images gave deities the features of the current royal family.
Classical Greece and Rome
Ancient Greek temples and Roman temples normally contained a cult image in the cella. The cella in Greek temples was in the center, while it was located in the back of Roman temples.[7] Access to the cella varied, but apart from the priests, at the least some of the general worshippers could access the cella some of the time, though sacrifices to the deity were normally made on altars outside in the temple precinct (temenos in Greek). Some cult images were easy to see, and were major tourist attractions. The image normally took the form of a statue of the deity, typically roughly life-size, but in some cases many times life-size, in marble or bronze, or in the specially prestigious form of a Chryselephantine statue using ivory plaques for the visible parts of the body and gold for the clothes, around a wooden framework. Most cult statues are anthropromorphic and take human shape. The most famous Greek cult images were of this type, including the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, and Phidias's Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon in Athens, both colossal statues now completely lost. Fragments of two chryselephantine statues from Delphi have been excavated.
The acrolith was another composite form, this time a cost-saving one with a wooden body. A xoanon was a primitive and symbolic wooden image, perhaps comparable to the Hindu lingam; many of these were retained and revered for their antiquity. Many of the Greek statues well-known from Roman marble copies were originally temple cult images, which in some cases, such as the Apollo Barberini, can be credibly identified. A very few actual originals survive, for example the bronze Piraeus Athena (2.35 metres high, including a helmet).
In
Abrahamic religions
Some members of
The Book of Isaiah gave classic expression to the paradox inherent in the worship of cult images:
Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.
— Isaiah 2.8, reflected in Isaiah 17.8.
Judaism
Judaism emphatically forbids idolatry, and considers it one of the gravest sins.[12]
Judaism is aniconic, meaning any physical depiction of God whatsoever is disallowed; this likewise applies to cult images. The prohibition of idols within Judaism is so severe that numerous stipulations exist which are beyond simply concerning their use: Jews cannot eat anything offered to an idol as a libation, cannot move openly in places where idols are present, and cannot interact with idol worshippers within certain timeframes of idolatrous festivals or gatherings.[13]
As time progressed and the religious traditions which the Jews were exposed to diversified, what was considered "idolatry" was subject to some debate. In the Mishnah and Talmud, idolatry is defined as worshipping a graven image through the actions of both typical idol worshippers, and through actions customarily reserved for worship of the Jewish God in the Temple in Jerusalem, such as prostrating, sacrificing animals, offering incense, or sprinkling animal blood on altars. Kissing, embracing, or "honoring" an idol, while not considered idolatry per se, was still forbidden.[14]
Christianity
Christian images that are venerated are called icons. Christians who venerate icons make an emphatic distinction between "veneration" and "worship". Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians make an exception for the veneration of images of saints – they distinguish such veneration from adoration or latria.
The introduction of venerable images in Christianity was highly controversial for centuries, and in Eastern Orthodoxy the controversy lingered until it re-erupted in the Byzantine Iconoclasm of the 8th and 9th centuries. Religious monumental sculpture remained foreign to Orthodoxy. In the West, resistance to idolatry delayed the introduction of sculpted images for centuries until the time of Charlemagne, whose placing of a life-size crucifix in the Palatine Chapel, Aachen was probably a decisive moment, leading to the widespread use of monumental reliefs on churches, and later large statues.
The Libri Carolini, an eighth-century work composed at the command of Charlemagne in response to the Second Council of Nicaea, set out what remains the Catholic position on the veneration of images, giving them a similar but slightly less significant place than in Eastern Orthodoxy.[15]
The 16th-century
Catholic regions of Europe, especially artistic centres like
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, "the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype", and "whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it". The honor paid to sacred images is a "respectful veneration", not the adoration due to God alone:
Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is.[16]
Islam
Towards the end of the
Muhammad's preaching incurred the wrath of the pagan merchants, causing them to revolt against him. The opposition to his teachings grew so volatile that Muhammad and his followers were forced to
Indian religions
Hinduism
The garbhagriha or inner shrine of a Hindu temple contains an image of the deity. This may take the form of an elaborate statue, but a symbolic lingam is also very common, and sometimes a yoni or other symbolic form. Normally only the priests are allowed to enter the chamber, but Hindu temple architecture typically allows the image to be seen by worshippers in the mandapa connected to it (entry to this, and the whole temple, may also be restricted in various ways).
Hinduism allows for many forms of worship[17] and therefore it neither prescribes nor proscribes worship of images (murti). In Hinduism, murti[18] usually means an image that expresses a Divine Spirit (murta). Meaning literally "embodiment", a murti is a representation of a divinity, made usually of stone, wood, or metal, which serves as a means through which a divinity may be worshiped.[19] Hindus consider a murti worthy of serving as a focus of divine worship only after the divine is invoked in it for the purpose of offering worship.[20] The depiction of the divinity must reflect the gestures and proportions outlined in religious tradition.
Jainism
In Jainism, the Tirthankaras ("ford-maker") represent the true goal of all human beings.[21] Their qualities are worshipped by the Jains. Images depicting any of the twenty four Tirthankaras are placed in the Jain temples. There is no belief that the image itself is other than a representation of the being it represents. The Tirthankaras cannot respond to such veneration, but that it can function as a meditative aid. Although most veneration takes the form of prayers, hymns and recitations, the idol is sometimes ritually bathed, and often has offerings made to it; there are eight kinds of offering representing the eight types of karmas as per Jainism.[22] This form of reverence is not a central tenet of the faith.
Buddhism
Very early Buddhism
The
East Asian religions
Shinto
In Shinto, cult images are called shintai. The earliest historical examples of these were natural objects such as stones, waterfalls, trees or mountains, like Mount Fuji, while the vast majority are man-made objects such as swords, jewels or mirrors. Rather than being representative of or part of the kami, shintai are seen as repositories in which the essence of such spirits can temporarily reside to make themselves accessible for humans to worship. A ceremony called kanjō can be used to propagate the essence of a kami into another shintai, allowing the same deity to be enshrined in multiple shrines.
Native American religions
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Gallery
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The Hindu goddess Durga
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Tian Tan Buddha
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Altar in Chinese temple
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Maximón, a Maya god
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Brazilian Crucifix
See also
- Andachtsbilder
- Antinous Mondragone
- Asherah
- Cult (religion)
- Devotional medal
- Fetishism
- Holy card
- Honzon
- Icon
- Iconoclasm
- Madonna and Child
- Prana pratishta
- Puja
- Religious image
Notes
- ^ "idol". American Heritage Dictionary. 2016. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
- ^ "idol". Merriam–Webster. 2019-01-15. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
- ^ "idol". Oxford Living Dictionaries. 2017. Archived from the original on 2016-09-30.
- ISBN 978-0-674-44313-6.
- ., Quote: "Idolatry (...) in the first commandment denotes the notion of worship, adoration, or reverence of an image of God."
- ISBN 9789004161955.
- OCLC 1243160502.
- ^ Harper, Douglas. "idol". Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^
Smith, P. Christopher (2002). "Is Plato a Metaphysical Thinker? Rereading the 'Sophist' after the Middle Heidegger". In Welton, William A. (ed.). Plato's Forms: Varieties of Interpretation. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. p. 243. ISBN 9780739105146. Retrieved 16 Jan 2019.
... what is seen and known is no longer the original transient physical thing coming to pass either temporally or locally but the static metaphysical eidos or intelligible 'look' a physical thing has about it, the conceptual form known by the mind's eye and of which the physical thing is now only a particular instance.
- ^
Smith, John Clark (1992). The Ancient Wisdom of Origen. Bucknell University Press. p. 19. ISBN 9780838752043. Retrieved 16 Jan 2019.
The Platonic Forms become, in fact, thoughts of the Divine Mind ...
- ^
ISBN 9781136749773. Retrieved 16 Jan 2019.
... the divine originals, the Forms or Ideas ... the divine world of Forms or Ideas ...
- Kopelman Foundation. Archivedfrom the original on 4 May 2013. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
- ^ Tractate Avodah Zarah
- ISBN 978-0-674-44313-6.
- ISBN 0-300-06493-4.
- ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church - Paragraph # 2132. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-9049-1002-2.
Hinduism also teaches us that all forms of worship are acceptable to God. We may use idols; we may go to temples; we may recite set prayers; we may offer a simple form of worship with flowers and a lamp; or we may perform an elaborate puja with set rituals; we may sing bhajans or join a kirtan session or we can just close our eyes and meditate upon the light within us.
- ^ "pratima (Hinduism)". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
- ^ Klostermaier, Klaus K. A Survey of Hinduism. 1989 pp. 293–295
- ^ Kumar Singh, Nagendra. Encyclopaedia of Hinduism, Volume 7. 1997, pp. 739–743
- ISBN 978-8120807396
- ^ "Hansa sutaria", Jain rituals & ceremonies, Jaina, archived from the original (Doc) on 2007-06-28
- ^ Powers, John. "Dharma". Oxford Bibliographies.
Further reading
- Dick, Michael Brennan, ed. (1999). Born in Heaven, Made on Earth: The Making of the Cult Image in the Ancient Near East. Eisenbrauns. ISBN 1-57506-024-8.
- Hill, Marsha (2007). Gifts for the gods: images from Egyptian temples. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9781588392312.
- Hundley, Michael B. (2013). Gods in Dwellings: Temples and Divine Presence in the Ancient Near East. Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 978-1589839205.
- Walls, Neal H., ed. (2005). Cult Image and Divine Representation in the Ancient Near East. American Schools of Oriental Research. ISBN 0897570685.