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The depiction of Jesus in pictorial form dates back to early Christian art and architecture, as aniconism in Christianity was rejected within the ante-Nicene period.[1][2][3][4] It took several centuries to reach a conventional standardized form for his physical appearance, which has subsequently remained largely stable since that time. Most images of Jesus have in common a number of traits which are now almost universally associated with Jesus, although variants are seen.
The conventional image of a fully bearded Jesus with long hair emerged around AD 300, but did not become established until the 6th century in Eastern Christianity, and much later in the West. It has always had the advantage of being easily recognizable, and distinguishing Jesus from other figures shown around him, which the use of a cruciform halo also achieves. Earlier images were much more varied.
Images of Jesus tend to show ethnic characteristics similar to those of the culture in which the image has been created. Beliefs that certain images are historically authentic, or have acquired an authoritative status from Church tradition, remain powerful among some of the faithful, in Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, and Roman Catholicism. The Shroud of Turin is now the best-known example, though the Image of Edessa and the Veil of Veronica were better known in medieval times.[not verified in body]
The representation of Jesus was controversial in the early period; the regional Synod of Elvira in Spain in 306 states in its 36th canon that no images should be in churches.[5] Later, in the Eastern church, Byzantine iconoclasm banned and destroyed images of Christ for a period, before they returned in full strength. In the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, the followers of John Calvin in particular saw images of Christ as idolatrous and enforced their removal.[6] Due to their understanding of the second of the Ten Commandments, most Evangelical Protestants still avoid displaying representations of Jesus in their places of worship.[7][8]
- ^ Philip Schaff commenting on Irenaeus, wrote, 'This censure of images as a Gnostic peculiarity, and as a heathenish corruption, should be noted'. Footnote 300 on Contr. Her. .I.XXV.6. ANF
- ^ Synod of Elvira, 'Pictures are not to be placed in churches, so that they do not become objects of worship and adoration', AD 306, Canon 36
- ^ Kitzinger, Ernst, "The Cult of Images in the Age before Iconoclasm", Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 8, (1954), pp. 83–150, Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, JSTOR
- ^ "The Early Church on the Aniconic Spectrum". The Westminster Theological Journal. 83 (1): 35–47. ISSN 0043-4388. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
- ^ Lisa Maurice, Screening Divinity, Edinburgh University Press, Scotland, 2019, p. 30
- ^ Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy, Harvard University Press, USA, 2017, p. 185
- ^ Cameron J. Anderson, The Faithful Artist: A Vision for Evangelicalism and the Arts, InterVarsity Press, USA, 2016, p. 124
- ^ Doug Jones, Sound of Worship, Taylor & Francis, Abingdon-on-Thames, 2013, p. 90