Idols and Empire: Preludes to Philosophy of Art in Early Christianity

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dc.contributor.advisorJeffrey, David Lyle, 1941-
dc.contributor.authorClarkson, Joseph
dc.contributor.departmentUniversity Scholars.en_US
dc.contributor.otherBaylor University.en_US
dc.contributor.schoolsUniversity Scholars.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2019-05-21T14:11:21Z
dc.date.available2019-05-21T14:11:21Z
dc.date.copyright2019-05-02
dc.date.issued2019-05-21
dc.description.abstractPrior to the eruption of the Iconoclastic Controversy in the eighth century, complex traditions of artistic practices and theories had begun to emerge in Christian communities throughout the Roman world. As a minority religious group, Christians initially appropriated and often subverted Roman artistic styles and motifs to negotiate their identity within a polytheistic cultural context. Simultaneously, Christian apologists attacked polytheistic artistic practices as a way of showing the propriety of Christian religious practices. Contemporary scholarship often takes it as a given that Christian artistic practices and theory were at odds with each other from the time that Christians first began producing artworks. However, a careful consideration of the material and documentary evidence from the second century through the fourth century shows a greater harmony between Christian artistic practice and theory than is often assumed. By giving undue epistemic privilege to neither the visible nor the verbal evidence from early Christianity, I attempt to allow Christian images to contribute to our understanding of Christian artistic theory much as texts have done. I do so by examining images of idols in early Christian art and comparing various ways of interpreting these images. I conclude that early Christian artists shared many of the same concerns about images that Christian theologians and philosophers expressed in their writings.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2104/10572
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.rightsBaylor University projects are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.en_US
dc.rights.accessrightsWorldwide accessen_US
dc.subjectClassicsen_US
dc.subjectLate Antiquityen_US
dc.subjectEarly Christianityen_US
dc.subjectArt Historyen_US
dc.titleIdols and Empire: Preludes to Philosophy of Art in Early Christianityen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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