Trending
The Conversation
An adjunct lecturer at Hamline University recently lost her job for showing an image of Prophet Muhammad in an art history class, which some students and administrators considered to be Islamophobic. The university later retracted the accusation of Islamophobia and said in a statement, "It was never our intent to suggest that academic freedom is of lower concern or value than our students," but still insisted that "care" does not "supersede academic freedom, the two coexist."
An earlier statement from Hamline President Fayneese Miller had noted, "Students do not relinquish their faith in the classroom," which suggested that classrooms need to be visually tailored to a specific faith.
As a historian of Byzantine art familiar with the fierce debates over sacred images in the 8th and 9th centuries, I consider Miller's statement a challenge to how students might study religious imagery at all.
The very example of the debates in the Byzantine Empire shows how hard it is to design a space that caters exactly to the specifications of any particular faith.
The debates over
Byzantium images
In Greek Orthodox Christianity, which was the official religion of the Byzantine Empire that lasted from 312 to 1453 A.D., some factions were against sacred images and some in favor of them. The factions that were against images claimed that the image of Jesus Christ was unacceptable, since his nature was both divine and human.
This position argued that an image of Christ, therefore, either showed only his divinity - which was impossible, since divinity cannot be depicted in ordinary, human-made materials - or that such an image claimed Christ was not divine at all – also considered a heresy. An image of Christ could not be produced or displayed, since it put the artist and viewer in a false position regarding the Orthodox faith.
However, those who were in favor of images countered this stance by arguing that God, or divinity, had taken human shape in the form of Christ. The incarnation, meaning "enfleshment" of Christ, thus legitimized the making of images, since it made Christ accessible to humankind. This faction also argued that sacred images were necessary, as they served to remind viewers of the sacred beings they depicted, such as Christ, the Virgin and the saints.
Contradictions acknowledged on both sides
The differences between the two factions became clear in the Council of Hiereia, which was called by Emperor Constantine V in 754 A.D. to lay out the terms of those who were against images. However, despite affirming that sacred Christian imagery was blasphemous and should not be produced, this faction still stated:
"... we ordain that no one in charge of a church ... shall venture ... to lay his hands on the holy vessels ... because they are adorned with figures. The same is ... in regard to the vestments of the church, cloths, and all that is dedicated to divine service. ..."