Broken idols of the English Reformation / Margaret Aston.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aston, Margaret, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Reformation--England.

Reformation.

Iconoclasm--England--16th century.

Iconoclasm.

Idols and images--England--History--16th century.

Idols and images.

Religious articles--England--History--16th century.

Religious articles.

Offenses against religion--England--History--16th century.

Offenses against religion.

Social change--England--History--16th century.

Social change.

Christianity--Social aspects--England--History--16th century.

Christianity.

England--Social conditions--16th century.

England.

England--Religion--16th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 1109 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2016.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Why were so many religious images and objects broken and damaged in the course of the Reformation? Margaret Aston's magisterial new book charts the conflicting imperatives of destruction and rebuilding throughout the English Reformation from the desecration of images, rails and screens to bells, organs and stained glass windows. She explores the motivations of those who smashed images of the crucifixion in stained glass windows and who pulled down crosses and defaced symbols of the Trinity. She shows that destruction was part of a methodology of religious revolution designed to change people as well as places and to forge in the long term new generations of new believers. Beyond blanked walls and whited windows were beliefs and minds impregnated by new modes of religious learning. Idol-breaking with its emphasis on the treacheries of images fundamentally transformed not only Anglican ways of worship but also of seeing, hearing and remembering.

Contents:

Part I

1. The call to destroy

2. Answering the call

3. Steps to the temple

Part II

4. Saints popular and unpopular : St Thomas of Canterbury and St George

5. Reforming sound : bells and organs

6. Images of the Trinity

Part III

7. Windows

8. The cross

9. Word against image

Conclusion.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 10 Dec 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-316-05336-9

1-316-05573-6

1-316-08174-5

1-316-07938-4

1-316-07228-2

1-316-07701-2

1-139-03283-6