England's Iconoclasts: Volume I: Laws Against Images

by Margaret Aston

This is a study of the enormous religious reversal that England experienced as the avoidance of idolatry became a priority of the Reformation. Opposition to church images was a feature of English life from Wyclif to Oliver Cromwell. It was an aspect of reform that affected all believers, from theologians who wrote so massively on the topic of idolatry, to parishioners who were taught to reject idols and whose churches were denuded of colour and ornament.

The phenomenon of iconoclasm cannot be understood except through the developments in theology brought about by sixteenth-century reformers. Both divine and secular laws were changed, as Protestants remodelled the text of the decalogue to give new prominence to the prohibition of images, and the new scriptural priority was reflected in the enactments of church and state. Pressure for image reform was building up long before Henry VIII turned iconoclast, and by the time of the civil war, a century of action and teaching against images had profoundly affected English belief, as well as English churches. England's Iconoclasts offers new insight into the nature and effect of these changes, and is a substantial contribution to our understanding of the entire process of Reformation.

560 pages, Hardcover

First published August 25, 1988

Reviews

[Sam Nesbitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aston has provided an incredible overview of the English Reformation through the lens of iconoclasm. As she notes, iconoclasm is a unique Reformation phenomenon that simultaneously touches the doctrinal and the practical, the clergy and the laity. From the Wycliffe and the Lollards of the 14th century to the Puritans of the 17th, Aston traces the gradual intensification of iconoclasm in England with clarity and rigor. Highly recommend for both those interested in general Reformation history and those interested in the intersection between theology and the arts.