The Politics of Iconoclasm: Religion, Violence and the Culture of Image-Breaking in Christianity and Islam - Couverture souple

Noyes, James

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 178453479X ISBN 13 : 9781784534790

Editeur : I.B. Tauris, 2016

A propos du livre

Revue de presse :

'The span of Noyes's tour d'horizon is impressive...the book s major achievement is to show how central politics has been in the history of iconoclasm, thereby making a crucial contribution to the body of recent landmark publications in this field...highly relevant to readers with a more general interest in modern political history. Moving beyond the old master-narratives of modernity and secularization, it sheds new light on the relation between the sacred, political and material worlds in the modern age.' --David Motadel, Times Literary Supplement

"Noyes' lucid commentary on the strength of iconoclasm in both Islam and Christianity makes unsettling reading for the political scientist. He offers a vital insight into a long-neglected aspect of the relationship between religious violence and politics which makes the book powerful, profound and deeply disturbing." --[Christopher Coker, Professor of international Relations, London school of Economics]

The Politics of Iconoclasm is an achievement - original and thought provoking. Beginning with chapters on the formative histories of "Calvinism" and "Wahhabism" and their connections with image-breaking and state-building, James Noyes goes on to explore surprising connections between violence and religious-political thought through a number of historical case studies - including acts of symbolic destruction in the French Revolution, the calculated destruction of European cities during World War II, and the recent destruction and rebuilding of parts of Mecca in modern style. Noyes invites the reader to consider "iconoclasm" not simply as a label for fanaticism, but as the deliberate breaking of physical objects (images, buildings, shrines) that are mediated theologically, and carried out as acts of self-formation in the creation and assertion of modern state power. This is a remarkably suggestive book: careful in assembling its sources and yet engagingly written and argued. - --[Talal Asad, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center]

Présentation de l'éditeur :

From false idols and graven images to the tombs of kings and the shrines of capitalism, the targeted destruction of cities, sacred sites and artefacts for religious, political or nationalistic reasons is central to our cultural legacy. This book examines the different traditions of image-breaking in Christianity and Islam as well as their development into nominally secular movements and paints a vivid, scholarly picture of a culture of destruction encompassing Protestantism, Wahhabism, and Nationalism. Beginning with a comparative account of Calvinist Geneva and Wahhabi Mecca, The Politics of Iconoclasm explores the religious and political agendas behind acts of image-breaking and their relation to nationhood and state-building.

From sixteenth-century Geneva to urban developments in Mecca today, The Politics of Iconoclasm explores the history of image-breaking, the culture of violence and its paradoxical roots in the desire for renewal. Examining these dynamics of nationhood, technology, destruction and memory, a historical journey is described in which the temple is razed and replaced by the machine.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: I.B. Tauris
• Date d'édition: 2016
• ISBN 10: 178453479X
• ISBN 13: 9781784534790
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 256