{"id":702,"date":"2013-09-14T12:01:51","date_gmt":"2013-09-14T12:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=702"},"modified":"2014-10-28T17:22:49","modified_gmt":"2014-10-28T17:22:49","slug":"the-bible-an-icon-in-visual-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-bible-an-icon-in-visual-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bible – An Icon in Visual Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his book The Sacred Gaze: Religious Visual Culture in Theory and Practice<\/em>, David Morgan connects art and religion. Morgan\u2019s vision is to extend the horizons of our perception of religion to include a consideration of the influence and impact of images.\u00a0 The first part of his work contains descriptions of the convergence of the basics of visual theory with religion. Several examples are cited on the use of images in various religious traditions including Buddhism, Eastern Orthodox Christianity and the use of masks in West African traditions.<\/p>\n

In the second section the author goes deep into iconoclasm and idolatry. This section was of particular interest to me as one living in a context that is dominated by visual culture and the widespread practice of idolatry. For over 85 percent of the population of India idols cannot be separated from their faith, beliefs and religious systems and practices. Religion and faith without idols for them would be an anomaly. Idols in this setting are not just visual reminders or a representation of the gods and goddesses that are worshipped. They are considered and worshipped as gods themselves with divine power and influence upon the lives of the worshippers.\u00a0 Animists believe that images and objects they worship and talismans that are worn are indwelt by spirits of the gods.<\/p>\n

To some extent this disposition transfers to the acceptance of the Bible as an icon among new believers embracing the Christian Faith.\u00a0 Where they are expected to abandon images and icons of any kind for fear of idolatry, the Bible becomes an icon.\u00a0 This tendency to iconize the Bible is observed especially among the marginalized and oppressed subaltern groups that are turning Christward.\u00a0 \u00a0The Bible enters into a subaltern world that already has a long history of iconizing material objects, that preserves and manifests magical and mysterious sacred power.\u00a0 One might find even a totally illiterate believer carrying the Bible as a protection from evil spirits.\u00a0 The Bible is often placed bedside of the sick for healing.\u00a0 People keep the Bible under the pillow at nights.<\/p>\n

The Bible is also an important symbol in the process of conversion and discipleship as it is used in expounding the Christian faith.\u00a0 So it is seen as a \u2018The Book with power to transform\u2019, somewhat comparable to a \u2018Talisman\u2019 for the Subaltern.\u00a0\u00a0 The access to and possession of the Bible is also a mark of liberation to these people for whom any access of the Hindu Vedas is forbidden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his book The Sacred Gaze: Religious Visual Culture in Theory and Practice, David Morgan connects art and religion. Morgan\u2019s vision is to extend the horizons of our perception of religion to include a consideration of the influence and impact of images.\u00a0 The first part of his work contains descriptions of the convergence of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,284],"class_list":["post-702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-morgan","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2898,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions\/2898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}