From Icons to Idols

The debate over religious images was fundamental to the development of the Reformation. Even before the Reformation, iconoclasm and the critique of image devotion were marks of religious radicalism. Protestant reformers embraced iconoclasm as a means of condemning Catholic corruption and illustrating their war against idolatry. From Icons to Idols provides an accessible, important edition of primary sources on this critical aspect of the Reformation in England. The documents in this collection track the image debate across the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, highlighting the complexities and diversity of arguments and positions held by both Protestants and Catholics. The documents also demonstrate the variety of individuals who engaged in the debate over images. Included here are bishops and theologians, printers and inquisitors, cardinals and artists, suggesting that the question of idolatry was no mere academic exercise.

""David Davis challenges the idea that iconoclasm and Protestantism go hand in hand and presents with his book a major contribution to the academic debate on this issue. It is an enriching pleasure to read and consider his careful analysis of a wide variety of early modern texts and images. The sources presented here also make this book perfect for use in class.""
--Herman Selderhuis, Professor of Church History, Theological University Apledoorn; Director, Refo500

""David Davis's admirable collection of documents illuminates the complexities of the debate about images provoked by the Reformation in sixteenth-century England. Bringing together Protestant and Catholic voices and combining critical texts with compelling pictures, it challenges the tired paradigms that have inhibited our understanding of the nexus between religion and the visual arts in the early modern period. It will be an excellent resource for scholars and students alike.""
--Alexandra Walsham, Professor of Modern History, University of Cambridge


David J. Davis is Director of the Master of Liberal Arts and Assistant Professor in History at Houston Baptist University. He is author of Seeing Faith, Printing Pictures: Religious Identity during the English Reformation (2013).