Lee Palmer Wandel

“In each case, too, the same profound question was at work in the destruction of what those involved considered ‘idols’: ‘Where was God or Christ present?’ (p. 193). For the iconoclasts divinity could not be represented by images. Originally gifts of the laity to their churches, images represented wealth that had been preempted and exploited by the clergy; images had come to be identified, therefore, with the "voracity" and divisiveness of a clerical conception of the church and a false theology of divine presence. For the iconoclasts Christ was above all present in the poor, the true images of God; meeting their needs was the only proper use of the church's wealth. Iconoclasm was also hostile to the sacramental doctrine that had led to the embellishment of altars. It was thus not, as it has been commonly regarded, merely the spontaneous expression of generalized resentment among the lowest strata of society. It was theological statement through acts rather than words, and the iconoclasts in fact varied widely in social origin. In Zurich and Basel they were often mature and middle class. As theological statement, iconoclasm also tended to be translated into conceptual language by local ministers who had not themselves participated in it.

“Wandel's book is thus remarkable for its ability to relate popular forms of devotion to those of the learned and the upper classes, drawing for this purpose insights from other disciplines, notably the thick descriptiona nd gift theory of anthropology. At the same time Wandel is thoroughly at home with the earlier history of images, tracing their understanding from Gregory the Great and John of Damascus through Bernard, Aquinas, and Bonaventura. She makes iconoclasm, usually treated essentially in isolation, into a central manifestation of the Reformation as a religious movement.” William Bouwsma review in The Journal of Modern History 68(1996): 1018.