Chapter 1: IMAGE
JUDAISM 
God as One
Second commandment (A): “You shall have no other gods before me”
Abraham “Father of monotheism”
Distinctiveness of Israel “Gods of the heathens are nought”
Examples:
 Maimonides 2nd principle (Box 1.1) – “God is one”
 Yigdal hymn (p. 29) – Maimonides put into poetic song, part of Jewish daily prayer book
 Shema (Box 1.2)
– Part of official evening and morning prayers
– Also inscribed in black ink on “kosher” animal skin parchment, placed inside containers:
 Tefillin – strapped to forehead and left arm at weekday morning prayers => Mind, head, heart
 Mezuzah – fixed to doorposts of Jewish homes at eye level => constant reminder of oneness of God each time the believer passes
God as Invisible & Indivisible
Second commandment (B)
...You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;5 you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Moses and the “face” of God
Maimonides’ 3rd principle: God is incorporeal
– metaphorical language – Jewish scriptures and Talmud occasionally refer to God’s hands, eyes, mouth etc. but Jewish insists that such anthropomorphisms are metaphorical in nature
=> God as transcendent (“holy”)
Examples:
 Struggle against idolatry eg. golden calf – Moses destroys the golden calf that Israelites had fashioned while he was on Mt Sinai. Moses melt the statue, grinds into powder, casts remains into water which apostate community must then drink
 Synagogue today: oriented toward the holy city, Jerusalem, where Temple once stood, a carbinet kelt scroll => divine words, not divine images
 Holy of Holies - Last Temple destroyed by Roman armies in 70 CE – when Roman general Titus entered the Holy of Holies – inner sanctum which only high priest would go once a year on Day of Atonement, expected to find treasure or statue of God but instead find the room to be empty
 Ark of the Covenant – once stored in Holy of Holies, long rectangular chest, over it were fixed two winged seraphs facing each other from either end, creating a space – Seat of Mercy, contains tablets that Moses received from God on Siani => divine words, not divine images
ISLAM  ka’bah?  Cubic shape gray stone, standing about 50 feet above a marble base, covered by kiswa – a black cloth embellished with golden calligraphy
 Pre-Islamic Arabia – local tribes make annual pilgrimages to the shrine, storing more than 300 statues
 Worshipers across the world face toward Ka’bah during their daily prayers
 In the year 630, Muhammad returned from Medina and surrendered Mecca, ordered all statutes to be destroyed, replaced with Nothing.

How is this action relevant to the Islamic concept of God? What is the shahadah? How is it related to tawhid ?
Monotheism – “Tawhid” - Muhammad’s destruction of multiplicity of statues in Ka’bah reflects the Islam’s belief in the oneness and uniqueness of God
Example:
 Reflected in Shahabad – first of the Five Pillars of Islam: “I bear witness that there is no god but God; I bear witness that Muhammad is His prophet.”
– part of Muslim’s daily prayers
– when converting Islam, need to speak Shahadah with clear-minded intention before 2 witnesses => embracing the concept of tawhid is key to joining the Muslim religious community
 tawhid is also an recurring them of Islam’s holiest book – Qur’an
Aniconism – Allah is beyond all images.
 Only object toward which the congregation faces during prayers in a mosque is mihrab – designed in shape of doorway or an arch but does not lead to any room, it indicates the qibla – the direction of Mecca
 As in Jewish synagogue, mosque is only decorated with geometric forms, floral designs, and calligraphic patterns (verses of Qur’an)
Shirk
 Shirk = idolatry, literally meaning “making a partner or an equal” – to Allahm, polytheism = deny the principle of God’s uniqueness and unity => gravest sin in Islam
 Examples of Shirk: Muslim pilgrims display excessive devotion at the graves of saints, including Muhammad’s tomb in Medina

Are the “99 names of God” a form of shirk?
 No, reflects the richness in God, speaks of 99 divine “names” – a litany of qualities, recited in private meditation and beads are turned
CHRISTIANITY 
God as One and Three
God is One
 Jewish monotheistic background Christianity never abandoned the essence of religious and moral principles give to Moses e.g. Second Commandment
 Abrahamic religions

Jesus’ identity
 “Christ” = Messiah – from Greek “Christos” meaning “anointed one” – a direct translation of Hebrew “Masiah” (Messiah)
 “Lord” = divine – Hebrew “Adonai, a sacrosanct title reserved exclusively for the one God
 Nicene Creed: incarnation – apart from 4 short assertions at the end, the entire Creed is concerned with the true identity of Jesus and his relationship to the one God of Israel

God as Trinity
 one God
 3 ‘persons’: Father, Son, Spirit
=> modified monotheism

‘Trinity’ in practice
 churches and colleges – use “Trinity” as the name
 sign of the cross – Catholic & Orthodox Christians make a sign of cross during prayers
 blessings – by Christian clergy
 baptismal formula – baptized with water and an ancient formula that makes specific reference to Trinity
God as invisible and visible
Moses and the face of God
Jesus as “human face of God
 “image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15)
 “to have seen me is to see the Father” (John 14:9)
Iconoclastic literally means “image breakers”
 Iconoclastic controversy – two distinct periods of Byzantine imperial opposition to the veneration of religious images during 8th and 9th centuries
 Reasons: second commandment
Refutation: John of Damascus, a monk living in Muslim-controlled Bethlehem argued that the commandment forbidding images of God had been superseded by “The Incarnation”=> the invisible, transcendent God had become visible and incarnate. God now had a human face.
Images today
Protestant - Iconoclastic tendency/preference for churches without statues and icons
 Beeldenstorm (1556) – several monasteries were attacked and statues destroyed
 Judaism/ Islam
Catholic/ Orthodox - Icons valid
HINDUISM 
Murti
 Hindu scared statue, usually made of wood or stone
 Detailed ancient instructions were given on how to design and make a sacred staute e.g. posture, shape, colour etc.
 Once completed, a consecration ceremony is held by priests recite blessing formula and purify image with substances such as honey and butter, breathing into it, and most importantly uncovering the eyes
 Murit is not the object of adoration and prayer, but functions as a sign of presence of power of transcendent reality, a physical channel of divine energy

What is usually done to the murti during worship? What is darshana and how does the murti facilitate this?
 Darshana – literally means “an audience”, each gesture is meant to represent the cordialities that one would normally extend to an important visitor in one’s house:
– face, arms, and feet of statue are washed or sprinkled with water, then dressed in splendid clothing and adorned with jewellery, flowers, and perfumes. Finally, a meal is prepared and placed before the murti for their consumption.
Nirguna and Saguna
 nirguna – refers to barman, the invisible - difference
 saguna - similarity

How are these concepts relevant to the use of murtis?
Murti can be:
 non-anthropomorphic e.g. sacred stones or phallic linga of Shiva; or
 anthropomorphic and each particular detity is identifiable by symbols and features e.g. Vishnu has blue skin, Shiva has white skin
Murti is generally portrayed as humanlike, there are also non-human and superhuman features such as elephany head, many arms that hold various objects => remind the difference between divine and human

What is meant by the ten avatars of Vishnu? How does the concept of avatar help to justify the use of images?
 Avatars of Vishnu = incarnations => ontological gulf between divine and human is not so unbridgeable that divine cannot assume human form
 But, Hinduism is not polytheistic, nirguna reminds that many Hindu deities are ultimately particular manifestations of ultimate being itself (Brahman)
=> Similar to Christian, transcendent reality involves both the one and many.
BUDDHISM 
God?
Is Buddhism a religion?
NO:
 no personal God or soul
 focus on personal liberation
YES:
 destiny beyond physical death
 hierarchical cosmos
 petitions to higher beings
Buddha Images
 more than any other historical figure
 founder as key? Some say it’s Buddha’s own wish: no representations of his physical form after his death
=> early images are mostly non-anthropomorphic
– tree, throne, lotus, wheel ...
– “tathagata” (absent Buddha)
 later images
– relics and statues
– connection to founder
Postures
– sitting
– standing
– walking
– lying
Mudras
– teaching – hands raised in front of chest, counting, making a point
– meditation – resting in lap
– resisting temptation – touching ground
– alms round – holding a bowl
Marks of the Buddha
– ushinisha – a bump on top of head in either fire form (spiritual energy) or shape of stubble (resulting from cutting of his hair on night he renounced his old life)
– urna –mark in the center of forehead symbolising third wisdom eye
Three bodies (‘trikaya’):
1. Nirmana kaya: physical body => later cremated
2. Sambhoga kaya: enjoyment body=> combination of human and superhuman qualities that symbolise the superior nature of enlightened ones.
3. Dharma kaya: reality body => similar to non-personal absolute Brahman of Hinduism. The transcendent dharma truth is accessible and conceivable to finite minds via enjoyment bodies
Note: Buddhists do not worship the statues, but as Hinduism and sections of Christianity, they are powerful sacramental representations of higher principle that pervades the cosmos, providing intelligibility, meaning, and liberation.
Other Buddhas
– time: previous and future buddhas Eg Maitreya (‘laughing buddha’)
– space: “Pure Land” buddhas (Table 1.1) Eg. Amitabha (Western buddha)
– Use of statues in temples and homes