Politics of Iconoclasm

James Noyes completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge on a comparative study of Christian and Islamic iconoclasm. He has taught at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham and at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques - Sciences Po Paris, and is part of the international 'Iconoclasms Network' supported by the University of Birmingham.

• ContentsList of IllustrationsixNote on TransliterationxiAcknowledgementsxiiiIntroduction1PART I: THE PROTOTYPES1 Calvinism and Iconoclasm232 Wahhabism and Iconoclasm59PART II: THE CASES3 The French Revolution and Iconoclasm954 The Bourgeois City and Iconoclasm: Venice1115 World War Two and Iconoclasm1256 The Balkan Wars and Iconoclasm1457 Islamic Iconoclasm Today165Conclusion179Notes185Bibliography219Index of Key Names233

'Usually, iconoclasm has been seen as a sub-plot in modern history. James Noyes suggests that it may be the main plot - linking together aspects of Islam, the Reformation and modern secular revolutions. In this light, modernity itself appears much more as the bearer of a negative, destructive impulse hidden behind various schemas of reform and projects of progress. So the reader is led by careful scholarly and analytic paths to a dark and subversive conclusion.' John Milbank, Professor in Religion, Politics and Ethics, University of Nottingham 'This erudite, interesting, and highly readable book makes an important connection between the struggle for political power and iconoclastic religious extremism. It artfully shows that the radical rejection of religious images and icons is a challenge to orthodox authority and a basis for political power. It will impress both historians and policy-makers, and be an eye-opener to those who follow global religious and political trends in the contemporary era.' Mark Juergensmeyer, Director, Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence 'The Politics of Iconoclasm is an achievement - original and thought provoking. 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 '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