KIMBERLY ZSEBE : ICONS

Film by Eric Minh Swenson. Music by El Monge Religious Icons in today's world may evoke many different responses, from religious reverence to secular indifference they can be beautiful, quirky, touching or strange but few I think would find them controversial. Their history however involves the most controversial debate in the Christian Church and one that will define the religion and change the face of the world. Take a moment to imagine an art history book with out the patronage of the church. Not only was it responsible for funding countless artisans and guilds but today influences scores upon scores of contemporary artists. None of that would exist however, if the founders of one of the worlds most influential religions had decided to side with the Iconoclasts and ban all images in their churches. Eva Haustein-Bartsch writes extensively on how as the early Christian church grew it needed to get its story straight. Who or what exactly was Jesus? Was he a man that God spoke through or was he actu