"A photographer's chronicle of the arts, 1960-1995"--Cover subtitle.

In 1547, the young King Edward VI issued a series of religious injunctions that were intended to reform the Churches in England. Religious imagery was a tangible and permanent aspect of the landscape, both inside and outside churches. For many people, it was one of the first aspects of the Church to be reformed, and the degree to which it was reformed often was indicative of an individual's or community's theological leanings. Behind this destruction lay a longstanding debate over the nature, purpose, and appropriate uses of images, particularly in relation to worship and devotion. The Reformation lines between icon and idol, however, are much more difficult to identify than any single debate, event, or royal injunction would suggest. FromIcons to Idols tracks the image debate from the perspectives of both Protestants and Catholics across the period of religious change in England from 1525 to 1625. For scholars of the English Reformation, iconoclasm has played a major role in the historiographical disputes over the nature, length, and efficacy of Protestant reform. The fresh perspective of David J. Davis incorporates geography historical use and abuse, popular appeal, size, dimensions and what was represented.

Even the briefest glance at an art museum’s holdings or an introductory history textbook demonstrates the profound influence of Christian images and art. From Idols to Icons tells the fascinating history of the dramatic shift in Christian attitudes toward sacred images from the third through the early seventh century. From attacks on the cult images of polytheism to the emergence of Christian narrative iconography to the appearance of portrait-type representations of holy figures, this book examines the primary theological critiques and defenses of holy images in light of the surviving material evidence for early Christian visual art. Against the previous assumption that fourth- and fifth-century Christians simply forgot or ignored their predecessors’ censure and reverted to more alluring pagan practices, Robin M. Jensen contends that each stage of this profound change was uniquely Christian. Through a careful consideration of the cults of saints’ remains, devotional portraits, and pilgrimages to sacred sites, Jensen shows how the Christian devotion to holy images came to be rooted in their evolving conviction that the divine was accessible in and through visible objects.

Icons & Idols is a lavish ART book by Victor Pross Icons & Idols is based on the idea that actors, politicians, writers, musicians--the famous--constitute a modern mythology. It is an eye-popping visual homage and satire of pop culture that is sure to tickle a funny bone and hatch a few thoughts. ICONS & IDOLS contains Pross' painterly and penciled twists of Robert De Niro, Elvis Presley, George Bush, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sylvester Stallone, The Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Clint Eastwood, Iggy Pop, Johnny Cash and other icons from the worlds of film, music and literature. This stunning book has over 60 art works of fantastic famous people--unlike you have ever seen them! A few comments from Pross' admirers: "Victor's stuff has goddamn edge to it. It has lots and lots of elements. It has wonderful color. It pushes the boundaries."-Richard Engle, musician. "Here you have a pencil and paintbrush virtuoso player!"---Pablo Morales de los, artist and caricaturist. "The work of Victor Pross goes beyond the realm of caricature and explores German expressionism at its finest. A true Fine Artist!"-Don David, artist. "Victor is an iconic artist and will be worldly renowned and historically respected for his works." ---John Elliott, artist. "The mind behind this man's work leaves me even more breathless than his flawless, boundary-pushing artistic endeavors."---Crista Bones, photographer and artist. "Victor's caricatures, aside from being clever in their own right, also convey an intelligence and knowledge of his subjects that is sometimes absent in similar sketches." -George H. Smith, author of Athesim: The case against God.

John Cort explores the narratives by which the Jains have explained the presence of icons of Jinas (their enlightened and liberated teachers) that are worshiped and venerated in the hundreds of thousands of Jain temples throughout India. Most of these narratives portray icons favorably, and so justify their existence; but there are also narratives originating among iconoclastic Jain communities that see the existence of temple icons as a sign of decay and corruption. The veneration of Jina icons is one of the most widespread of all Jain ritual practices. Nearly every Jain community in India has one or more elaborate temples, and as the Jains become a global community there are now dozens of temples in North America, Europe, Africa, and East Asia. The cult of temples and icons goes back at least two thousand years, and indeed the largest of the four main subdivisions of the Jains are called Murtipujakas, or "Icon Worshipers." A careful reading of narratives ranging over the past 15 centuries, says Cort, reveals a level of anxiety and defensiveness concerning icons, although overt criticism of the icons only became explicit in the last 500 years. He provides detailed studies of the most important pro- and anti-icon narratives. Some are in the form of histories of the origins and spread of icons. Others take the form of cosmological descriptions, depicting a vast universe filled with eternal Jain icons. Finally, Cort looks at more psychological explanations of the presence of icons, in which icons are defended as necessary spiritual corollaries to the very fact of human embodiedness.

Many of the world’s most successful people have seen their careers nosedive following sex scandals, addictions, brushes with the law, corruption or financial troubles. The higher they have risen in the public eye, the greater their fall. Some have managed to bounce back - were forgiven and rehabilitated into the public sphere, others never recovered. A few, like Amy Winehouse, died still haunted by the demons that had plagued them in their tragically short yet spectacular lives or like UK media personality Jimmy Savile, had their dark secrets exposed after they died. Fallen Idols looks at the Hollywood greats, pop icons, sex symbols, politicians, sports stars and celebrities, who became household names but fell from gracecharting the demise of the powerful and popular, from President Richard Nixon to Elvis Presley, and Marilyn Monroe to Whitney Houston.