John of Damascus’s Theology of Icons in the Context of Eighth-Century Palestinian Iconoclasm

Abstract

John of Damascus, in his Three Treatises on the Divine Images, used traditional Christian arguments defending images against the accusation of idolatry in reaction to a larger conversation between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the Umayyad heartlands. The Treatises were likely intended to be a summa theologica of the Christian theology of icons in what would have appeared to Umayyad Christians to be a chaotic time, yet were also written in a form that could be used as a handbook for disputation among other Christians or with local Jews and Muslims. Discussions of idolatry and images present in Jewish and Muslim texts and material evidence closely parallel arguments within John of Damascus’ Treatises suggesting a larger monotheistic conversation.