Are Icons Idols? [Responding to J.I. Packer's Iconoclasm]

Are Eastern Orthodox icons of Christ idols? Reformed writer J.I. Packer [1926–2020] seemed to think so. In his popular 1973 book, Knowing God, he writes vehemently against the use of images in Christian worship by pointing to the second commandment. So, are Orthodox Christians idolaters? Or is Packer missing something? This is an Orthodox Christian response to Packer's fourth chapter of his book, "Knowing God."

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0:00 THE BOOK: KNOWING GOD BY J.I.PACKER
1:09 PACKER’S 2 MAJOR OBJECTIONS TO ICONS
2:19 THE EASTERN ORTHODOX VIEW ON 1ST AND 2ND COMMANDMENTS
3:44 SACRAMENTAL VIEW OF THE WORLD
4:58 THE ICON OF CHRIST AS ARCHETYPE OF BEAUTY
6:14 HISTORY OF ICONOCLASM
11:20 THE INFLUENCE OF THE LATE MEDIEVAL NOMINALISTS
13:09 ORTHODOX VIEW OF IMAGES AND ICONS
14:14 PACKER REPEATS MISTAKES OF CONSTANTINE V
14:59 ARE ICONS NESTORIAN OR MONOPHYSITIC?
16:23 PACKER DISREGARDS THE INCARNATION
18:40 PACKER ON THE SPOKEN WORD
20:41 OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS AS SYMBOL AND FULFILLMENT
22:10 PACKER VS ORTHODOX VIEW OF CREATION
23:31 LOGOGRAPHIC WRITING SYSTEMS: IMAGE AND WORD
25:07 DENYING THE ICON DENIES THE POWER OF THE INCARNATION
26:50 SUMMARY

J.I. Packer claims that the entire history of Christian thought proclaims that the Second Commandment categorically forbids any pictorial representation of God (Packer, Knowing God, p. 25). The bulk of Packer’s iconoclastic arguments are expounded in his fourth chapter entitled, The Only True God, and can be reduced to two major objections: 1. Images compromise God’s glory, and 2. Images give birth to false conceptions of God.

Any student of history will understand that this statement relies upon a particular reading of Christian history, which finds its line through fringe gnostic heresies.

This video is an Orthodox Christian response to J.I. Packer's iconoclasm.

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Theoria is a YouTube Channel started by an Eastern Orthodox Christian and professional, freelance videographer and animator in 2015. Since that time, we have produced a number of video series' explaining Eastern Orthodox doctrine and practice with the likes of Frederica Matthewes-Green, Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick, Rod Dreher, and more.

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