any images of God, imposed iconoclasm (image breaking) on their empire. In 2001 the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan destroyed two huge ancient Buddhist images in their territory on the same principles. Among Christians the iconoclasts did not finally carry the day, and the key argument against them was that Jesus was fully God and that Jesus, as also fully human, most definitely had an appearance that could be represented. John of Damascus wrote in the early eighth century, “In former times, God, who