Article: Voracious Idols and Violent Hands: Iconoclasm in Reformation Zurich, Strasbourg, and Basel

Voracious Idols and Violent Hands: Iconoclasm in Reformation Zurich, Strasbourg, and Basel. By Lee Palmer Wandel. (New York: Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pp. xii, 205. $39.95.)

Do actions speak louder than words, or at least as loudly as words? Are symbols and rituals a key to understanding the Reformation? This is what Lee Wandel attempts to prove in this imaginative study of the ritual revolution effected by Protestants in three key cities. Viewing iconoclasm from below, from the perspective of the image breakers, Wandel adds texture to an already well-known history. By analyzing the way in which iconoclasts "spoke" through their destructive acts, Wandel brings us closer to ...