Imaging the Word
Art and Theology
At Good Shepherd, we embrace the Arts and affirm them as a good and proper means of communicating the beauty and truth of the Gospel.
Understanding how art can enable us to see God in new and different ways and at the same time foster the habit of contemplation, these devotionals are intended to help believers to contemplate the matters of faith through the lens of art. It is the aim and hope that these devotionals will serve to aid our members in growing closer to God.
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10-5-23: Parable of the Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids
"The point of the story—the point that ultimately shows the “wisdom” of the abundance of caution—is that, in this world, something always does go wrong: “When the bridegroom took his time arriving,” Jesus says. Eventually, after everybody had just about given up, and all the bridesmaids had fallen asleep, the guest of honor shows up. Only, not everyone had prepared, and so his appearance creates a problem, a crisis..." (more)
10-5-23: Parable of the Wicked Tenants
In this parable, the owner of the vineyard has been treated disrespectful by the tenants of his vineyard, who reject his claim not just on the produce but the vineyard itself. He sent messengers to reestablish his authority but they beat and murdered them. So the vineyard owner must answer this question for himself: What is to be done with his anger? Will he allow his enemies to dictate the nature of his response? He is in a position of power. So retaliation is not only possible; it’s expected! But is further violence the only answer? (more)
9-21-23: Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
As we see in the parable of the Vineyard, God is not just but he is good. When we begrudge that goodness, that graciousness, it is only because we have forgotten where we are in line. For, from where we stand, at the end of the line, we can see the actions of the landowner for what they are—as a reflection of his goodness, his graciousness, that extends not just to those like us at the end of the line, but to all those who came before us, who though worthier than us, nevertheless did not deserve what they received—a place in God’s kingdom, a seat at the table of the Vineyard Owner who wants everyone to share in his joy and to enjoy the abundance of his goodness. No, God is not fair; but God is good. (more)
8-11-23: Walking on Water
Jesus has just sent the disciples ahead of him by boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, while he stays back to pray. On their way, a great storm erupts on the water and the disciples are frightened. Just then, they see Jesus walking on the water. Peter impulsively tells his Lord to call him out to be with him. But when he does, Peter starts towards Jesus but quickly begins to sink. Jesus then chides Peter for his lack of faith. This episode veritably invites a symbolic, metaphorical interpretation, whereby walking on water is synonymous with the exercise of faith, literally “stepping out in faith.” (more)
7-30-23: Parables of the Kingdom
One of the most difficult things about believing in God is trying to talk about it. Someone asks you why you believe, or how your life is different because you do, and there are no words that are true enough, right enough, big enough to explain. You grope around for something to say, but everything sounds either too vague or else too pious. (more)
7-16-23: Parable of the Wheat and Weeds
Over the centuries, the Parable of the Weeds Among the Wheat has often been cited in support of various degrees of religious toleration. The wheat and the weeds are identified by Jesus as referring to reborn followers of Christ (“sons of the kingdom”) and the “weeds” as “sons of the evil one.” Yet Jesus does not explicitly define who belongs in either group (beyond calling them “the righteous” and the “lawbreakers,” respectively). And so it is inevitable that subsequent interpreters would draw their own conclusions based in their theological commitments, their cultural contexts, and, yes, their prejudices. (more)
7-16-23: Parable of the Sower and the Soils
Familiarity does not always breed contempt, but it often breeds something potentially worse— the glazed eye. We quote favorite sayings and truisms so easily that we don’t really hear them. In reading we may even underline or highlight a passage not because it teaches us something new, but because we have read it before or because it sounds like something we have already thought. And so it is lost to our mind as soon as we turn the page. The parables of Jesus are liable of such treatment. (more)
6-25-23: Weighing the Cross
The 16th-century Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp, Belgium has a history of supporting the arts—it is home to Peter Paul Rubens’s famous Elevation of the Cross and Descent from the Cross. Yet the last time the cathedral acquired a new piece of art was in 1924. That changed in 2015, when the Cathedral purchased a bronze sculpture by contemporary artist Jan Fabre, called The Man Who Bears the Cross. It is a self-portrait of the artist surveying a large cross that he balances in the palm of his hand. (more)
6-4-23: Contemplating the Trinity
This upcoming Sunday is “Trinity Sunday,” the festival day dedicated to celebrating the mystery of the Triune God, the Three-in-One and One-in-Three. Words and images can only really gesture toward, never fully explain or capture, this paradox. Still, there is value in meditating on it, as the Triune nature of God gives us a glimpse into who God is. Some of the most innovative visual imaginings of the Trinity come from a small handheld devotional book from early 14th-century Flanders known as the “Rothschild Canticles.” Made for a nun, the book compiles Bible verses, liturgical praises, and theological and exegetical material, along with 46 full-page miniatures — an unprecedented nineteen of which are on the subject of the Trinity, all full of whimsy, warmth, and joy. (more)
4-20-23: Caravaggio's Suppers of Emmaus
Caravaggio was commissioned to produce a number of large-scale paintings. And even though many of his works were rejected by patrons on the grounds of indecorum or theological error, some people were beginning to see his style as a welcome antidote to ‘Mannerism,’ the limp style of creating dreamy-eyed, highly stylized, religious images. Caravaggio’s biblical characters looked like ordinary people, their faces not looking as if drugged, but rather animated by fear or anger or compassion. This is to say, he brought the otherworldly realm of the Bible right into the streets and houses of 17th-century Rome. Nowhere is this more powerfully seen than in his two paintings, both titled “Supper at Emmaus” (1601 and 1606). (more)
4-6-23: Terrible Glory of Easter
Of any event in the Gospels, Jesus’ miraculous emergence from the tomb ought to attract the interest of visual artists, yet the frequency of depiction of the Resurrection pales in comparison with the countless images of his terrible death and even of the removal of his body from the cross and deposition in the tomb. One reason for the infrequent depiction surely is that none of the gospels actually describe the moment Jesus emerged from the tomb. Artists then have had to imagine how the very first witnesses, the guards at the tomb, may have reacted when they saw Jesus bursting forth from behind the sealed stone. (more)
Vines, thistles, seaweed, ivy, and other botanical elements are frequent subjects in the work of Dutch artist Paul van Dongen. One fascinating example of this art is a series of etchings titled Crown of Thorns. Created in 2004–5, shortly after his return to the Christian faith, each of these pieces depicts a ring of twining briars that evoke the crown forced mockingly on Jesus just before his crucifixion. (more)
There are lots of children’s stories, and children’s pictures and songs, about Noah’s ark. Yet anyone who has actually read Genesis 7-9 knows that the story of Noah and the ark is anything but a children’s story. Children’s bibles and toys see a big boat and parade of animals, but the biblical story is the story of the great flood that wiped out nearly every living thing from the face of the earth. Not the kind of thing to read to a child before bedtime! (more)
This Sunday, the Last Sunday of Epiphany, our Gospel lesson relates the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ. The event described by Matthew, as well as by Mark and Luke, tells about the revealing of Christ’s divine origin to the three Apostles while they were praying on Mount Tabor. The Orthodox icon of the Transfiguration is a highly revered image, the composition of which conceals many symbols. In this article, I outline five keys to understanding the meaning of this sacred icon. (more)
As February is Black History Month, it is fitting that the ‘Imaging the Word’ column this week highlights the artistic contribution of an African-American painter—in this case, one of my favorite painters, Henry Ossawa Tanner. (more)
An icon ('image, resemblance') is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks, but rather " a sacred image used in religious devotion". They are seen as “windows” or “portals” into spiritual reality, and are used as aids to worship and prayer. (more)
When visiting museums, we often walk past artworks that seem at first glance dull and conventional, in favor more famous or more visually exciting pieces. We assume the visually conventional have nothing to show us. But, the fact is, if we were to look more closely, and appreciate the context of their creation, we often find something unexpected, even subversive. This is the case with The Nativity and its companion piece, The King and the Shepherd, both of which were painted by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Coley Burne-Jones in 1887 for the chancel of Saint John’s Church in Torquay, England. (more)
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The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (or, Publican) has not been a popular subject for artists over the centuries. One presumes this is because of the absence of any real dramatic action in the story and thus most of the meaning of this parable is felt inwardly, which is difficult to depict visually in any profound way. This makes the illustration of the parable far less interesting than, say, the Parable of the Good Samaritan or the parable of the Wicked Tenants. Artists, who have taken the parable, have resorted to giving us “just the facts” as a reminder. What commentary they offered was done in non-obvious ways, in terms of position within the picture and through posture. (more)
Medieval depictions of Jacob wrestling with the Angel, limited almost exclusively to miniatures in illuminated Bibles, have been straightforward, showing a man dressed in Medieval clothing wrestling with an angel, dressed in white robe and shown with wings on the back, what has become the conventional portrayal of an angel in Western art. (more)
Archived Art Devotions