Relating to Christian Art from a Personal Religious / Spiritual Perspective
All of the world’s great religions have great wisdom traditions from which anyone can learn. The more a user is aware of her or his own faith / spiritual tradition, the easier it will be for her or him to understand and draw wisdom from these other traditions. Art offers one road into one’s own or another tradition. What follows are short summaries of the relationships between particular traditions and Christian art.
Christian Art in the Early Days
All Christians do not understand art the same way. Their histories, and often the conflicts between them, have shaped their perspectives. In an era when visual images are everywhere, it may be hard to understand that Christians could ever have fought violently over artworks. Real dialogue among the Christian denominations on this issue has rarely occurred; instead we have mostly seen polemics and division The detailed sections that follow are an attempt to put each tradition's approach to images in its best light in the hopes that the user can approach artworks with openness.
As far as we know, image use in early Christianity (2nd and 3rd centuries) began as an adaptation of Roman image use, particularly in relation to funeral practices and the depiction of saints. Christians at this time were using images as reminders of the dead saints & martyrs and as metaphors of God’s salvific action in raising the dead to new life, not as ritual images. By the 8th century, popular practice had broadened considerably: icons were in common use in all liturgical contexts; the emperor was Christian, and his image was being venerated (shown honor); icons (images) of Jesus Christ, Mary, the Mother of God, and the saints were also being venerated; and the making and consecration of icons was a highly ritualized and sacred practice.
That gives you the deep history of image use in Christianity. This page is quite long. From here you may want to scroll down until you find the section closest to your beliefs.
Orthodox Christians
Before 730, religious art was highly developed in the Eastern Church. The question of images erupted into a pitched battle when Emperor Leo III decreed icons to be idolatrous and ordered them destroyed in 730. The battle raged for more than 100 years. When the dispute was finally resolved in 843, the Eastern Church celebrated the Triumph of Orthodoxy, which was such a significant event that it is still celebrated on the 1st Sunday of Lent each year. The dispute was ultimately decided on Christological grounds, and the Orthodox attitude toward, and practice with, images has not changed significantly since 843. Veneration of Christ and of the saints is still practiced through veneration of icons, which are painted in roughly the same manner today as they were 1,300 years ago.
The main question for Orthodox Christians is how to understand religious images not made in the style of icons or not made according to the prayerful practices of icon writers. Icons are venerated because of their “likeness” to the saint or to Jesus Christ. Can an average artist who is not praying intentionally with each brushstroke or fasting in preparation for painting know Jesus or the saint well enough to paint a “likeness”? These questions remain unanswered theologically. Orthodox Christians are advised to consider artworks that are not painted in the icon style as for the glory of God and as educational but not as things to venerate.
Roman Catholic Christians
In the West, in the 7th& 8th centuries, the bishops were working with northern “barbarian tribes” whose previous religion was judged by Christianity to have been a highly idolatrous, animistic religion. As a result, Western Christian leaders were less inclined to encourage image use but had no great objection to it as long as it was not idolatrous. The Western Church was getting news of a dispute in the Eastern Church over whether it was okay to paint images of Jesus Christ but it was not embroiled in it the debate way the East was. The Western Church eventually split from the Eastern Church, and became known as the Roman Catholic Church. Ancient Rome’s artistic tradition had been lost, and the Roman Catholic Church was preaching to people who did not speak Latin or Greek. The Church of Western Europe thought of images as teaching tools rather than as something to venerate or honor. Images had some devotional use in prayer books for the few who could read at the beginning of the Middle Ages, but as the cathedrals and great churches began to be built in the Middle Ages, images on the walls and in the stained glass were included because they were a way to glorify God and because they were decorative and educational. Cathedrals themselves were metaphors for the glory of God and began a trend toward communicating abstract ideas through metaphorical art. This is evident in the medieval emphasis on transcendence, proportion, light, & allegory in art. This tendency encouraged architects, designers, & artists to outshine the efforts of their predecessors and also contributed to the evolution of art at the end of the Middle Ages and beginning of the Renaissance.
During this time when belief in miraculous images was encouraged, there were also abuses. Unscrupulous churchmen took advantage of superstition and profited from selling indulgences related to the power of images. Many churchmen became covetous and acquisitive regarding art. The overarching intent of painting for the glory of God, once always present, regardless of the immediate intent of the artwork (e.g., education, decoration, inspiration, delight, etc.) was getting lost. Some painters and patrons, including some bishops and other Catholic authorities, were focusing on the value of the art itself.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation movement began. The reformers were protesting the abuses that had become rampant in Roman Catholic practice, including Roman Catholic practice with images. Many Roman Catholics were ready to recognize the problems with images. But after much debate, in 1563, at the Council of Trent, Roman Catholics accepted image use in churches and devotional contexts but encouraged more careful policing of how religious themes were to be depicted.
Since 1600, Roman Catholics have continued to make artworks, but to some extent they take their own art-rich history for granted.
Mainline Protestant Christians
The Renaissance in European art was in full swing at the end of the 15th century. The vast majority of the art of the Renaissance was Christian-themed. The Roman Catholic Church spent a lot of money on having artworks made and churches built. Many of the artworks did a great job of conveying the glory of God and communicating the stories and teachings of Christianity. At the same time, a number of abuses had crept into the ways people related to the artworks; sometimes they saw them as miraculous, and other times they saw the statues as idols.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation movement began, spearheaded by Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, & others. They were protesting the abuses that had become rampant in Roman Catholic practice, including Roman Catholic practice with images. Luther objected less than the others to images and simply sought reform of the way they were used. Calvin & Zwingli wanted religious images destroyed on the grounds that it was the only way to prevent idolatry. Thus the Protestant tradition has these dual strains whereby in some eyes, images are acceptable as long as there is no danger of idolatry, and in others, images automatically lead to idolatry. Nevertheless, even Calvin & Zwingli did not object to the use of images in teaching.
Today the explosion of image use in the secular culture and the evidence that images are a powerful means of communication has caused many Protestant leaders to revisit the value of Christian artworks. They are still cautious about the risk of idolatry, but there is a new excitement about educating Christians through the use of artworks.
Evangelical Protestant Christians
Though the mainline Protestant communions largely moved away from visual images, Evangelical Protestants have been much more open to the power of the Holy Spirit to work through art, even visual art. As a general proposition, these communities have been more inclined to make their own art rather than delve deeply into Christian art of earlier eras. Like many religious communities, Evangelical Christians are more inclined to trust the art of their own artists than of artists from other communities, but as long as viewers stay grounded in their own theologies, they should be able to find good dialogue partners in the art of the past.
Christian Art & the World’s Major Religious / Spiritual Traditions
Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, & most indigenous religions include visual “art” among their expressions of the stories & wisdom of the tradition. Throughout history Islam & Judaism have often adhered closely to a ban on images of people or of God.
Hindus will find that Christian art is used in much the same way Hindu art is used.
Buddhists will find that the meditative approaches used with Christian art are different than Vajrayana meditation practices and that the tradition of mandala painting does not have a clear parallel in Christianity. That said, the tradition of depicting many arhats (arahants) or Buddhas in a single image is similar to the practice of depicting the Communion of Saints.
Those from most of the world’s indigenous religions are accustomed to stories’ being told in art. Differences of style indicate subtle differences in intent & meaning, but the similarities in the purpose of religious art are more significant.
Muslims & Jews may have trouble with Christian depictions of God and of figures from the Bible that are revered in the Jewish, Christian, & Islamic traditions. All 3 religious traditions respect the ban on idolatry, but they interpret it differently. Christians understand God to be Triune, that is Three Persons (Tri-) in one God (-une). This is a hard concept even for Christians to understand, but Jesus is clearly understood to be the Second Person of the Trinity. Many Christians believe that in choosing “incarnation”—that is, in choosing to take on a fleshly existence—God became visible and thus can now be depicted, at least as Jesus Christ. Some artists have attempted to depict symbols of God the Father & the Holy Spirit, but many Christians would say this is incorrect. The usual defense of such images is that God’s Mystery is too difficult for people to comprehend without some assistance in the form of painted images.
One further aspect of Christian art may be particularly problematic for Jewish viewers and to a lesser extent Muslims. Throughout much of Christian history, Christians blamed Jews for the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ and thus Christian art often depicted Jews as evil or hideous. From the late 600s until at least 1492, Christians and Muslims waged war with each other on various fronts at various times, so Muslims were often treated as enemies and depicted as such in artworks.
Christian Art & Secularism, Humanism, Atheism, and Other Spiritualities
Those who do not believe in God nevertheless may be interested in art, culture, cultural production, & the meaning of cultural artifacts. The artworks of the Christian tradition collectively display both an internal consistency & a variability that reflects changing times.
Beyond that, secularists, humanists, and atheists are able to draw insight from the world’s many wisdom traditions as easily as anyone else. Artworks are one way to access the wisdom of the Christian tradition.
For each theme addressed in the Interpretations section of the app and in each of the topics addressed in the Background Info subsections the content is meant to be descriptive rather than persuasive. In the interpretive pages, the 1st type of focusing question is addressed to the basic meaning of the artwork, and the 3rd type is addressed to the historical situation of the artwork. Only the 2nd type of question is directed at the user’s faith life, and people whose spirituality doesn't include religious beliefs are welcome to skip those questions.
