Most people today have a visual image of Christ : long--haired and bearded, simply dressed in homespun cloth, portrayed with varying degrees of Middle Eastern appearance, often with an intense gaze, the Christian Today website reports today (Dec. 14, 2024).
The Christian portrayal of Jesus stands in contrast to Jewish and Islamic prohibitions of images. However, the Christian position is not unique since similar, easily recognizable iconography can be found in Hinduism and Buddhism where there is similarly no reticence about portraying central characters and divine beings.
For Christians, the faith in the incarnation (God becoming man) and the belief that in Christ humanity and divinity existed in one man means that historically rthere has been a theological impetus to portray Christ. After all, Chrisrtians believe that it is in His humanirty that "all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell."
Therefore, to portray Him in recognizable human form reinforces this faith, challenges the viewer to accept the reality of the God--man, and reflects on the implications of this reality for His followers as they live out their human lives in the everyday world.
No comments:
Post a Comment