At first glance, you might not realize this famous Vermeer painting is a work of religious art…. but look carefully. Notice the woman holding a scales in her hand… and behind her on the wall… a painting of the Last Judgment. The woman is thus depicted as reflecting on her ultimate fate or destiny. From the studio of Rembrandt (with the same sort of use of light and shadow as the master himself) comes a painting of the lowering of... Read more
While lots of people know all about the impressive Impressionist collection at the National Gallery, as well as many others, less well known is that there is a considerable amount of Christian art in the museum as well. For example, here’s the famous Salvador Dali surrealist painting of the Last Supper, or maybe a meal with a see through risen Jesus…. Hendrik Goltzius a 16th century Dutch painter offers us a picture of the moment when Adam and Eve ‘fell’…... Read more
Jesus-Devotion and Historical Questions by larryhurtado A reader of my previous posting raised several questions and made several assertions (some of them unfounded) that lead me to offer a few comments about the historical issues pertaining to the origins of Jesus-devotion and correct historical method in addressing them. The first thing is to grasp clearly the questions that I address. When, where, and in what form did devotion to Jesus emerge, and what forces and factors might have prompted and... Read more
The Botanical Garden is right on the Mall near the reflection pool and circle in front of the Capitol Building. We visited at the right time, because normally it’s like a sauna…. well heck it is a hot house after all, but not on the day we were there. It was cool and pleasant. Here’s some more of the flora God wants us to appreciate and nurture…. Can you find the dinosaur. Read more
While there are external gardens which are set up by region or eco-system around the gigantic green houses, it is the internal plants that are most interesting and come from around the world, but the most interesting are the exotics, like those yellow ones seen below from Brazil. I am especially partial to the purple bouganvillea. Read more
As period pieces go, clearly Julian Fellowes Downton Abbey has been one of the best, and now we have the full movie sequel which picks up in 1927 where the TV series left off, with the full cast in tow. First of all the movie is beautifully filmed. It almost makes me want to move back to England. Almost. The rainy sequence reminded me why I wanted to leave. It is tricky business to do a film sequel to one... Read more
This is just another of the wonderful exhibits at the Museum of the Bible. Read more
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