Here is a very different image of St. Augustine with St. Roch (who???), and a dog and angel thrown in for good measure. The painting is by Juan de Flandes (Flemish, 15th century). St. Roch is a French saint who, much like St. Francis gave up all his possessions and ministered to the ill. The story goes he retreated into the woods to die, not wishing to infect anyone, and was ministered to by an angel and a dog, and... Read more

Salomon Koninck (17th century Dutch artist) depicts below Matthew writing his Gospel, with angelic help. This is often how the Evangelist were depicted in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the assumption being, they got the message directly from angelic messengers, whereas we know, as Lk. 1.1-4 says, they relied on human sources as the messengers. A French artist, Claude Vignon in the 16th century, presents us wit a striking painting of St. Jerome in his grotto in Bethlehem working on... Read more

A Flemish painting from the early 18th century depicts John of Patmos’ visions which led to the book of Revelation. Sometimes artists just give free reign to their imagination. One such Italian 17th century painting is supposed to depict Christ at the pool of Bethesda healing the paralytic but it is perfectly clear the artist was keen to depict a gigantic Roman or Turkish style pool or bath, and the main subject matter almost gets lost in the size and... Read more

The oft painted scene of Christ before Pilate here gets an interesting rendering, depicting Pilate as an Oriental potentate rather than as a Roman governor….In so many of these sorts of European paintings (this one is Dutch and attributed to an artist know as Constantine Daniel, 17th century) Christ looks like a pale and frail white man…. which of course he was not. The artist strives for proximity to his audience, rather than cultural distance from them. Here is a... Read more

Francois de Troy (French, 17th century) painted this familiar scene of Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman (John 4). Sometimes artists were asked by their patrons to paint a seldom rendered Biblical scene, and such is the case with this very interesting and busy painting of the Wedding Feast at Cana (John 2) by Giovanni Piastrini (17th century) The artist of course takes many liberties. The clothing is the clothing of his own age and imagination, but the... Read more

The Tribulations of Job are of course legendary, but you will seldom find a painting of them. But here is an exception to the rule… presumably portraying the moment where Job’s family suggests he curse God, and die, because he is physically suffering so much. The artist is Cesare Fracanzano (17th century). Most everyone has heard of the story of Esau selling his birthright to Jacob for, as the KJV once called it ‘a mess of pottage’ (i.e. probably lentil... Read more

What very few folks know, apart from those who have attended Bob Jones University, is that the family who founded that school collected an impressive number of religious art works, currently on display in D.C. Here for example is a painting of one of the most poignant OT stories– Jacob being shown the bloody coat of Joseph….. This painting was done by Francesco Barbieri in the 16th century and was originally called Il Guercino. An even more dramatic and colorful... Read more

Here’s another fine post by Larry. —– 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... Read more

Just when I thought my UMC couldn’t get any crazier….. check out this story. https://babylonbee.com/news/progressive-church-allows-anyone-interrupt-sermon-with-their-point-of-personal-privilege?fbclid=IwAR0xLzah_ecIJxSrqjpksovpIh-NQCr6FKt_KpxYmhbyQP0vlNATmPBsljk Read more

Another fine post by Larry Hurtado— (Several months ago, I was asked to write a contribution to a multi-author work on Jesus to be published in French, my contribution to deal with the origins of Jesus-devotion. I was given a word-limit, and so had to be brief. The result is something of a capsulized treatment of the matter. I post below the English version, which will be translated for the French publication. As will be clear from this posting, I’m... Read more