I Corinthians 8.1-13: Puffed Up vs. Built Up

 The Corinthians are saying that "all of us possess knowledge." Maybe, Paul replies, but knowledge may not be what you, as followers of Christ, should be striving for. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. It isn't that knowledge is bad, but if it doesn't build up the community (like the love modeled by Jesus Christ), then it isn't in line with the gospel. Love builds up, Paul says. Do you? Are your actions in line with the love modeled for you by Jesus? 

My classmates and I were once told by our theology professor that we "should never let our metaphor take us farther than we want to go." I'm walking on the edge here. 

Take a look at the two structures below. What is similar about them? Both are gray. Both are Gothic in detail (pointed arches, pointed gables, towers with spires). Both have a single entrance with archivolts (the bands of molding within the door arch that echo its shape). 

What makes them different? One is, well...inflated, while the other is built up. 

Now there's nothing to say that an inflatable church can't be useful and/or amusing. It's a meme waiting to happen, though. Something about all the hot air in the church. Or blowhards. Or something like that. But the tabernacle was a moveable worship space, wasn't it? There might be some value in being able to pack up an inflatable church (some have inflatable pews, an inflatable pulpit, even inflatable candles on an inflatable Communion table) and move to another location. 

We know the church is not the building - the children's song reminds us that the church is the people. But which of the "buildings" feels more stable? Which would you feel safer standing in? One pin, and the inflatable church is in danger. There are more things in the world that can bring the puffed up church to the point of collapse. A Swiss Army Knife can make a number of those things available in any pocket. The built church can still fall, of course, but probably not at the hand of a six-year-old with a pair of scissors. And it's clear that the inflatable church wants to look like the stone church. It isn't exploring the possibilities of contemporary inflatable technology. Rather it is mimicking an earlier style.

What kind of church are you creating by the words that you say? What sort of church are we creating by the deeds that we do? Are we puffed up? Or are we building up?

Top: This inflatable church is available from various vendors for $2400 - $10,000. It is also available in pink. Search the internet for additional information. Bottom: Neo-Gothic church. Kylemore Abbey, Connemara, Co. Galway, Ireland. 

2 Peter 3.8-15a: A Thousand Years

With God a thousand years is like a day and a day like a thousand years. (2 Peter 3:8) How do you show everything that has happened in the last thousand years? These four books definitely do NOT represent EVERYTHING that has happened in the last thousand years. 

And yet this incomplete history manages to fill:

419 pages (Architecture)
428 pages (Painting)
816 pages (Civilization)

196 pages (English Literature)

That's more than 1800 pages. And you still don't have it all

And it all weighs: 
2.8 pounds (Architecture)
1 pound (Painting)
2.24 pounds (Civilization)
2.6 pounds (English Literature)

That's more than 8.5 pounds. And you still don't have it all.

Now imagine everything that has happened in the world since the year 1020: 

• the computer
• amusement parks
• anesthesia and medical advancements
• telephone
• electric light
• radio and television
• the development of planes, trains, and automobiles
• movable type
• telescopes and astronomical discoveries

Imagine that all of those things have happened in a day. Imagine a single day filled with all those developments. That's how it is with God. God isn't slow about the promise but is patient with us. And in the meantime, we continue to wait for the day of the Lord. 

Luke 14.25-33: Part and Parthenon

Oops. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? (Luke 14:28) Oh, I'm sure we'll get enough money to complete it. We should go on and start...the remaining funds will surely come in.

That's probably close to the conversation that happened in Edinburgh in the early 1820s. In 1822 a group of Edinburgh citizens determined to build a monument to honor the Scots killed during the Napoleonic Wars. They chose to construct an exact copy of the Parthenon. Their monument would stand on the "acroplis" of Edinburgh as the Parthenon stands on Athens' Acropolis.

The estimated cost was £42,000. When construction began £24,000 had been raised. Surely the rest of it would come in. The plan for for each stone to be an exact match to the paired stone from the ancient building. Measurements were exactly the same for every stone. A foundation was built, and twelve columns were stacked.

National Monument of Scotland. Begun 1822. Edinburgh, Scotland.

But the money never came in. Construction was halted in just a couple of years. The monument remains unfinished. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' (Luke 14:28-30) [And lest you think I am singling out Edinburgh - one of my favorite cities on earth...this is far from the only example. See the Presidents Park and the Siena Cathedral for two of many.]

These projects should make us think, though, about the cost of following Jesus. Have you "counted all the funds needed" for your discipleship? Are you willing to toss your life, your livelihood, your family into the pot? Maybe just your livelihood. Maybe just your family. Maybe you've only got enough for a foundation or twelve columns. If you haven't acquired all the "capital" needed for discipleship, you can't be a disciple, Jesus says. Part of the Parthenon won't do.

For thoughts about Psalm 139, see Art&Faith Matters on Facebook.
For thoughts about Jeremiah 18:1-11, click here.

Reign of Christ: On Earth as In Heaven

My kingdom is not of this world. So says Jesus to Pilate (John 18:36). But we pray, Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Perhaps the core of what we know is that although Christ's kingdom is not of this world, having it in this world would transform this world. Living in that tension has offered opportunities for Christ's church to consider what that world would look like in this world.

"The church is not a building...the church is the people." So goes the children's song. However, in times past, the church building was as much intentional theological statement as building. The structure was designed to tell about the God who was worshipped there. I suppose the same is true today, though with perhaps less intention. Two particular ecclesiastical architectural traditions speak to Christ's kingdom on earth and in heaven.

Early Roman churches were often a basilica style. Basilica churches were rectangular, like the Roman civic building on which they were based. Basilicas were places where court cases were heard, where markets were held, and where meetings took place. At the east end of the basilica was an apse where Christian churches located the altar. The root of the Latin word basilica is the Ancient Greek βᾰσῐλῐκή (basilikḗ), from βᾰσῐλῐκὴ στοά (basilikḕ stoá, royal hall). One step further back linguistically is βασιλικός (basilikós, royal), from βασιλεύς (basileús, king, chief). By its very name, the basilica acknowledges that this place is related to some kind of kingdom.

A second, perhaps broader, understanding comes from the Orthodox tradition, whose buildings are designed to be the New Jerusalem. When a worshipper enters an Orthodox church it is to be as if entering heaven. Light enters from (usually) high windows, reflecting off gold in mosaics and icons, bouncing around the space and filling it with a golden glow. Thick, heavy walls are showered with rays of  light. In its most simple form, the church represents the idea of heaven and earth together.

(Top) Hagia Sophia. 532-537. Istanbul, Turkey.  (Bottom) S. Apollinare in Classe. Consecrated 549. Ravenna, Italy.

The basilica's single axis (usually east-west) allowed for a processional approach to the altar. The faithful moved along the life of faith toward the ultimate goal of heaven (symbolized by the altar under the domed apse) on this single axis. Orthodox churches offered multiple axes by combining the rectangular aspect of the basilica with the dome of the apse. Church builders shortened the basilica from a rectangle to a square to symbolize earth (think about phrases like "the four corners of the earth). This square form was crowned with a round dome, symbolizing heaven (think about the upside down bowl of the firmament). Heaven and earth merge in these worship spaces, giving the opportunity for worship to happen on earth as it is in heaven.

What does your worship space say about the kingdom of God?

For additional thoughts on the Reign of Christ, click here, here, or here.
This week on Art&Faith Matters' Facebook page, illustrations of "Thy kingdom come."

23:4

The gospel reading for Proper 26A(31A)/Pentecost 22A is Jesus' teaching, both to his disciples and to the crowd. The passage (Matthew 23:1-12) is filled with images that contrast what people of faith say and what they do. And that lack of consistency makes them bad role models, Jesus reminds his hearers. Wearing t-shirts with religious messages or listening to the radio station that plays religious music doesn't matter if by their actions they are unwilling to help their neighbor. In verse 4 the behavior is given specificity: They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.

Architecturally, the figure who bears weight is called a caryatid (if a female figure) or a telamon (if a male figure). These figures are also called atlas, atlantes or atlantids (referring to the mythological figure of Atlas who carries the weight of the sky on his shoulders). Visually these figures bear the weight of whatever architectural element is above them. The most famous caryatids are those on the Erectheum on Athens' acropolis. Vitruvius, the Roman architectural writer, helped coin the name caryatids, saying that the figures represented the women of Caryae. According to Vitruvius, when the Persians invaded Greece in the 5th century BCE, the town of Caryae sided with the Persians. When the Persians were defeated, the women of Caryae were forced to carry heavy burdens for the victors. These stone women, eternally bearing the weight of the porch entablature are the symbolic descendants of the women of Caryae. Though Vitruvius' account is less widely accepted as truth today, it shaped the history of meaning of this architectural form.

Caryatids on the Erectheum. Athens, Greece. http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=973

So when Auguste Rodin begins sculpting in the nineteenth century, the story of the caryatid is of a female form carrying a heavy burden. Though these are free-standing sculptures, a smaller version is part of Rodin's Gates of Hell. This crouching figure gradually acquired the descriptive title of "Fallen Caryatid". 

Left: Rodin. Fallen Caryatid Carrying Her Stone. Modeled 1881, cast 1981. 

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/207511

Right: Rodin. Fallen Caryatid Carrying an Urn. Modeled 1883, cast 1981.

 https://metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/ 207510 

German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, in his volume on Rodin wrote about the caryatid:

The Caryatid is no more the erect figure that bears lightly or unyieldingly the heaviness of the marble. A woman's form kneels crouching as though bent by the burden the weight of which sinks with a continuous pressure into all the figure's limbs. Upon every smallest part of this body the whole stone lies like the insistence of a will that is greater older and more powerful a pressure which it is the fate of this body to continue to endure. The figure bears its burden as we bear the impossible in dreams from which we can find no escape. Even the sinking together of the failing figure expresses this pressure and when a greater weariness forces the body down to a lying posture it will even then still be under the pressure of this weight bearing it without end. Such is the "Caryatid." (Rainer Maria Rilke, Auguste Rodin, 1919, p. 52) 

They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others. And sometimes the burden is just too much to bear. If we want to be other than the people Jesus condemns, we should probably be working on ways to help carry someone else's burden rather than forcing other people to carry burdens of our making.

For thoughts on the reading from Hebrew scripture (Joshua3:7-17) for this week in the lectionary, click here.

This week on Facebook, Art&Faith Matters considers the concluding verse of the gospel reading. Click on the Facebook link (on the blog page) below.

Proverbs 8.1-4, 22-31: Holy Wisdom

By Trinity Sunday, Christ has ascended and the Holy Spirit has descended. The disciples have preached and thousands have been baptized. And with Trinity C's reading from Hebrew scripture (Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31) we find ourselves back at the beginning. The very beginning. Creation. At the beginning, God drew a circle on the face of the deep, and Wisdom was there.

The structure pictured here is Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. It is now a museum. Before that it was a mosque. But at its construction it was a Christian church. Hagia Sophia. Which is not a reference to St. Sophia. The official name is Ναός τῆς Ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Σοφίας, Naos tēs Hagias tou Theou Sophias, "Shrine of the Holy Wisdom of God."

The Wisdom tradition in Hebrew scripture explores the idea of wisdom: who is wise, what it means to be wise. When writing to the Corinthians, Paul refers to Jesus Christ as the wisdom of God (I Corinthians 1:24). The church of Holy Wisdom (sophia) honors Jesus as divine wisdom. In the Divine Liturgy, the Gospel Book is brought into the center of worship and lifted up by the priest as he exclaims, "Wisdom!" The people reply, "Come, let us worship and bow before Christ." Christ is the wisdom.

One of the mosaics in Hagia Sophia (left, bottom) shows Byzantine emperor Leo VI (called "the Wise") bowing before an enthroned Christ. The mosaic is located in the tympanum over the Imperial Door in Hagia Sophia - the door used only by the emperor. On the left of Christ is his mother Mary, the Theotokos. On the eve of feasts of the Theotokos, one of the traditional readings is Proverbs 9:11. (see more about this on Art&Faith Matters' Facebook page), which ties Mary to Wisdom. In the mosaic to the right of Jesus is an angelic figure. The figure is identified sometimes as the archangel Gabriel, sometimes as the Angel of Great Counsel. "Angel of Great Counsel" (alternatively "Messenger of Great Counsel") is how the Septuagint translates the phrase in Isaiah 9:6, which the NRSV translates as "Wonderful Counselor." Christians read that verse during Advent with its reference to a child who has been born for us and a son who has been given to us. Again, Christ is associated with wisdom - great counsel.

The current structure, which is neither the first on the site nor the first called Hagia Sophia, was built between 532 and 537. Justinian I, Byzantine emperor, charged Isidore and Anthemius with the design and construction of the building, which features a dome that rises 180 feet above the floor. The dome rests on four piers, which transfers the weight of the dome through a series of smaller outer domes. The cathedral was the first great work of Byzantine architecture. For more about the church, see: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/istanbul-hagia-sophia

In verse 30 of Proverbs 8, the Hebrew word אָ֫מ֥וֹן is variously translated. One approach relates that word to the noun אומן, which means artisan or architect. In that translation, Wisdom is the architect at God's side as the earth is being created. Holy Wisdom is the architect. Holy Wisdom is also the architecture.

For thoughts on Trinity Sunday, click here.

Mark 7.1-23: Inside and Out

This week's gospel lesson is one in a collection of episodes where scripture draws a comparison and distinction between what is inside and what is outside a person. David is chosen over his brothers because God looks on the heart. The tax collector's prayer is praised over the Pharisee. Mark 7:1-23, the gospel reading for Proper 17B/Ordinary 22B/Pentecost 14, is the occasion for Jesus to draw a comparison between legal washing requirements and what makes a person clean: the things that come out are the things that defile.

The contrast between inside and out can be seen in many ways. In the organic earthiness of a tulip bulb is the ethereal balance of the flower. Who could imagine that the stony roughness of a geode's exterior would give way to the light refracting crystals on its inside.

Some Christian church buildings offer the lesson of not judging a book by its cover...or a worship space by its exterior. The church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, offers insight through the contrast of interior and exterior.

Church of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy. Groundbreaking 527; consecrated 547; completed 548.

The exterior of the building is rough, largely unadorned brick. Neutral in color, the bricks are laid in some ornamental ways around the windows and doors. The overall effect, though, is not especially impressive. Massive in volume, the building seems to have grown through small eruptions on the exterior. 

Who could predict that inside the building is an architectural geode? Gold mosaics adorn almost every surface. Arches with columns punctuate the building. Light shines in from the windows piercing the walls. Emperors, attendants, angels, Jesus and more look down from walls, ceilings and domes.

The exterior of the building symbolizes the world, while the building's interior represents heaven. Inside. Outside. Physical world. Spiritual world. It's what's on the inside that sets the stage for the people's relationship with God. That's what Jesus was saying.





Walt Disney World? Yep, Epcot specifically. Hear one reader's response to this post on the Art&Faith Matters Facebook page.

For thoughts on Song of Solomon 2:8-13, click here.

I Kings 8: Praying for the Church

Solomon's dedicatory prayer for the Temple (I Kings 8) is the reading from Hebrew scripture for Proper 16B/Ordinary 21B/Pentecost 13. It is a prayer that reminded the first hearers - and us - that God is present with us. The conversation about a house for God has been going on since David spoke aloud the wish to build God a house. David was told that God would make him, David, a "house" but that not David, but rather his son, would be the one to build God a house. That has happened in the construction of "Solomon's" Temple.

Here Solomon prays that God's presence will fill the temple and that the people will know that God is with them and will hear them (and the foreigners living among them) when they pray. The building is a sign of the presence; it does not contain - or restrain - that presence according to the text. But even as "only" a sign it is a reminder to the people of God...then and now.

 It is appropriate, then, that subsequent houses of worship would employ this moment in scripture as a touchstone for their own houses of worship. The builders of the cathedral in Amiens, France (1220-1240), included several scenes from the life of Solomon in the quatrefoil designs on the cathedral's exterior walls. At left, the four scenes are Solomon eating (upper left), Solomon on his throne (upper right), Solomon and Sheba (lower left) and Solomon praying at the dedication of the Temple (lower right and bottom detail).

The composition of the dedicatory prayer segment is interesting in several ways. It differs from scripture, which identifies Solomon as standing before the altar. Here Solomon kneels outside the temple. He kneels on a column that bridges the gap between one corner of the quatrefoil and the entrance porch of the temple. This allows him to have his knees on a level with the floor of the Temple. The shape of the quatrefoil also drives the design of the king's bowed head.

Solomon's "Temple" bears more resemblance to a medieval cathedral than to the description in scripture, and Solomon is attired more like a European king than anything else. Neither of these things is surprising. But in the artist's transference from the Middle East to medieval Europe, we are reminded that all the faithful people would be well-served to remember the attitude of prayer by Israel's leader. Often, I think, we pray when we are in our congregational buildings. We offer prayers of intercession and thanksgiving, petition and praise for the people of the world. But it might be beneficial from time to time to stand outside our buildings and pray as Solomon is praying in the Amiens interpretation. Pray that the people remember and turn.

For thoughts on John 6:56-69, click here.

Mark 1.21-28: Conveying Authority

The people in the synagogue at Capernaum were amazed at the authority with which Jesus taught (Mark 1:21-28, Epiphany 4B). They never quantify that authority, never describe exactly what Jesus had that other teachers hadn't had, but they knew authority when they heard and saw it.

Discussion continues to swirl around the concept of authority in the context of preaching. What is it? Do preachers claim it for themselves? Should preachers claim it? How should/do preachers claim it? Instead of claiming any authority, should preachers seek to be just like the hearers of their preaching? As with almost everything else in life, the seeking and shunning of authority ebbs and flows.

Two recognizable items offer a way to talk about authority as perceived, as claimed, as conferred. The first is the Geneva gown (also called a pulpit robe or preaching robe).

 

This garment is related to academic gowns and infers authority based on learning. Ministers who have earned a doctoral degree may put three bars on the sleeves of the gown. In its original black color, the robe represents dignity, solemnity and authority. The robe also serves to focus attention on the function and activity of the preacher rather than on his or her wardrobe choices or appearance.

A second silent conveyer of authority is the traditional pulpit. The earliest Christian churches did not have pulpits. The bishop preached from his cathedra (throne or chair) or from the altar steps. The ambo, a raised platform with steps on two sides, was developed for the reading of the gospel. The reader was accompanied by candle-bearers and book-bearers, so the steps were wide enough and the platform large enough to hold a crowd. The pulpit is a descendant of the ambo - both are raised platforms that give congregations greater ability to hear the spoken word. The implication of words spoken from a platform is that they are words worth hearing. This, combined with the assent of the hearers, confers authority on the one who is speaking.

The pulpit took an interesting "authority" turn in England, where in the eighteenth century, the preacher moved closer to heaven. The "triple-decker" pulpit has three distinct levels: the bottom level is the parish clerk's desk, the middle level is the lectern for leading the service and reading the gospel, the top level is reserved for preaching. Clearly the construction indicates that the sermon is the thing most worth hearing in the service. What sort of obligation is laid on the preacher who climbs those steps to deliver a sermon? How would it feel to be the preacher whose sermons are literally(!) put on a pedestal?

St. Stephen's Church, Fylingdales, Yorkshire, England. Built 1821. http://www.yorkshire.com/view/attractions/whitby/st-stephen-s-old-church-fylingdales-1001935

Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, Chichester, West Sussex, England. Built 1812.

http://www.stjohnschapelchichester.co.uk/

Individuals, congregations and traditions grant varying degrees of authority to preachers and preaching. Individual preachers claim or refuse authority based on individual understandings. But sometimes a custom sneaks up on us and speaks of authority whether we are aware of it or not.


Is this a gesture that indicates authority? Take a look at the Art&Faith Matters Facebook page to find out more.

For thoughts on the Deuteronomy reading for Epiphany 4B, click here.

Commandments on the Wall

The idea of displaying the words of the Decalogue on a wall is not a new idea. Those ten words have been kept before the faithful for centuries. Here are two examples of Exodus 20 used as wall decoration. As it happens, both are in churches, but the use of the Commandments is distinctly different in each painting. One work is a 17th-century Dutch painting, the other is an 18th-century English engraving. Both help us understand how the Christian church has seen and used the words brought down from Sinai.

William Hogarth created a set of paintings, later turned into engravings for wider distribution, on the theme of "The Rake's Progress." The series follows the "progress" of a young man who inherits and squanders a fortune, losing his way in the process. The fifth scene is "The Marriage". Having lost his fortune and been bailed out of jail, the young man makes an economically advantageous marriage. Even as he is "plighting his troth" to his bride, he is casting his eyes on the young woman who is attending her. In the lower left corner, two dogs echo the pose of the bride and groom.

William Hogarth. The Rake Marrying an Old Woman. Plate 5 from "A Rake's Progress." 1735.

Etching and engraving on paper. London: Tate. T01792. 

The tablets containing the Decalogue are on the wall behind the minister. Look closely, and you'll see that even before the marriage ceremony is completed, the commandments are broken. Only one tablet, containing commandments 6-10, is visible in the print. The crack runs near the 10th commandment which reads: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.  

Many of the same elements are used in Pieter Saenredam's painting of the interior of the Buurkerk in Utrecht. Again two tablets containing the words of the commandments are hung on the wall of a church sanctuary. The large plaque seems to echo the Protestant emphasis on word rather than image. In an interesting artistic choice, though, the actual words on the plaque are unintelligible. Looking closely at the painting, one will only see paint. Here, the tablets, topped by a sculptural portrait bust of Moses (interesting in light of the prohibition of images in the second commandment) serve as a backdrop to two young men. One of the young men is putting graffiti on the wall. He is illustrating a chivalric tale about four brothers and a magic horse. The other is, if not teaching, at least reviewing tricks taught to his dog.  

Pieter Saenredam. The Interior of the Buurkerk at Utrecht. 1644. Oil on oak. London: National Gallery. NG1896.

The dog, shown sitting up on its back legs in a position of receptivity faces the commandments, while his master's back is to the ten rules. This position is indeed meant to underscore the idea of learning, and in Dutch art, the dog symbolizes leerzugtigheid (Christian aptitude). This painting, then, comments on instructing the faithful, and perhaps specifically children, under the watchful eye of the Ten Commandments.

Two works of art. Two ways to think about the ten commandments in the life of the church.

As a historical note: Neither of the church buildings shown in these works is home to a worshiping community in 2014. The Marylebone church depicted by Hogarth was destroyed in 1740. There is still a church by that name in London. The Buurkerk in Utrecht is now the home of the Museum Speelkiok (http://www.museumspeelklok.nl/?Language=en).

For Hogarth, see: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hogarth-a-rakes-progress-plate-5-t01792
For Saenredam, see: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/pieter-saenredam-the-interior-of-the-buurkerk-at-utrecht

For thoughts on the epistle reading for Proper 22(27)A [Philippians 3:4b-14], click here.

Post and Lintel

They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel

of the houses in which they eat it. -Exodus 12:7

Most children with building blocks will build a post and lintel system. Two blocks stand vertically (posts), and a third block is placed horizontally across them (lintel). Post and lintel is the engineering of Stonehenge on a scale much larger than children's building blocks.

In addition to the instruction to paint with the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts of a house, Deuteronomy 6:9 and Deuteronomy 11:20 direct that certain words of God should be on the doorposts of homes. The word mezuzah actually means doorpost, but the word has come to mean the doorpost and the container that is attached to it. In the container is a piece of parchment on which are written the words of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Deuteronomy 11:13-21. On the back of the parchment is the word shaddai. Shaddai is one of the mystical names for the Almighty and is also an acronym for Shomer Daltot Yisrael, Guardian of the Gates of Israel.

Doorways are places that are "in between". Standing in a doorway one is neither fully in nor fully out. Inside the house is the familiar. Outside the house is the stranger. Inside is "us"; outside is "them". Anything posted on a doorpost sends a message to that "unfamiliar them". What have Christian church doorways looked like? What is the message that our church building doorways send to the world? What have we written on our own doorposts and lintels?

This week on Art&Faith Matters' Facebook page you'll see links to contemporary artists' interpretations of the seder plate. Click on Art&Faith Matters on Facebook.

Joseph, His Brothers (and Tissot) in Egypt

God meant it for good. That's what Joseph tells his brothers in Egypt. They came by different routes, of course, and set off on the journey from different impulses. Joseph has traveled there with the caravan of traders to whom his brothers sold him. The brothers have traveled to Egypt at the direction of their father in hopes of buying grain. The Bible says it's Egypt, but artists have, at times, seemed unable to help themselves. Their "Egypt" looks remarkably like France or Flanders or a Greco-Roman temple. For those artists, every Biblical subject was painted in their own time, using their own architecture and their own clothing styles.

At the other end of the spectrum is French artist Jacques Joseph Tissot (1836-1902). Tissot traveled to the Near East several times between 1877 and 1902, when his energy was consumed with paintings for, first, a Life of Christ and then with illustrating the Hebrew Bible. Criticized as being "too photographic", Tissot did indeed photograph settings, buildings and landscapes, documenting the places and details he would need when he was back in his studio painting.

For the painting, see: http://thejewishmuseum.org/collection/26324-joseph-and-his-brethren-welcomed-by-pharaoh

While his work is by no means fully authentic, elements of Tissot's paintings can be identified with places in Egypt. In "Joseph and His Brothers Welcomed by Pharaoh" (above, right), the clerestory windows in the painting are direct quotations from the Karnak Hypostyle Hall in the Karnak temple complex (above, left).

The Jewish Museum, NYC, has a collection of Tissot paintings, including his version of the episode where Joseph announces his identity to his brothers. Under Tissot's brush, Egypt is vividly colored and patterned, distinctly different from the more subdued garments worn by Joseph's brothers. No doubt the brothers felt somewhat out of place even before Joseph makes the grand gesture in this painting. Though the architectural setting has not been specifically identified, the repetition of columns, windows and panels provides a geometric background for the organic forms of Jacob's sons. 

http://thejewishmuseum.org/collection/26323-joseph-maketh-himself-known-to-his-brethren

The columns seem more slender than most Egyptian columns (refer to the drawing above), but they echo the rather willowy figure of Joseph whose brothers do, in this moment, bow down to him as he dreamed long ago.

For a surprising expression of Egypt in church architecture, see the Art&Faith Matters Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/artfaithmatters

Shrines Built by Human Hands

Easter 6A includes the Acts account of Paul's visit to the Areopagus and his conversation about the altar to an unknown God. In Athens, a city of marble temples whose designs we still use today, Paul announces in his speech that the God who made the world and everything in it, who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands. That statement was probably quite remarkable to the people of Athens, because their gods, they believed, did live in the classical temples they had made.

In fact, these classical temples were mostly for the divinity's residence. Classical Greek temples like the Parthenon (the "restored" replica in Nashville, TN, is shown below, left) were confusing from the outside. Note there is no clear "front" - the columns and three steps are the same on all sides. The door to the interior is hidden under the eaves of the building and behind the forest of columns. If followers couldn't find their way in, no worries. They weren't really invited. The attendants - priests, priestesses, etc. - took care of the god without having a lot of people around.

Roman builders adapted the typical Greek design. Where the Greeks had access on all four sides of the building, Roman architects directed all people to the single entrance. In the Maison Carree (in Nimes, France, shown below, center) stairs are found only on one side of the building, and even that single set of steps is flanked by huge podia, further controlling public access to the temple.

So which do you think is the style that appealed to Christians when they began to build their own buildings? Greek? Roman? Interestingly, they chose neither the Greek temple nor the Romans' interpretation of it. Instead they chose to use the basilica as the basis for their religious buildings. The basilica was a civic building, rectangular in shape, usually with a curved apse at one end. The basilica was used for public assemblies and as a court of law. Above, right, is the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe (Ravenna, Italy), which in its original form - disregard the bell tower - was a basilica plan.

In light of Paul's speech to the people of Athens it makes sense that those Christians rejected plans for temples to house gods and instead based their church buildings on a plan that was more about the work of the people.