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Which Church has the best artwork?

Flat Earth Kyle

Well-Known Member
Is it just me or do the Latter-day Saints have the best artwork?

behold+your+little+ones.jpg
 
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Shiranui117

Pronounced Shee-ra-noo-ee
Premium Member
The Orthodox INVENTED Christian art. ;) They're filled with teaching, and have both educated and inspired at least a billion Orthodox Christians over the years--and the non-Orthodox as well!

cst07.jpg


129_229-theotokos-de-vladimir.jpg

^Vladimir Theotokos, written hundreds of years ago.

152900215_b6fcf9bf2c.jpg

^Just one small part of the New Gracanica Monastery here in the US.. ;)
 

sojourner

Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
The two traditions present an entirely different impetus. From what I see here, Mormon artwork is geared toward an emotional appeal, and presents Jesus in a specific theological framework, through a more cataphatic approach as to who Jesus is. Orthodox artwork, OTOH, is geared toward a contemplative appeal, and presents Jesus in a broader theological framework, from a more apophatic approach as to the nature of God.
 

dyanaprajna2011

Dharmapala
I've always been partial to Eastern Orthodox iconography. As far as a comparison between the EO and LDS goes, the LDS is much more down-to-earth, so to speak, while the EO is much more mystical and otherworldly.
 

ChristineES

Tiggerism
Premium Member
If I go by the artwork and I count people like Michelangelo and Leonardo, I would say the Catholic Church has some astounding artwork. :)
 

Yep!

Member
We as LDS are very symbolically driven in our theology. I believe that our artwork is more emotive than symbolic. The traditional/ancient Christian artists tended to create artwork with a large amount of symbolism and they appear to have most aspects very intentional. It is an odd comparative. I prefer the LDS artwork for the return to a simple view of Christ, a presentation of what I believe He was like while he walked the Earth. LDS artwork tends to be a reminder that while Christ is God, he is an intensely personal God. However, the traditional is wonderful as well in it's deeply symbolic nature.
 

ImmortalFlame

Woke gremlin
I prefer the LDS artwork for the return to a simple view of Christ, a presentation of what I believe He was like while he walked the Earth.

Then why does all of the LDS artwork presented in this thread depict Jesus as a handsome, well-groomed white guy?
 

ImmortalFlame

Woke gremlin
I don't think that really matters. ;)

It doesn't make you at all uncomfortable that any Christian institution would routinely depict Jesus - a poor carpenter born in Judea two-thousand years ago - as looking like a contemporary, attractive and extraordinarily white guy? I get that "it's the message that counts", but if that's true, why the change in the first place? We know Jesus wasn't white, so why is it acceptable to depict him as such? If people don't care, why not depict him as looking like he most likely did? And why would they choose, instead, to depict him as white?

Am I the only person who still finds this weird, and kind of racist?
 

ChristineES

Tiggerism
Premium Member
It doesn't make you at all uncomfortable that any Christian institution would routinely depict Jesus - a poor carpenter born in Judea two-thousand years ago - as looking like a contemporary, attractive and extraordinarily white guy? I get that "it's the message that counts", but if that's true, why the change in the first place? We know Jesus wasn't white, so why is it acceptable to depict him as such? If people don't care, why not depict him as looking like he most likely did? And why would they choose, instead, to depict him as white?

Am I the only person who still finds this weird, and kind of racist?

I wouldn't say racist- people throw out the race card too much nowadays. People have been showing Jesus like that for 2,000 years, it's nothing new. We all know by now that Jesus didn't look like that. People tend to draw Jesus in ways that looks like themselves- like Michelangelo painted him and carved him to look Italian. ;)
 

dust1n

Zindīq
It doesn't make you at all uncomfortable that any Christian institution would routinely depict Jesus - a poor carpenter born in Judea two-thousand years ago - as looking like a contemporary, attractive and extraordinarily white guy? I get that "it's the message that counts", but if that's true, why the change in the first place? We know Jesus wasn't white, so why is it acceptable to depict him as such? If people don't care, why not depict him as looking like he most likely did? And why would they choose, instead, to depict him as white?

Am I the only person who still finds this weird, and kind of racist?

I like the Rasta depiction.

Blackjesus05.jpg
 

ImmortalFlame

Woke gremlin
I wouldn't say racist- people throw out the race card too much nowadays. People have been showing Jesus like that for 2,000 years, it's nothing new.
So that makes it okay?

We all know by now that Jesus didn't look like that. People tend to draw Jesus in ways that looks like themselves- like Michelangelo painted him and carved him to look Italian. ;)
And that's just as bad, too.

I'm sorry, but this is an aspect of Christian iconography I've always had a massive issue with. Do you honestly see nothing wrong whatsoever with the Churches propagation of the image of their chosen savior as a clean-cut white guy when we know, for a fact, he was not? Do you not see any hint of racism in the act of white-washing a religious figure?

If I airbrushed a picture of Chuck Berry and started telling people he was a white guy, I'd expect to be immediately chastised. And yet it's okay for the Church to continue presenting an image of Jesus that doesn't remotely fit with reality? Again, I ask, why did the change occur in the first place? Is there any reason other than racism to depict Jesus as being white in popular imagery?

I like the Rasta depiction.

Blackjesus05.jpg
And lo, Simon did say unto Christ "rocking dreads, my lord!"
 
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sojourner

Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
I wouldn't say racist- people throw out the race card too much nowadays. People have been showing Jesus like that for 2,000 years, it's nothing new. We all know by now that Jesus didn't look like that. People tend to draw Jesus in ways that looks like themselves- like Michelangelo painted him and carved him to look Italian. ;)
I'm not sure "racist" is quite proper, although "egocentric" may be closer. The problem with depicting God (or Jesus) is that we tend to envision them in our own way. Alfred Burt's carol, Some Children See Him is apropos: "Some children see him lily white, the baby Jesus born this night...some children see him bronzed and brown, the Lord of heaven to earth come down," etc. I think that's why I cotton to the EO artwork the most; it's the least realist, so allows one to see through the work itself, to the idea behind the work. It becomes, not so much "this is what Jesus looks like," as it does, "this is who Jesus is."
 

dust1n

Zindīq
I'm not sure "racist" is quite proper, although "egocentric" may be closer. The problem with depicting God (or Jesus) is that we tend to envision them in our own way. Alfred Burt's carol, Some Children See Him is apropos: "Some children see him lily white, the baby Jesus born this night...some children see him bronzed and brown, the Lord of heaven to earth come down," etc. I think that's why I cotton to the EO artwork the most; it's the least realist, so allows one to see through the work itself, to the idea behind the work. It becomes, not so much "this is what Jesus looks like," as it does, "this is who Jesus is."

I agree. It's in virtually every culture Jesus has been altered to reflect those values to some extent.

Think of Germanic Christianity and how much Jesus almost looks more like a Viking God.

Stuttgart_Psalter_fol23.jpg


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