Church History to the Reformation

Transcription

1 Church History to the Reformation CH506 LESSON 18 of 24 Garth M. Rosell, PhD Experience: Professor of Church History and Director Emeritus, Ockenga Institute at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary This is lecture eighteen. Greetings once again in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And let me to invite you to join me once again in prayer as we begin our class together. Let us pray. Good and gracious Lord, we come to you once again asking that you would be with us, to guide us in our thinking, and our speaking together. Help us to say what would be honoring to your great name. For it s in that name we pray. Amen. Over the past few lectures, we have had opportunity to explore several aspects of Christian life and thought during the Middle Ages, that fascinating period of church history between the fall of Rome and the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. We have, for example, examined the rise of Monasticism and the emergence of Eastern Orthodoxy, the coming of the Crusades and the thought of the Mystic and Scholastics, the practice of evangelism and the concern of the church for missionary outreach. And along with these we have been exploring such themes as Christian discipleship. What does it mean to be a true follower of Jesus Christ? Of church/state relations how can these two entities live and work together? Of ministry what kinds of people should lead the church? Of war how should Christians relate to the military? Of Epistemology how can we come to genuinely know God? Of discipline how can we live consistently holy lives before God and our neighbors? All of these important areas and themes help to form the rich tapestry which we know as Medieval Christianity, but there s so much more. And today I want us to think together about the great Medieval heritage of beauty. The Middle Ages were a time of wonderful creativity in the arts, with the emergence of new schools of painting, sculpture, carving, and craft. Also, there was the development of new forms of music, and perhaps above all, the rise of the magnificent cathedrals. 1 of 13

2 As we begin our story, we want to go back again to the early fourth century with Constantine, the emperor who in so many ways helped to reshape the life of the church. Under his direction, a whole new era of church architecture began to emerge. The earliest Christians, as you will recall, worshiped in private homes, usually in the triclinium, that rectangular dining area in private houses. We see an evidence of that in Acts 20:7-12, for example, in Paul s ministry in Troas. As the centuries passed, new more elaborate forms of meeting places for Christians began to emerge. A good example of an early place of worship, which actually comes from 240 AD, was discovered by an archaeologist. It comes from Eastern Syria known as Dura-Europos. It was uncovered in the early 1930s. And here in this marvelous discovery we have some of the first securely dated Christian works of art in architecture. A number of pictures are on the walls. Above the baptismal, for example, you have pictures of Adam and Eve alongside of Christ as the Shepherd, the idea being the relationship between the old Adam and the new Adam or the first Adam and the last Adam, as we might find in 1 Corinthians 15:22. The theme was fulfillment in Christ, the Old Testament fulfilled in the Messiah. The building itself is quite fascinating. About twenty meters square we have the outside of the building, fairly normal. It wouldn t have stood out in the minds of any who passed by as being an unusual building, but as one entered the doorway, the structure inside would be clearly evident that this was a place for worship. Three major spaces, in addition to the central courtyard, there was the baptistry area, and then there was a classroom area for education, and then an area set aside for the celebration of the Eucharist. Those of you who might be exploring this more fully will be interested to look at Graydon F. Snyder s little book, Ante Pacem: Archaeological Evidence of Church Life Before Constantine, published by Mercer Press in 1985, and that talks in a number of different places about this fascinating discovery. Even when Christian places of worship began to develop in this pre-constantinian period, however, Christians were constantly wary that their church buildings would either be destroyed or taken from them under persecution. Remember, these were difficult times for Christian communities and they had good reason to be afraid. Lactantius records in one of his writings, The destruction of the church at Nicomedia in 304 AD, a swift and thorough destruction of a place 2 of 13

3 that Christians had set aside for worship of God. With the coming of Constantine, however, that fear was removed. Christians could now begin to build churches with no fear of losing them or having them appropriated for other purposes. Now the very best architects and artists were free to build, furnish, and adorn the churches, churches which began to spring up with great profusion throughout the empire. Many were built, as a matter of fact, with government funds under the authority of Constantine and his successors. Constantine himself authorized the construction of a series of very large church buildings in Rome, Aquileia, Constantinople, and especially in the sacred sites of the Holy Land. Constantine took a special interest, in fact, in building churches in his new capital of Constantinople, which was dedicated as the New Rome on May 11, 330 AD. You have a number of new churches, both authorized and under construction. Constantinople was a location of breathtaking natural beauty located on a peninsula overlooking the gentle slopes of the Asiatic Shore of the Bosphorus. It was not only a beautiful place, but it was located right on the main trade route between Europe and Asia. Furthermore, its site provided a kind of natural protection from attack from enemies and enabled the city to continue to protect itself against almost all comers for over 1000 years. Although sculpture was on the decline as an art form, the fourth century was marked by the spontaneous and creative efforts of woodworkers, Ivory carvers, painters, gold and silversmiths, artists working in mosaics. As a consequence, the fourth and fifth centuries became a period which is known as one of the greatest and most exciting artistic periods in the history of Christian art. Most of the art revolved around the central focus of the period; namely, architecture, and one can understand this with the need now for a growing Christian community, for new places to worship, and the freedom, in fact, to build those churches for the worship of God. We see some of this work in the Holy Land itself. Bethlehem s Church of the Nativity with its focal point the Grotto of the Nativity is a good example of some of Constantine s work. Those of you who have visited Bethlehem may remember this church. You enter it through the atrium and then find yourself in the nave with its four side aisles, two on each side. And up in the front is the Memoria, an octagonal structure where the birthplace of Jesus is believed to be. 3 of 13

4 Some who visit this church are struck by the enormous clutter of artistic work, of furnishings that are part of this Orthodox place of worship. It s difficult as a matter of fact when you go down to see the actual birthplace of Christ to imagine the stable that was originally there. But one needs to think back again over some of our earlier discussions of the nature of Eastern Orthodox faith and the purpose for all of that artwork and all of the furnishings of these churches. I think it s important, too, in visiting these kinds of places to try to use the imagination of what it must have been like in that early context when in that stable, that very simple place Christ was born, and the Word was made flesh. Now many of these sacred sites are sites also of churches and a good number of those were built by Constantine as a result of this renewed interest he had in the success and growth and development of the church. Jerusalem is another good case in point. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which was consecrated in 336 AD, is considered to be built on the site of Calvary. It probably historically has good reason to be built there, although there are some who debate the fact that there is site that fits the descriptions more adequately; namely, Gordon s Calvary, which is a distance away from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The intention, however, is to build a church right on top of that site of Calvary and, in fact, when you visit Jerusalem you can go to see both of those traditional sites for Calvary. And many Christians prefer to go to Gordon s Calvary because of its beauty and its natural simplicity. In Constantinople, the Church of the Holy Apostles illustrates the kind of interest that Constantine had in his own home area for the building of churches. It s cruciform or cross form in shape. St. John s the Evangelist Church in Ephesus, St. Menas Church near Alexandria follow this same basic structure and are built as a result of Constantine s interest in church architecture. Overall, however, in this Constantinian period, there is substantial diversity in church size and shape. Some were even octagonal, such as the Church of Theotokos in Samaria. By the sixth century, however, the cruciform/basilica shape had started to emerge as the dominate shape for church structures and, in fact, maintained that position all throughout the Middle Ages. Now what is the Christian Basilica shape? Well, it s essentially a rectangular building, almost always entered from the west with a semicircular apse at the east end of the building, opposite the main entrance. Internally it s divided along this east/west axis 4 of 13

5 into a nave which is the central hall where people gather for worship, and two side aisles usually, though sometimes there are four. The outer walls have no windows. Light comes in from a clerestory above the nave. This is a kind of indirect lighting of the day. Over the aisles and clerestory, the roof is pitched with a semi-dome over the apse. Between the apse and the main all is a transversed arch, often called the triumphal arch, giving the building it s cruciform shape or cross form shape. This became the typical church of the Middle Ages, and we find it all throughout the old Roman world. One of the crowning achievements of this form is the great Sancta Sophia, the church in Constantinople built by Justinian and his architects, and I ll come back to talk a little more about that in just a bit. Let me say a little about the art in the church. Many fourth and fifth century churches survive, or at least their remains survive, to this day, but very few still have their original decorations or furnishings. In North Africa, Egypt, Syria, etc. where Islam replaced Christianity as the dominant religion, most of the old churches simply fell into disuse and through theft or vandalism were destroyed. We are left to reconstruct much of the artistic world from literary fragments, sketches, occasional artifacts which remain. An exception to this rule, however, is in the Near East where a number of ancient churches remain remarkably intact. While much of the wall decoration has disappeared through the ravages of weather, beasts, and human folly, some, in fact, remains, including some wall and floor mosaics which were the art par excellence of the early and Medieval Church. I think most of you have seen mosaics at one time or other. Let me say a little bit about the floor mosaics. The first of the floor mosaics date way back to Freesia in the seventh century BC. This is a part of Central Turkey. These were basically black and white pebbles that were used in geometric patterns. By the fourth century BC, much more sophisticated floor mosaics were being produced in North Greece. The real breakthrough came, however, with artificially shaped stones which the artists could then lay more easily and with greater aesthetic affect. These small cubes were called tesserae. They were made of stone, marble, or even glass with a wide color variance allowing the artist to do a variety of things in reconstructing their artwork. The mosaic pictures which they created with the tesserae were called Emblemata. These were usually placed in the center of a room, outlined in white, and they looked very much like an oriental carpet looks in our homes today and they were to serve 5 of 13

6 exactly the same decorative purpose. An interesting example of Christian floor mosaics was uncovered in 1963 at Hinton St. Mary in Dorchester, and this comes from the late fourth century. At the center of this beautiful, elaborate mosaic is a picture of Christ s head and we know clearly that it s Christ depicted there because behind that head is the famous chi rho, the first two letters from the Greek name of Christ, Christos, so that this is a picture to depict the Lord and it s intriguing that it should show up in that kind of form at that central point within this floor mosaic. On the floor of the church in Mopsuestia there s a scene of Noah s Ark surrounded by all kinds of animals which comes from the fifth century. This gives an indication of some of the other decorative artwork within the worship centers for the Christians. Floor mosaics, of course, had to be durable. They also had to be flat since so many people walked over them. The wall mosaics were not restricted by those kinds of qualifications and the emphasis was not so much on durability as on light, color, potential for reflection, and the like. So we find much more colored glass with bright reds, blues, greens, and yellows on the walls of these mosaic decorations. The materials also didn t need to be smooth, as on floors. So angles and shapes could be more varied and artists could seek to catch the light of the clerestory or even try to simulate the texture of what he was portraying. Much more variety allowed then in the wall mosaics. An early example of a wall mosaic is in the apse of the Church of Santa Pudenziana in Rome built in the late fourth century. It s a scene of Christ enthroned among His apostles. In the background is this marvelous depiction of Jerusalem, and those of you who have been in Jerusalem will be able if you look at that to determine the kinds of buildings which he s identifying. Included are Peter and Paul, included also in the picture are the four evangelists, the writers of the Gospels, and then two interesting veiled women who are symbols of the Church of the Gentiles and the Church of the Jews. It s always been intriguing to me that along with Peter and Paul, you should have these two symbolic representations of the two great wings of the church about which we spoke in earlier lectures, especially since Peter came to be known as the great head of the Jewish mission; whereas, Paul came to be known as the great head of the Gentile mission, and here they are depicted in this late fourth century mosaic from the walls of this church in Rome. 6 of 13

7 What about painting? Well, very little survives from the fourth and fifth centuries of Christian painting. The reason, of course, is that it s usually done on plaster, and plaster has tended to disintegrate under the passage of time and the ravages of nature. Especially important then are the paintings of the little chapel in El Bagawat in Egypt which come from the fifth century. There we have a number of fascinating paintings on the wall: a scene of the Exodus; you also have the seven wise virgins, and you ll remember that story from the Bible. They are depicted there in that painted form like a little row of penguins, each one just like the others with lamps in their hands. Other biblical scenes are portrayed as well. What about sculpture? Well separate sculptured figures are very rare anywhere in early Christianity, perhaps because of the prohibitions against idolatry. But there are relief sculptures as they are called, they aren t full rounded figures, but they are carved figures in stone or wood or some other medium. We especially find these on the lids of boxes of graves called friezes. These became very popular in the fourth century. This high relief carving often included very clear biblical scenes, especially from Christ s life. And you can actually read through the carvings to retell that biblical story. The frieze of the baptized Christian Junius Bassus in Rome who died in 359 includes actually ten separate scenes from the Bible the temptation of Adam and Eve, Christ s blessing of the little children, and so on. They are every easy to recognize in that beautiful carved form. We don t have very much of the woodcarving of the day in hand today because wood has tended to disintegrate over the years. Ivory, which is much more durable, has survived in considerable quantity, however. Most of this ivory being brought from India and Africa, and we have a lot of examples of little decorated boxes, ivory boxes, for use in household chores and tasks. A number of these can be found at the British museum if you ever are visiting London. You ll see on those carved pictures of Christ s passion, the carrying of the cross, women at the empty tomb, and so on. These date back into the fourth and fifth centuries AD. A great deal of work was being done in metal and jewelry as well. Many of the simple early church furnishings such as the lamps were made of bronze. Clay, of course, was still the dominant medium for lamps, but we have a number of existing bronze lamps from these early years. One from Florence, for example, is shaped like a little boat and in it are Peter and Christ, and you 7 of 13

8 can almost imagine what the artist was thinking as that was developed. Chalices and reliquaries (reliquaries are little boxes for the relics of saints where their holy objects are kept and stored) were made of costlier metals oftentimes silver and other costly metals decorated sometimes with jewels. An example of this is the famous silver chalice called the Antioch Chalice, which is now housed in a museum in New York. It has breathtaking beauty for any who have a chance to see it. It comes from the late fourth century and from Syria. We also have many examples of gold rings, sometimes marriage rings usually made in pairs so that they are the same one given to the husband and the other to the wife at the marriage ceremony. And on these rings you can often find the bust of the husband and wife facing each other; behind them is the symbol of the cross indicating that this is a Christian marriage. Some women, in fact, wore gold or silver crosses around their necks and some of these are beautifully designed with little jewels attached to them. The golden age of Byzantium art during the sixth century came with the reign of the great emperor, Justinian, and his wife Theodora. His administration covered the year from AD. Although he placed enormous tax burdens on the people, he also was a great patron of the arts. His crowning achievement, as I mentioned just a bit ago, was the great church of Constantinople, Sanctus Sophia, which was dedicated on Christmas Day of 537 AD. It survives right down to our own day. It s a huge church, architecturally brilliant, and when it was open, Justinian gave thanks to God that he had been able to create something which even surpassed the glory of Solomon s temple. A rather large boast, but it indicates in part the grandeur of this building. Gold lamps illuminated the church. Some of its furniture was plated with silver. So grand was it in fact that early visitors, many of them, considered that the dome was the very vault of heaven, the dwelling place of God. Another of Justinian s masterpieces is the Monastery of St. Catherine at the foot of Mt. Sinai nearly a 1000 miles away from Constantinople, the traditional site of the burning bush. It contains, because it s located in this dry desert atmosphere, the original carved roof beams, carved back in the fifth century, and some marvelous mosaics, again reflecting the biblical stories. 8 of 13

9 Constantinople, however, became the artistic center of the world at that time with mosaics, metal work, painting the beauty and power of all of this is well worth time in exploring and reading and thinking and viewing. The crowning achievement, however, of Medieval art is clearly the cathedral, and along with the cathedral the marvelous stained glass which filled its windows. The cathedrals are really the supreme expression of art in this period and reflect a marvelous diversity. While they share certain affinities, no two cathedrals are really alike. Over the years I have come to have a deep respect and growing appreciation for the cathedrals of Europe and England. I ve found myself drawn again and again to them like a kind of magnet. I mentioned a bit of that love earlier on when we were talking about the great Seventh Ecumenical Council and the Iconoclastic Controversy. Let me round that out a little more fully now in terms of the artistic expression of the cathedrals in this day. In a sense, these cathedrals combine invisible form the theological strands of Medieval Christianity tying together, for example, the great harmony and systematic beauty of the Scholastics and Scholasticism. You can remember back to our discussion of that area, and along with that the quest for divine fellowship with God, which is part of the great Mystic tradition. Here you have then in architectural form the linkage between the Mystic s union and the Scholastic s harmony. For the Medieval persons, space was a kind of symbol of God and we see that in the structures of the cathedrals. It was a mystical expression with the very archways of the buildings pointing toward that Mystic union with God and the return to life in one s day-to-day activities. The Romanesque Arch leads one up to God and then back to one s daily activities and then up to God once again. We see that also in the Gothic Arch in more pointed fashion moving toward God and then moving back down to daily activities. Here expressed in architectural form in a variety of ways is that deep commitment to the Medieval Mystic pattern. We see this also in the great stained-glass windows. Stained-glass windows, you see, tell stories. They have great pedagogical purpose within the Middle Ages, as I ve indicated before, in a time when very few people could read or had access to books. Cathedrals became the great storyteller of the faith. One of the great cathedrals of Europe is the Cathedral of Chartres in France. If you look at one small section of that series of windows that are absolutely magnificent in that cathedral, you ll see a simple story that illustrates the kinds of things that I m pointing to. It s a story of a Roman general, Placidas, and his conversion 9 of 13

10 to Christianity and his involvement then in ministry. You always read these stained-glass windows in particular panels from the bottom left up to the top and then over to the right and then down to the bottom again. The middle panel often gives the theme. Here in this window you have this Roman general pictured in the center hunting a stag, and you have him along with his helpers, his huntsmen and his hounds. As you move up the left side of that panel, to the top left, you see the stag picture and between the antlers is this great cross, the Christian cross, which much like Constantine had experienced, was a life-changing experience for this Roman general. He became a Christian, convinced by the miracle that he saw and then you see over on the right top panel this Placidas being rebaptized, taking the name of Eustis, and then in the bottom sections involved now in his Christian life. So you have in this very simple little section of the window, the story of one who came to faith, paralleling a lot of biblical stories that we know more. Up above this window, this little section that I ve been describing, is a picture actually in the window itself of the one who contributed funds to build the window. That was very often found within the windows of these cathedrals as well. The glass of the windows are great chunks. They aren t smooth or carefully worked. They are to catch light in different ways, with different depths. The coloration is a real art. They are design full-scale on paper, pieces of glass are cut, placed on the paper, it s leaded, and then they are mounted. And those of you who ve had a chance to visit the great cathedrals of Europe will remember how powerful those windows can be in communicating both the message of the faith, as well as the sense of grandeur of God and God s creative work here in the world. The distinguishing marks of a cathedral, of course, are fairly straightforward. A cathedral is that place which contains the throne of a bishop. The derivation from the original Greek and then picked up by the Latin is the term cathedra, which means a chair or a throne. This gave rise later to ex cathedra in the nineteenth century and the First Vatican Council, literally from the chair, hence by implication, with authority. A cathedral then was a building in which the principle leader of the diocese, the bishop, had his chair or office. That s all it took to be a cathedral church as a matter of fact. Cathedrals then varied broadly in terms of size, shape, grandeur. The variety is tremendous. If you look in Italy, for example, there are some 275 cathedrals and there are enormous differences, many of them very small, since the diocesan structure in Italy is so much smaller than you ll find in 10 of 13

11 England, for example. In England where these diocesan structures are much larger, there are fewer cathedrals and many of them are substantially larger and much more magnificent than their counterparts in Italy. England, in fact, has about thirty-three cathedrals now. Durham, York, Manchester, Liverpool, Oxford, Bristol, Wells, Exeter, Lincoln, Norwich, Coventry, Ely, London, Canterbury, Winchester. I bet as I mention those some of you are remembering visits to one or the other of those. About seventeen of these were built in the Middle Ages, and about half of those were connected directly with monasteries, usually Benedictine monasteries. In the Middle Gothic period, lady chapels were added to many of these cathedrals, and these are small chapel areas in honor of Mary. Virtually all cathedrals in Europe, as well as England, were built on this cruciform shape that I ve mentioned before and almost always the worshippers face east. W. H. Auden picked it up in one of his poetic expressions: Cathedrals, he wrote, luxury liners laden with souls; holding to the east their hulls of stone. Kind of an interesting phrasing of these great cathedrals, and in fact as you see them rising out of the countryside, they do very much appear like great luxury liners. English cathedrals tend to have longer naves than their European counterparts, but the cathedrals in France, for example, tend to be taller. From the floor of the nave to the top of the vault, Well s Cathedral is sixty-seven feet, Lincoln eighty-two feet, Westminster Abbey, the tallest in England, though it s not a cathedral, it serves in many ways like a cathedral, is 102 feet. But if you go to France, Notre Dame in Paris is 110 feet. Chartres is 114; Reims is 125; Amiens, 140 feet, and Beauvais, a whopping 154 feet. Now there are a number of periods of cathedral architecture. The Romanesque style dominated from about AD, and then the Gothic style took over from The Romanesque style has two basic periods in English cathedral life. The Anglo-Saxon this is a period from about the seventh to the tenth century, very little architectural structures being built in this period. It s a great period of embroidery, sculpture, and the like, but not a strong period for architecture. The Anglo-Saxons were followed by the Normans in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and they were the great builders of their times. Using the Romanesque style, they built great cathedrals and some of the great early Romanesque cathedrals are Norman in their orientation. The oldest example is 11 of 13

12 St. Albans north of London, named after the first British martyr, St. Alban, who was beheaded under Diocletian. The best known examples are Winchester Cathedral, built in the eleventh century, Ely Cathedral, built in the early twelfth century, and the crowning achievement of this Romanesque style, Cathedral at Durham, built in the early part of the twelfth century. Durham Cathedral also reflects a kind of transitional point between the Romanesque style and the Gothic style that is to take over. The old Romanesque style with its rounded arches, its massiveness, its sense of permanence, of substantial and heavy feel, relatively dark inside, gives way to the Gothic, which increasingly is light and airy and uplifting. The Gothic style then is divided into three great periods the early English, which is developed in the thirteenth century, and you see that in the rebuilt Canterbury Cathedral beautifully illustrated there. The Well s Cathedral completed in 1215, is the first English cathedral built exclusively with the Gothic arch. There s not a rounded Romanesque arch anywhere in the building. And you see other examples in Lincoln and Peterborough. The Mature English Gothic style is seen most notably perhaps in the Salisbury Cathedral, built between 1220 and 1380 AD, an absolutely gorgeous building with wonderful proportions. One central soaring, dominant spire inside reflected as the lightness and elegance and delicacy of this new Gothic form of construction. Very different from the ponderous bulk and heaviness of the old Romanesque style, especially a place like Winchester as an example. Decorated Gothic followed and dominated the fourteenth century, grew up in a time of economic prosperity in England and reflects that. We see the transition coming in the Westminster Abbey. This is followed by other fine examples of decorated Gothics, such as at Exeter, which was rebuilt AD. Finally we come to the great Perpendicular Style. This is the ultimate in Gothic architecture light, airy, beautiful the walls appear to be almost all glass and light. One of the great examples of cathedrals in this style is at Gloucester. My very favorite is the chapel at King s College at Cambridge. I ve often worshiped there at Evensong, sitting in the choir and looking up at the marvelous windows which portray the story of the Scriptures through the Old and then into the New Testament, and finding myself lifted literally toward God in worship as the Psalms were sung, as 12 of 13

13 the Scripture was read and exposited, and as we sat together in worship of that beautiful place. We see some illustrations of this blending of artistic expression in the artwork which fills those cathedrals. Those of you who have been there will recognize not only the stained-glass windows about which I ve talked, but also the great stone carvings and the wood carvings and the other expressions which help to tell the faith and which help to instruct those who come into the building about the Christian Gospel. And as you move from one to another, you begin to see the developments within those artistic expressions as well. From the early period of the Middle Ages where the artwork was flat and linear, otherworldly with a good deal of use of silver and gold and coloring to the late Middle Ages, when there is an openness to more normal forms, more realism, the power of being able to represent the Gospel straightforwardly. The picture of the crucifixion by Grunewald is one of my favorite examples. It was hanging in a place where special ministry was done among the lepers and Christ Himself is portrayed on the cross with the spots of a leper, identifying them with the people to whom that particular ministry was working. What then are we to conclude about our explorations today, which is only beginning to touch the top of an iceberg of immense shape and form? Well, I think we can conclude several things. The Middle Ages, first of all, are full of wonderful creative artistry paintings, sculpture, mosaics, crafts, metal, and jewelry all of these tied together, particularly symbolized in magnificent cathedrals, bring us a sense of awe and thanksgiving for the great gifts God has given to people in creative expression; we ought to rejoice and celebrate. They also reflect and help us to understand the faith and life of the church in this period. They teach us about Christianity in the Middle Ages in ways that we can t learn from simple books or writings. And they ought also to inspire us to renew our faith, to help us to rejoice in these marvelous expressions of God s creativity in the world. Through them I think we can in special ways give praise and honor to our Lord. So I call you to rethink the power of art in the life of the church, a subject we often skip or overlook, but which has much to teach us. Christ-Centered Learning Anytime, Anywhere 13 of 13