The Image of God (2)

Robert ParkeHarrison captures the essence of his own work when he explains, "My photographs tell stories of loss, human struggle, and personal exploration within landscapes scarred by technology and over-use...I strive to metaphorically and poetically link laborious actions, idiosyncratic rituals, and strangely crude machines into tales about our modern experience." Elegy, by photographers Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison is a contemporary image created in 2007. The term "elegy", not to be confused with eulogy, is defined as a mournful, melancholic, or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead. This photograph, like other, similar images by the artists, includes butterflies as subjects. Yet unlike Mourning Cloak or Stolen Summer, Elegy conveys a sense of synergy between the little girl and the butterflies that softly touch her cheek.

I was particularly captivated by Robert and Shana's photo as it relates to an attempt to create an image of God. In my mind I considered this photograph as a fantastic representation of Karl Barthes' assertion that "Studying God is like trying to draw a picture of a bird in flight. One result is a bird frozen in time and space with precise detail. The other is a blur which captures movement and speed." When I think about the daunting task of creating an image of God, and when I consider the attempts to draw a bird in flight, and when I consider the butterflies in Elegy, I am reminded of this past summer. While on vacation at a beach that is my second home, I tried to capture exactly what it is that I love about this beach. I realized that all that I love about my beach is precisely that which cannot by captured or frozen in time. I love the deep rumbling of the waves, a sound that is only perceptible in person when the different decibels from different distances reach our intricate ears. I love the beauty of the waves, a beauty that is inherently found only in its movement and gloriously dynamic nature. I love the wind. I love movement its ability to evade restrictive boxes or outlines. I love the ungraspable. So when I look at Elegy, and when I try to imagine an image of God, I imagine movement. Our God-the perfect Trinity- is so immediate, so relational, so real, so human, so apart and Godly, and a beautiful/dynamic/eternal dance of Three. yet our God is also that which cannot be photographed or reduced.

So, Elegy, whether meaning to or not, is a fabulous image of the dynamism and breath of God.

The Image of God

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, or Doubting Thomas, by Caravaggio is a painting created in the Italian Baroque style in 1601-02. It is currently housed in the Sanssouci in Potsdam, Germany. The subject of this painting is based upon the Gospel of John which says:

"Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' When He said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, 'We have seen the Lord.' So he said to them, 'Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.' And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, 'Peace to you!' Then He said to Thomas, 'Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving but believing.' And Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!'" (John 20.19-20, 24-28)

Caravaggio's painting, which truly embodies the new baroque style of the time, is physically very shocking. Abandoning the rules that had guided artists for the past century which idealized both the human and the religious experience, The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, brings the historical experience of Thomas, Jesus, and the other disciples to life. The folds of skin and expressions on the subjects' faces are not serene and beautiful, but organic and immediate. It is as if the viewer could also reach out and place a finger in the hole in Jesus' torso. With gritty naturalism, the disciples in the painting have characteristically common appearances, yet their reactions to the reality of the situation, enhanced by the natural, but dramatic and very stark lighting, highlights the incredible and incredulous experience with which we, as viewers, are able to connect.

As one who is overwhelmed with the possibility and reality of trying to create an image of God, I was especially struck by Caravaggio's Doubting Thomas. At first glance I was slightly repulsed by the realistic and very direct image of Thomas poking his finger so deeply into Jesus' side. Had it been me, I truly believe I would have been just as doubtful as Thomas, yet when faced with Christ in person, I believe I would have been both very embarrassed and anxious to accept Christ's resurrection. Yet in Caravaggio's painting, Thomas follows through on his forceful exclamations. He doesn't just touch Jesus' side, he probes and observes and gets very close. In particular Caravaggio, as with many of his paintings, caught my eye with Doubting Thomas. I love and appreciate, though still shy away from, the direct and intense reality of Jesus. Caravaggio captures both Thomas' and Jesus' humanity through the former's doubt and the latter's flesh. And this humanity, more than an understanding of God's spiritual holiness and 'otherness' as God, is what I need reminded of each day.

Regardless of my likes and dislikes of Caravaggio, I think it is important to also critique and highlight to Biblical truth (or heresy) found in The Incredulity of Saint Thomas. In one sense, I think that yes, Caravaggio's representation of Christ is true. Although we often choose to ignore or cannot grasp the equal amount of humanness as godliness in Christ, Caravaggio very much embraces this reality. Christ, just like those around Him in the painting, is a human being with human organs, hair, digits, emotions, and feelings. And though most humans do not glow in the light with such clean skin and beautiful fabric the way that Jesus does in The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, I commend the concurrent (maybe purposefully maybe not) of Christ's perfection inherent and connected with His humanity.

The Human Body

Our world is a bizarre juxtaposition of both simple and complex. As technology and new inventions refine and streamline our lives, there is an equal amount of confusion and complication intertwined within the simplification. The same may be said for the human body. As we consider the significance of the human body in our world today, in 2010, we encounter an intertwined existence of the oversimplified and complex. Our view and use of the human body has narrowed, and through this narrowing of perspectives we are confronted with confusion and difficulty as to how to respond.

The human body in our world today has become (1) oversexualized to such an extent that we no longer inhabit a holistic sexual identity. The human body is a tool and representation of sex, yet it has lost its overall sexual identity that is inherent in who we are as created beings of God. Moreover, the human body in our world today is (2) underutilized in its creative and dynamic possibilities. So often we become accustomed to walking to class, walking between offices, sitting at a desk for hours on end. The human body is a sustained combination of straight lines and predictable movements. Yet, maybe its because I'm a dancer or because I love yoga, but through these mediums, and so many others, I encounter the strange and outrageous and backward and beautiful and surprising ways in which our bodies can move. The human body has become reduced and stripped down to a few bare ideas and images. However, in the face of this distillation there is a hope that the magnificent complexity of our bodies and identities as created beings of Christ may be rediscovered and embraced.