Why don't we have more artwork representing the Christian God (i.e. the Father)?

[Katzpur]

Well I think that is pretty much the nature of theology. Its a minefield. Have you read Franciscan theology? The Dominicans speak of some great authority rather more akin to your view - whilst the Franciscans speak of a more abstract unknowable elemental force.

Fascinating! I'll have to take a look at it.

Nice talking to you.

You too.

 

[Katzpur]

No one knows how Jesus looked, the pictures are just a creation of how whoever painted him wanted him to look like.

I think we all pretty much recognize that. So why don't more people paint pictures of what they want God the Father to look like?

 

[psychoslice]

I think we all pretty much recognize that. So why don't more people paint pictures of what they want God the Father to look like?

Well no one has ever seen the father, and no one could possibly know how Jesus would have looked like, to do so is to make an idol.

 

[Bunyip]

Fascinating! I'll have to take a look at it.
You too.

Read 'How the Irish saved civilisation'. Trust me, it is a good a read as was ever written and explores some of the big debates of the early Church (with a lot of Irish feasting, fighting, wars and legends to boot). It's only a little book.
Few good sources on the early church are as fun to read.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Read 'How the Irish saved civilisation'. Trust me, it is a good a read as was ever written and explores some of the big debates of the early Church (with a lot of Irish feasting, fighting, wars and legends to boot). It's only a little book.

I'd recommend 'A short history of Byzantium', which is a compendium taking the 'best of' from three separate books on Byzantium. When I go early Church, I go waaaaay early...lol

But in relation to the OP, there is a great deal of discussion on what was considered idol worship, and the place of art. Byzantium, in time, was awash with Christian art, perhaps more so than any other combination of time and place.

 

[psychoslice]

John 6:46
…45"It is written in the prophets, 'AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. 46"Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.…

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I do.
Pass this information on to Skwim, will you? If a fellow-atheist tells him my view of God's form is not the most common one among Christians, maybe he'll believe you. He certainly doesn't believe me.

I wouldn't say your view is uncommon, but it's far from universal. As for @Skwim, I'm not even sure he identifies as an atheist? I thought he self-identified as an agnostic (only), but perhaps I'm mistaken.

 

[Bunyip]

I'd recommend 'A short history of Byzantium', which is a compendium taking the 'best of' from three separate books on Byzantium. When I go early Church, I go waaaaay early...lol

But in relation to the OP, there is a great deal of discussion on what was considered idol worship, and the place of art. Byzantium, in time, was awash with Christian art, perhaps more so than any other combination of time and place.

I LOVE the Bytanian religious art - I have a whole shelf of it.
I was thinking 'A Trembling upon Rome' by Richard Condon - that is an absolute rocker. All about Cossa, who was John the XXIII i think.

 

[psychoslice]

This picture is what an average man would have looked like back then, so Jesus would have looked closer to this picture than any other that has tried to portrayed him, its funny how many don't like this picture, they prefer their wonderfully looking white Jesus, this is what I meant by making an idol out of what we want him to look like.

 

[Eliab ben Benjamin]

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under ...

 

[Augustus]

This picture is what an average man would have looked like back then, so Jesus would have looked closer to this picture than any other that has tried to portrayed him, its funny how many don't like this picture, they prefer their wonderfully looking white Jesus, this is what I meant by making an idol out of what we want him to look like.

Plenty of people like drawings that resemble him

 

[Skwim]

Religious art is big thing with believers, Skwim. For most of recorded history (at least following the establishment of Christianity) there was more religious art than any other kind of art. You may think that such art serves no purpose, which makes all the sense in the world if you don't believe in God at all. I guess I'm going to have to start putting every new thread I create in the Same-faiths Debate forum so that people who just cannot resist the urge to throw their two cents worth in will be prohibited from doing so. This thread is clearly asking a question of Christians.

My sympathies for your inability to deal with the non-choir members. I suggest you seek refuge in one of the DIR forums.

Your opinion is really of no consequence to any of us.

When was the election that promoted you to speaker for the "Us" people. Or is this one of those self-appointed maneuvers?

 

[Desert Snake]

If the father is different from Jesus, yet Jesus is God, then who is the father?
How can God be Jesus, and the 'father', yet the father not be Jesus?

 

[Glaurung]

God the Father is typically depicted as a bearded man, however this is usually allegorical as God the Father is said to have no form, at least in traditional theology.

 

[Desert Snake]

''The father'' is actually a metaphor. Jesus, Esa, explains this via saying that he is in the father, and the father in Him. It's the same being.

 

[Kuzcotopia]

It's easy to find pictures of Jesus Christ. We see pictures of Him teaching the Sermon on the Mount, pictures of Him on the Sea of Galilee, pictures of Him walking on water, pictures of Him raising Lazarus from the dead, pictures of Him blessing the little children, pictures of Him healing the sick, pictures of Him dying on the cross, pictures of Him as a resurrected being on Easter morning.

So why don't we have more pictures, more sculpture, etc. of God the Father? Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel and God the Father is depicted there. I'm aware of another few pictures of Him. But why is He so "ignored" in Christian art in general?

Because for an artist, God is extremely boring as a subject.

Why would a good artist find God the Father interesting as a subject? Art is expressions of truth and/or beauty taken through the lense of human experience and the nature of our world.

According to the myth, Jesus suffered as man suffered. He experienced hunger and thirst, moral temptations and disappointment in those he might have trusted. Existential longing is part of the Jesus experience on earth. That is a subject filled with emotional and experiential familiarity and human significance. There is identification there, understanding, the ability to walk in the shoes of Jesus. A way to develop empathy and truth from
the narrative.

To ask why there is not more art depicting god the father suggests a lack of knowledge about artists and what motivates them. What would your artistic depiction of God the Father look like? Would it be any good as art?

 

[Bunyip]

I think we all pretty much recognize that. So why don't more people paint pictures of what they want God the Father to look like?

They certainly should.

 

[Katzpur]

My sympathies for your inability to deal with the non-choir members. I suggest you seek refuge in one of the DIR forums.

I have no such "inability" and I don't need to "seek refuge" anywhere. I was looking for input from Christians. It was obviously my mistake to put this thread in a more general forum.

 

[Katzpur]

Because for an artist, God is extremely boring as a subject.

Why would a good artist find God the Father interesting as a subject? Art is expressions of truth and/or beauty taken through the lense of human experience and the nature of our world.

According to the myth, Jesus suffered as man suffered. He experienced hunger and thirst, moral temptations and disappointment in those he might have trusted. Existential longing is part of the Jesus experience on earth. That is a subject filled with emotional and experiential familiarity and human significance. There is identification there, understanding, the ability to walk in the shoes of Jesus. A way to develop empathy and truth from the narrative.

Okay, so God the Father is boring as a subject but Jesus is not, because we can identify with Him in a way we cannot identify with God the Father. Fair enough, at least to the extent that it would be logical to try to artistically depict something you can't relate to.

To ask why there is not more art depicting god the father suggests a lack of knowledge about artists and what motivates them. What would your artistic depiction of God the Father look like? Would it be any good as art?

Well, as you've obviously concluded, I am unfortunately not an artist, even though I love art. If I were, though, I would probably depict God as looking very much like His Son is typically depicted, since the Bible says that Jesus is "the express image of His (i.e. the Father's) person."

 

[InChrist]

I think the reason there is not much artwork representing God the Father is because according to the scriptures God is Spirit ( John 4:24 ) who must be worshiped in Spirit and truth and no one has seen God the Father. Along with that, as was previously pointed out by Eliab ben Benjamin, the command was given against making any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth (Ex. 20:4) since any presumed likeness or portrayal of the Father could easily lead to worship of a false image or idol.
The Father did not become flesh as the scriptures state Jesus, the Son did, so I assume that is the reason there are more artist depictions of Jesus. Yet, I question even the accuracy of these.