Length: 3 pages, typewritten, double-spaced (please number the pages and do not

Length: 3 pages, typewritten, double-spaced (please number the pages and do not forget to put
your name on the first page)
An essay on the visual depiction of the deity
In this class we have considered the various ways in which the deity was depicted visually:
serene or suffering, young or old, by means of metaphor or as a likeness (portrait). What I would
like you to do in this paper is to write about this issue from any point of view that you want and
with any examples you would like to speak about. The overarching question is the following:
why was it important to the religion to render God, believed to be infinite and uncircumscribable,
in material form? We have talked about this issue from the point of view of catacomb paintings
(think of the Good Shepherd or the vignette of the loaves and fishes), various icons (portraits of
Christ), the mosaics in the apses of churches: what were the visual forms in which God was
depicted and why do you think they were chosen? Where were the images placed in an overall
decorative scheme and what does their placement say about their meaning and function? You
can select any number of examples that you want: you can concentrate on one or discuss several.
You may want to consider some of the following questions. These are suggestions for you to
stimulate your thinking. It is not required that you answer any of them, but of course you can if
you want to:
1. God is un-circumscribable and so isn’t a material rendering of God a contradiction in
terms?
2. What is a portrait?
3. What role or roles do God’s words play in religious art?
4. What about the pagan practices of classical (pre-Christian) antiquity with regard to
visualizing the gods: were any of these influential?
Please! use Artstor to access relevant images.