{"id":22218,"date":"2015-07-23T12:03:45","date_gmt":"2015-07-23T19:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=22218"},"modified":"2015-07-23T12:03:45","modified_gmt":"2015-07-23T19:03:45","slug":"dying-jesus-dying-churches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/dying-jesus-dying-churches\/","title":{"rendered":"Dying Jesus . . . Dying Churches?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
Just one of the many images of the dead and dying Jesus that I saw in Europe last month. Here, the crown of thorns and the mocking of Christ, a detail from the sixteenth-century Joerg Breu altar at Melk Abbey, Austria. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
Stone image of the dying Jesus\u00a0on the outside wall of the University of Bamberg auditorium. Even today, crucifixes are a common sight in public buildings in Austria and Bavaria. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

Churches were at the top of my list of photo subjects as Jon and I set out last month for a three-week river trip across Europe.\u00a0Stained glass windows, paintings, mosaics, murals — I knew those old buildings would be stuffed to their soaring arches with\u00a0wonderful old art objects. And I\u00a0planned to capture\u00a0as much of that medieval and renaissance beauty\u00a0as I could.<\/p>\n

I saw a lot of Jesuses in those old European churches. But, sad to say, in church after church, Jesus was\u00a0almost always . . . dying. Or dead. Or staggering\u00a0under the weight of a cross.<\/p>\n

True, there were plenty\u00a0of images of the Baby Jesus: unblemished and adorable, but often (it seemed to me) no more than a stage prop to highlight the sanctity\u00a0of Mary, his much-revered mother.<\/p>\n

Jesus the Man<\/h5>\n

But Jesus the man? Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana? Jesus breaking bread with tax collectors and prostitutes? Jesus making the blind man see? Didn’t happen. Images of the living, breathing Jesus in action were a rarity.<\/p>\n

\"Crucifixion<\/a>
Crucifixion of Jesus hangs over the entrance to the 15th-century, high gothic Regensburg Cathedral, Germany. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These were old churches, of course, centuries old. And those two visions of Jesus — the suffering Jesus, the babe-in-arms Jesus\u00a0— must have meant a lot to pre-modern Europeans who endured wars and plagues that went on for decades and took out\u00a0large swaths of the population. Those people suffered. No doubt\u00a0it helped to visualize a God who suffered with them.<\/p>\n

Is\u00a0Christianity Dying?<\/h5>\n

For the past century, Christianity has been doing a slow fade in Europe.\u00a0The proportion of Europeans who are Christians dropped from 95% in 1910 to 76% in 2010, according to a\u00a0Pew Research Center report<\/a>. Today, nineteen percent of Europeans claim no religious affiliation<\/a>\u00a0at all.<\/p>\n

I wonder. Might\u00a0all those grisly medieval and renaissance visions of a dying Jesus have something to do with\u00a0those shrinking numbers?<\/p>\n

Bottom line,\u00a0I have no upbeat photos of Jesus turning water into wine or dining with tax collectors and prostitutes. Just picture after picture of Jesus dying on the cross. And a couple of him\u00a0as a babe in arms. It’s the best I could do.<\/p>\n

More travel adventures at “Pentwater, Michigan — A Small Town on a Big Lake”<\/a> and “Cheap Thrills at the Glasmuseum Passau.”<\/a>\u00a0Learn more about my new book at WrestlingWithGodBook.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

On a related theme, see Bernard Starr’s essay on Renaissance Christian art<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>
Pedestrians crossing a\u00a0bridge in old town Bamberg, Germany, can’t miss this crucified Jesus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Painting<\/a>
Painting of the crucifixion of Jesus, Matthias Church, Budapest. Photos by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"At<\/a>
Melk Abbey, Austria. The risen Christ atop this Benedictine monastery represents victory of life over death. Unlike its gothic and renaissance predecessors, the baroque sensibility celebrated life and aspired to create heaven on earth. Maybe that’s why I love baroque architecture, grandiose and extravagant though\u00a0it is. Photo by Barbara Newhall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"This<\/a>
The Baby Jesus in his mother’s arms — just one of many. This one is\u00a0in the\u00a0Cologne Cathedral and was painted by Stefan Lochner, a local artist\u00a0of the early 15th century. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

I saw a lot of Jesus in the old European churches I visited last month. Sad to say, in church after church, Jesus was almost always dead or dying. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[470,653,1503,887,34,1495,1504,22,91,1499],"class_list":["post-22218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-rocky-spiritual-journey","tag-architecture","tag-arts-and-crafts","tag-baroque","tag-churches","tag-dont-miss","tag-europe","tag-gothic","tag-jesus","tag-religion-and-spirituality","tag-viking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22218\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}