Reply To: Graven Images

[Jess]

When it comes to Christian and Jewish art, I think that it is easy to see that they are not trying to create a “false idol” rather they are trying to create a place of worship. Instead of creating false idols they have created scenes in their churches, such as the Rotunda Church of St. George where they used mosaic tiling to create pictures of different scenes, people, or items that have meaning to their religion. The Christian Catacombs is another great piece of Christian art that is also a mosaic tile showing the Good Shepard. They use their buildings as a place to worship God rather than filling it with “false idols.” Their buildings also have great meaning, the Cave of the Patriarchs is a great example of how the idea of “false idols” could be thought of by others. The building is thought to be the resting place of historical biblical people, and unless you are familiar with their stories and the role that they played in these religions, you may think that they are creating a building dedicated to only those people and that they are idling them and not their god.