Topics to Research on Christianity

Symbols
Ideology
Early Christian art
Characteristics of Christian art
Basilica and church architecture
Stained glass windows (in churches)
Gothic architecture
Mosaic
Christian beliefs
Festivals
Designers who worked on Christian art (etc)
 Christianity

The central doctrine of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God
and the Messiah (Christ). Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was
anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus' coming was
the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.

Symbols of Christianity:

1. Cross and Crucifix: The Christian cross, seen as a representation of

the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus, is the best-known symbol
of Christianity. It is related to the crucifix which is a cross that
includes a usually three-dimensional representation of Jesus' body.
And it is related to the more general family of cross symbols.
2. Chi-Rho: The Chi-Rho is a Christian symbol consisting of the
intersection of the capital Greek letters Chi () and Rho (), which
are the first two letters of "Christ" in Greek (, Christos). The
Chi-Rho can represent either Christ or Christianity and is also known
as a Christogram.

3. Ichthys: The fish became a symbol for Christianity in the early days
of the post-apostolic church. It frequently is found carved on the
walls of the catacombs beneath the ancient city of Rome. The Greek
word for fish is ichthus, and each letter represented a word,
namely: i (IesousJesus), ch (ChristosChrist), th (theouof God),
u (huiosson), s (sotersavior). The fish thus became sort of a code
word during times of persecution by which believers expressed the
conviction: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and my
Savior.
4. Alpha and Omega ( ): The use since the earliest Christianity of the
first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha ( or ) and
omega ( or ), derives from the statement said by Jesus (or God)
himself "I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning
and the End" (Revelation 22:13, also 1:8 and 21:6).

5. Anchor: Christians adopted the anchor as a symbol of hope in future

existence because the anchor was regarded in ancient times as a
symbol of safety. For Christians, Christ is the unfailing hope of all
who believe in him: Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and several of the early
Church Fathers speak in this sense.
6. Dove: Early Christians often had a dove on their tombs as a symbol
of the peace and happiness of the soul. The olive branch symbol
comes from the story of Noah, who after the flood dispatched a dove
to find dry land and finally returned with an olive branch in its mouth
(Genesis 8:11).

7. Peacock: Ancient Greeks believed that the flesh of peafowl did not
decay after death, and so it became a symbol of immortality. This
symbolism was adopted by early Christianity, and thus many early
Christian paintings and mosaics show the peacock. The peacock is
still used in the Easter season especially in the east.
8. Shamrock: A shamrock is a young sprig of clover, used as a symbol
of Ireland. Saint Patrick, Ireland's patron saint, is said to have used it
as a metaphor for the Christian Holy Trinity. While trying to convert
the Irish into Christians, St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the
holy trinity with each leaf representing the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. The three leaves of a shamrock are also said to stand for faith,
hope and love. A fourth leaf is where we get the luck from.

9. The Good Shepherd: The good Shepherd is a symbol of Christ. He is

often pictured with a sheep over his shoulders. This symbol could
cause some confusion since Christ is sometimes symbolized by a
sheep or lamb and sometimes a shepherd. This symbol is based in
scripture, and John 10.11 in particular, in which Jesus identifies
himself as the good shepherd.
 10. Pelican: The pelican was believed to pierce its own breast with
its beak and feed its young of its blood. It became a symbol of Christ
sacrificing himself for man and because of this was frequently
represented in Christian art.

Ideology:

Christians believe in justification by faith - that through their belief in Jesus

as the Son of God, and in his death and resurrection, they can have a right
relationship with God whose forgiveness was made once and for all
through the death of Jesus Christ.

The Christian ideology consists of basic Christian beliefs, doctrines and its
teachings.

The basic beliefs of Christianity include:

o Belief in God the Father, Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and the Holy
Spirit.
o The death, descent into hell, resurrection and ascension of Christ.
o The holiness of the Church and the communion of saints.
o Christ's second coming, the Day of Judgement and salvation of the
faithful.
 Christianity regards varied collections of books known as the Bible as
authoritative and written by human authors under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit. Biblical inspiration is the doctrine in Christian theology
concerned with the divine origin of the Bible and what the Bible
teaches about itself.

Christians believe that God is just and fair, and so cannot let evil go
unpunished. Most believe in the idea of judgement after death, and
that God will treat people in the afterlife according to how they lived
their life on earth. Although heaven is often mentioned in the Bible, it
is rarely described.

Early Christian Art:

The beginnings of Christian art can be dated to the end of the second
century or the early years of the third century A.D. The appearance of a
comparatively large body of material from this period is a good testament
to the dramatic growth of Christianity in this period.

The newly won converts to Christianity were products of the classical

culture of the Ancient world. Rather than reject their cultural heritage, the
new Christians assimilated the classical culture into Christianity. Christian
theology, literature, and art of this period bears the unmistakable imprint
of this mixing of Christian and classical. For example, the Christian writer
Clement of Alexandria, writing at the end of the second and the beginning
of the third century, infuses his texts with a strong knowledge of classical
literature, mythology, and philosophy. This is well illustrated by an excerpt
from a text entitled The Protreptikos. Here we find references to Homer
and Plato along side Biblical citations. The image of Christ the Word as the
logos and teacher is derived from Greek philosophy.
Christ and the Christian as a philosopher is an important theme in Early
Christian art. For example in a catacomb painting Christ as the philosopher
is flanked by his disciples much like a representation of Socrates
surrounded by his students:

Here Christ is given authority by being represented with the gesture of

authority while holding onto a scroll. Even his dress, a toga, is the dress
associated with authority. A fourth century painting of St. Paul already has
his characteristic pointed beard and dark hair with receding hairline:

A third century sarcophagus or tomb now in the church of Sta. Maria

Antiqua has at its center a representation of a seated man holding a scroll
and a standing woman:
This is clearly based on the Classical formula of the philosopher and his
muse. A sixth manuscript made in Constantinople known as the Vienna
Dioscorides includes miniatures showing Dioscorides, a first century Greek
physician and compiler of this medical encylopedia, accompanied by
muses:
While of much later date than the Roman sarcophagus, the Dioscorides
manuscript is clearly based on a much earlier prototype. We know that
deluxe copies of Classical texts were regularly introduced with author
portraits like this.

The formula of the philosopher and his muse appeared on non-Christian

sarcophagi as well as illustrated by the following sarcophagus from the
early third century:
An interesting detail about the Santa Maria Antiqua sarcophagus is the fact
that the heads of the man and the woman are unfinished. This suggests
that this tomb was not made with a specific patron in mind. Rather, it was
fabricated on an analytical basis, with the expectation that a patron would
buy it and have hisand supposedly his wife'slikenesses added. If this is
true, it says a lot about the nature of the art industry and the status of
Christianity at this period. The expense of the stone and the time taken to
carve it were considerable. A craftsman would not have made a
commitment like this without a sense of certainty that someone would
purchase it.

The formulas for representing figures in the earliest Christian art were
clearly derived from the conventions of Classical art. Compare for example
the representation of Jonah sleeping under the gourd to a reclining figure
from a mythological sarcophagus:
 Sarcophagus with myth of Endymion, second century, New York, Metropolitan Museum.

The gesture of the arm over the head is a formula derived from Greek art
for representing sleep. A Hellenistic sleeping Ariadne figure demonstrates
the ancestry of this pose:
On the right side of the Santa Maria Antiqua sarcophagus appear two
scenes. The first is the theme of the Good Shepherd. While echoing the
New Testament parable of the Good Shepherd and the Psalms of David,
the motif had clear parallels in Greek and Roman art, going back at least to
Archaic Greek art, as exemplified by the so-called Moschophoros, or calf-
bearer, from the sixth century B.C.E.
On the far right appears the scene of the Baptism of Christ. A striking
contrast between pre-Constantinian and later Christian art is in the
selection of subject matter. The appearance of the Baptism of Christ on the
Santa Maria Antiqua sarcophagus inclusion is likely a reference to the
significance of Baptism as the rite of initiation into the mystery of the faith.
The symbolism of the rite like the story of Jonah on the opposite end of the
sarcophagus alludes to the theme of death and resurrection.

The typical subject matter in the earliest Christian sculpture and painting
are miracle stories like Jonah and the Sea Monster:

Moses striking the rock in the desert:

The three Hebrews in fiery furnace:

Daniel in the lions den:

New Testament stories connecting to the life of Christ when they do

appear are regularly paired with these Old Testament stories. For example,
here a representation of the miracle of Christ curing the paralytic is
juxtaposed with another representation of Moses Striking the Rock:
Christ Himself does not appear regularly in this earliest Christian art.
He does appear in allegorical guise as we have seen as the
Philosopher. One of the most popular guises of Christ in this period
was as the Good Shepherd:
 Ceiling of Cubiculum in the Catacomb of Ss. Pietro and Marcellinus.

Good Shepherd from the Catacomb of Calixtus.

Examination of an image like this which comes from the Catacomb of

Calixtus again raises the issue of mixing Christian and Classical cultures.
The Good Shepherd motif certainly calls to mind the Gospel parables of the
lost sheep (Luke 15) and of the shepherd who gives his life for his sheep
(John 10). Also the shepherd plays an important role in the Old Testament
book of Psalms. But the shepherd was also popular as an allegorical figure
in classical art and culture. It is significant to note that the style of this
painting with its loose impressionistic style and suggestion of landscape
space echoes a category of ancient painting called sacral-idyllic landscapes:

There is nothing distinctively Christian about the layout of the vault of the
catacomb by dividing it up into geometric shapes:

It is important to understand that there was a profound change in

conception of the Christian church after Constantine's patronage of
Christianity. Christian buildings before Constantine were based on typical
Roman domestic architecture.

A Christian meeting house in Dura Europos:

On the long wall appears the story of the Holy Women as the Tomb of
Christ while above appears parts of the story of Jonah and the Sea
Monster. Both of these stories are important typological representations
associated with Baptism.
 Characteristics of Christian Art:

o Early Christian art and architecture:

After the death of Jesus afforded Christians few opportunities for

artistic or architectural expression.

Christianity was often oppressed by the Roman Empire. Christians

might have their property seized or be burned alive.

The only distinctly Christian symbol of this early age was the
Ichthys, or 'Jesus fish.' The Ichthys was a secret symbol, whose
name formed an acrostic for the central concept of Christian faith.

He nature of Jesus could all be summed up with a simple fish,

allowing Christians to identify their secret places of worship as
well as the burial places of the faithful.