Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Clinton, and I'm really pleased that you've joined me for our lesson today.

We're gonna have a great time.

Today's lesson is called How Do Christians Use Art to Show Faith? And it's from the unit, Spirituality, how is art used in religions and beliefs? We're going to be thinking about how we can describe different examples of how Christians use art to express beliefs.

We have some key words today, and I'm going to read those out to you now.

Our first word is incarnate, and this means the embodiment of God in human form, so incarnate.

And then we have biblical, ideas contained within the Bible.

So we might say something is a biblical theme because it's an idea that's contained in lots of parts of the Bible.

So biblical, incarnate, biblical and challenge.

And when we challenge something, we dispute the truth or validity of an idea.

And so we will see how these three words are used through our lesson.

So we have two learning cycles today.

One, looking at how do Christians express belief through artwork? And second, how do Christians use art to challenge views? So let's start with number one.

How do Christians express belief through artwork? Our country here in the UK is filled with churches that feature works of art, that look very similar to this stained glass window.

The Christian artists who created these types of windows tried to express their beliefs about Jesus and what he meant to them.

However, there are many examples of modern Christian art from all over the world and all of these are trying to express beliefs about who.

Who are they trying to express beliefs about? There's a clue in the picture.

Well done if you said God or Jesus.

That's what these art pieces are trying to express beliefs about.

Here is a piece of modern Christian art.

Now what do you notice about this painting? I can see everyone in it is maybe African, Black African.

How is it similar or different to art you may have seen before? You might want to pause the video to give yourself some time to think or to talk with the person next to you.

Welcome back.

I wonder what you thought might be similar or different from art that you've seen before.

So this artwork is from Cameroon in West Africa.

And the artist has portrayed Jesus and his disciples as though they were from that area.

Now we don't know what Jesus actually looks like.

We know that he was Jewish, and we know he lived in the Middle East.

And so over many centuries, artists have portrayed Jesus through their own culture.

There's no right way to draw Jesus.

So you can see in the stained glass window, he looks European and you can see in this painting he looks African.

So true or false? Can Jesus only ever be portrayed in artwork as a white European man? Is that true or false? You might like to pause this video so that you can talk with a partner or think for yourself.

Welcome back.

Let's have a look at the answer.

Is it true or false? It's false.

Why? Well, we don't know what Jesus looked like.

So artists can choose how they want to represent him.

Well done if you got that answer right.

That shows great attention in our lesson already today.

So in this painting, Jesus is having a Pesach meal, a Passover meal with his 12 disciples the night before his death.

What can you see in the painting? Have a good look around.

What do you notice about the colours used and the people who are painted? What about their expressions? So notice that Jesus stands out from all the others 'cause he's the person dressed in red.

In West African culture, this colour symbolises life force.

One of the things Jesus said is, "I am the way, the truth and the life." So dressing him in red is a way that people who lived in West Africa would know that this is an important person.

Now, Jesus is also holding, and you may have noticed this, a golden bowl.

And gold again symbolises spiritual purity and kingship.

So the artist is giving some clues to the person looking and reading the piece of art about here's the most important character.

Now you may have noticed this one disciple looking away and that's Judas and he goes on in the story to betray Jesus.

And notice that the disciples are wearing all sorts of different forms of traditional African clothing.

So we know that Jesus wouldn't have worn this clothing, but remember that the artist here is placing Jesus into his culture, into his reality of what life looks like.

So the big biblical idea here is that the artist has painted is that Jesus is incarnate, that he became human, fully human.

And here's Tia, "As someone of West African heritage.

I love this artwork, the Bible says, 'He became like us.

' I feel seen in this painting.

I interpret this painting as saying Jesus', death is for me.

Jesus invites me to remember and follow him." So I have a question for you.

A deeper meaning of the painting of Jesus with his disciples is: A, Jesus wore traditional clothes.

B, Jesus lived in Africa.

C, Jesus became human.

You might like to pause this video while you have a think about the answer and maybe talk with the person next to you.

Welcome back.

Should we have a look and see what the answer is? It was C, yes, that Jesus became human, he was incarnate.

Here is another piece of modern Christian art.

I've got some questions for you that I'd like you to think about or discuss with the person next to you.

What do you like about this picture? Is there anything you dislike about this picture? What do you think is going on in this picture, and what do you think the artist is trying to get us to think about? So you might like to pause this video to have your thinking time or discussion time and then come back to me when you've done that.

Welcome back, so this modern piece of art was created by a Christian minister in America in the USA.

Her name is Lauren.

And the artwork shows two sides of Jesus.

He on one side is God's son and a king, holding and ruling the world in his hands.

So hopefully you can see that world and also the crown on his head.

But on the other side, he's fully human, he's incarnate, he's bruised and beaten by those in power and ultimately goes on to die on a cross.

What beliefs is Lauren expressing about Jesus in this piece of art? How does Jesus looking directly at you in this artwork make you feel? Now Lauren has made this artwork to challenge Christians today to be prepared for an uncomfortable life.

Because doing the right thing that Jesus, the thing that Jesus would do for others might lead people into trouble with those in authority from time to time.

I have a question for you.

Is this true or false? True or false? Christian art is often created to express deeper meanings.

You might want to pause this video while you talk to the person next to you or have a moment to think for yourself.

Welcome back.

Let's see the answer.

It was true.

And why was that? Because Christian artwork often uses colour and symbols to portray deeper meanings.

I have a practise task for you now.

Choose one of the two pieces of artwork we've had a look at in this learning cycle.

There's the piece created by Lauren in America, and there's a piece created by an artist in Cameroon.

Can you explain how the artist has shown some of their Christian beliefs in their piece of artwork? And as you do that, can you label the image and use the word incarnate in your answer? You might like to pause this video to give you some time to work on your answer on your own or maybe with a partner.

Your answer could have looked like this.

Jesus stands out from the others in the artwork as he's dressed in red.

In West African culture, this colour symbolises life force.

The bowl Jesus holds is gold.

And it symbolises spiritual purity and kingship.

This painting shows God incarnate and Jesus is painted as a black African man in it.

Really well done.

If you chose this piece of artwork and you had some of these answers, but maybe you chose Lauren's piece of artwork and you had other points to make, and hopefully you got incarnate in your answer there.

Really well done if you did that.

I'm proud of your thinking, writing and discussion.

Let's go on to part two of our lesson.

How do Christians use art to challenge views? Christians have often used artwork to challenge established views within their society.

So how might the artwork created by Lauren Wright or the art created in Cameroon challenge people? What do you think? Having Jesus appear as a black man might be a challenge for some Christians, as they might have only seen images of Jesus as a white European man.

Christians use art to challenge established norms or teachings that they feel are not biblical.

The Bible teaches that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that all who believe in him would have eternal life." And that's from the gospel of John in 3:16 So some Christians have used art to show that all people are included in Jesus's mission, in Jesus's saving, that all people should be pictured and included.

I have a question for you.

Is it true or false? It would never be right for a Christian to challenge those in power.

You might like to pause this video and have a think or talk with the person next to you.

Welcome back.

Let's see what the correct answer was.

It's false, and why? Jesus challenged those power in his lifetime.

Therefore, Christians feel it's right to challenge ideas or laws that are not biblical today.

Here's another piece of artwork.

I wonder if you've seen this before.

I love this piece of artwork.

And it's something I've known for quite a few years.

It's called "Jesus on the Tube." Have a look at this piece of art.

And you might like to pause the video to talk to the person next to you or to think about these different questions.

What do you like about this picture? Is there anything you don't like about this picture? What do you think is going on in this picture? What parts of the picture show us that it's based in England? And what deeper meanings do you think the artist is trying to express? Pause now so that you can have that discussion.

Welcome back.

So this painting is called "Jesus on the Tube." I wonder what you noticed about Jesus in this piece of artwork.

Well, one of the things I noticed is that Jesus has a halo around his head, and this is one way that the artist is telling us that he's somebody special.

I also notice the clothes he's wearing.

They're sort of traditional Middle Eastern clothes, not like everybody else who's in that picture.

What do you think the people are thinking having Jesus with them on the tube? Nobody's making eye contact or even looking towards him.

This artwork has been painted by Antonia Rolls, a British artist who says, "I created this image to show my belief that Jesus is always alongside us.

Many people ignore Jesus or even look away, and as he demands a 100% of us to follow him." Fiona says, "This artwork challenges me to think about all the people I ignore when I'm travelling on trains and buses.

I should be acting as Jesus' representative on earth and I should be showing love to everyone I meet." The Bible tells me, "For God so loved the world that he sent his son Jesus." Jesus wants us to know his love and his care for us.

I have a question for you.

Is this true or false? Pieces of art often have deeper meanings contained within them.

You might want to pause this video to give you time to think about your answer and even share it or think about it or a partner.

Welcome back.

And the answer is true.

Of course, it is.

Why? Because artists often want their artwork to challenge people or to make people think about an idea or a teaching in a new way.

I have a task for you now.

What do you think Jesus would say to the people on the tube in this art piece? You might want to pause this video to give you time to think about your answer or even to work with a partner.

I wonder if your answer included something like this.

"Are you too busy to talk to me? I came to this world because I love you.

I'd like to spend some time with you." Well done if you had something similar.

I'm really pleased with that answer.

So what have we learned in our lesson today? We've learnt that Christians have represented their beliefs in art for many centuries.

This includes modern artists painting artwork today.

We don't really know what Jesus looked like, but we know he lived as a first century Jew in Palestine.

Many Christians throughout the world represent Jesus from within their own culture, and this is because Jesus was God incarnate.

Sometimes Christians use art to challenge established views which are not biblical.

Thank you so much for learning with me today.

I think we've had a great time and I'm going to say goodbye now.

Goodbye.