Tag: Christian art
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“Son, why have you treated us like this?”
Reflection • Reads Simone Martini’s depiction of Jesus in the Temple through Luke’s story of misunderstanding, anxiety, and return. Explores how art visualizes tenderness and tension in holy family life without flattening the mystery of Jesus.
Originally published in Words of Grace, Grace Church Cathedral (Charleston, South Carolina), January 2026.
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The missing nails in Dali’s “Christ of Saint John of the Cross” (1951)
Reflection • Compares Dalí’s crucifixion to St. John of the Cross’s sketch to ask what it means to picture forgiveness. Argues that the absent nails and crown reframe sin as “remembered no more”—mercy made visible.
Originally published in Words of Grace, Grace Church Cathedral (Charleston, South Carolina), September 2025.
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The Concordia Apostolorum (Harmony) Icon
Reflection • Traces the icon of Peter and Paul embracing as a visual theology of disagreement held in communion. Uses Acts and Paul’s rebuke of Peter to ask whether our debates include neighbors—or push them from Christ’s love.
Originally published in Words of Grace, Grace Church Cathedral (Charleston, South Carolina), July 2025.
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Saint Joseph, an image of Fatherhood
Reflection• Shows how apocryphal storytelling shaped centuries of Joseph’s depiction. Later, devotion reframed him as strong, present, and capable as demonstrated in Annigoni’s St. Joseph the Worker.
Originally published in Words of Grace, Grace Church Cathedral (Charleston, South Carolina), June 2025.
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Leonardo’s “Virgin, Child and Saint Anne”: a Meditation on Motherhood
Reflection • Uses apocryphal tradition (especially the Golden Legend) to illuminate Saint Anne as Mary’s steady foundation in motherhood. Leonardo’s composition as “holding on and letting go”—a theology of maternal love across generations.
Originally published in Words of Grace, Grace Church Cathedral (Charleston, South Carolina), May 2025.
Gayle L. Goudy 