Christ Miracle Worker in Early Christian Art by Jefferson Lee M.;

Author:Jefferson, Lee M.; [Lee Jefferson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4514-7984-3
Publisher: Fortress Press (NBN)
Published: 2013-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

Numerous scenes in the catacombs and on funerary relief sculpture exhibit Jesus raising the dead to life. According to the early Christian authors, Asclepius did not have the divine authority to perform resurrections.[61] Asclepius was killed by Zeus for raising the dead; he did not have authority over life and death. The early church authors knew this quite well, as this lack of divine authority was the tactic of choice when deriding Asclepius. Christ exhibited in the act of raising the dead is evocative of Asclepius’s failure. Instead of narrowly examining the physical stylistic traits of images of Jesus and images of Asclepius, thematic imagery could reflect such a comparison. The miracle of raising the dead demonstrates that Christ requires no authority to resurrect a person, a miracle of charity and benevolence.

The healings of Jesus were emphasized in early Christian art just as they were in the gospel texts. The healing of the paralytic, the healing of the woman with the blood issue, and the healing of the blind man all promote Jesus as the great physician, a healer with no earthly or heavenly rival. The images of these episodes in the catacombs and on relief sculpture portray Jesus as the supreme healer, just as Scripture does. And these portrayals in art do not occur in a vacuum. The context of healing in Late Antiquity reveals a potent rivalry between Jesus and the healing god Asclepius. Images of Jesus successfully healing sufferers of chronic illness exhibit him as a healer like Asclepius but greater, since Jesus the physician heals directly through physical touch. The historical context also helps any understanding of the multiple instances of Jesus raising the dead to life, an act symbolizing the divine mandate of Jesus as well as highlighting the shortcomings of the god Asclepius. It is to these pervasive instances in the canon of early Christian art that we now turn.

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