Reading on Christian Art of the Early Kind

Reading on Christian Art of the Early Kind

REVISED IN 2025 - At a friend's I picked out of a discard brown bag a text, and I opened it, picking the bones of the book I took some notes about where Christianity came from. A long view would hold that Text [the Word] would drive the start of it, but that Image [drawings, e.g.,] would take increasing precedence in communication. Décor - ah, that would come later. 

My reading in general of Early Christian and Byzantine Art by John Beckwith: It’s from the early 1970s and somewhat spans the spectrum that has Western Art as more of an Ideal than Asian (Farther East). It's accompanied by narrative showing some objective understanding that includes consideration of social forces.  My Reading in its specifics starts here: The early Christians had their ways and they were kind of a mix of Hebraic and Greek cultures.  Some hybridization. But text [word] was the way at the start, with art coming on gradually overtime.

Early Christian art emerged from a mix of Hebraic and Greek cultures within the Roman Empire. This hybridization is evident in themes and practices. For example, the early Christians adopted the Jewish custom of burial, which stood in contrast to the Roman practice of cremation. On the Greek side, early Christian thinkers often used Platonic philosophy to interpret their faith. They saw parallels between Christian beliefs and Greek philosophical concepts, which helped bridge the gap between their new religion and the prevailing intellectual climate of the empire.

Early Christian art, especially in Rome and Italy, often focused on the theme of life after death. This is seen in funerary art found in catacombs and mausoleums. Motifs from pagan art were frequently adapted for Christian use. For instance, the Good Shepherd is a popular theme in early Christian art, directly borrowing from pastoral scenes common in pagan bucolic art. This shows a cultural overlap, as Christians and pagans lived and interacted within the same society.

A teaching Christ emerges (see above) not much distinguished from his followers save a Chi-Rho monogram. The Eastern Provinces of the Empire show a divergent exposition. Byzantine art comes later

And it represents a totality of experience and effect that has few objective correlatives in other stations in the history of art and culture. Still, it introduces the dubious notion of secret knowledge - of art for the adept. Good for Yeats, T.S. Elliot - but mostly bleccch.

As time goes by in the Western Provinces, the art is the thing, tho figures of historical reality enter exit and enter and exit gain such as Clemens. Of Alexendria, he'd travelled many a road. Clemens twining Plato and Christ wrote:

"Let your speech be gentle towards those you meet, and your greetings kind; be modest towards women, and let your glance be turned to the ground. Be thoughtful in all your talk, and give back a useful answer, adapting the utterance to the hearer's need, just so loud that it may be distinctly audible, neither escaping the ears of the company by reason of feebleness nor going to excess with too much noise. Take care never to speak what you have not weighed and pondered beforehand; nor interject your own words on the spur of the moment and in the midst of another's; for you must listen and converse in turn, with set times for speech and for silence."

Go now with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear.

Presenting: The Catechumen - or, Clement's Poem

I Clement
who waltzed my Matilda the known world over studying
recall
the 'churches' were simple
often, someone's apartment
and the décor was no décor.
You, the prayerful pilgrim brought
your emptiness to the void
and it became full.
             - My name is John and this came to me in a dream.

Brevity became the catacombs -
Vessel consciousness became
the catechumen.