The study of art in the early christian church

The study of the art of the early Christian church was very enlightening. My assumption about the art of the early church was it was ornate and as realistic as possible. I envisioned the sixteenth chapel and the last supper. I was very surprised to find the early churches art was simplistic line drawing that depicted doctrinal ideas through the use of motifs and symbols. Some examples given were the use of a boat to represent the church, a fish to represent Christian faith. To be honest I thought these were new ideas in representing Christian faith, when I saw these symbols on necklaces and bumper stickers. I was very wrong in my assumption.

Another surprising fact was images of Christ were not in the early Christian art due to the practice of prohibiting graven images. Some reason they gave were the teaching of Paul, Christians are to walk by faith not site. The early Christians also had no consensus of what Jesus looked like. When Christ was later depicted in art it was as a shepherd. Then as Christianity became the official religion of Rome he was depicted as a young Roman God or emperor. The fact the Romans used what was around them to express their faith was a new idea, I had never thought about before. It was stated they used what was in this world and known to them in a new way to worship God. Another example given is the use of a vine to represent Christ, which in the pagan culture represented fertility. I found it very fascinating that the Sarcophagus could almost be read like a history book.