Pentecost is one of those events that defies our conventional categories, defies description. All the writer of Acts could say definitively was what it was "like"--"like" divided tongues of flame, "like" a great wind that filled the room. I wonder what it was really like?
As we approach this day when we celebrate the birth of the global church, check out these imaginings of Pentecost from artists around the world.
Batik by Solomon Raj of India
Contemporary Art by Piotr Uklanski of Poland
By Egino Weinert of Germany
Fabric art by Fiona Langham (South Africa)
Icon by unknown artist, Republic of Georgia
He Qi, China
Alexander Sadoyan, Armenia
"Tongues of Flame" by unknown aboriginal Australian
Mandala by South African Adrian van Breda
Finally, of all the American renditions, I found this one most intriguing because it is so different, color-wise especially, from normal Pentecost depictions--by Jennifer Hunger Jones
1 comment:
Love the icon image diversity...and thanks for using some from Georgia! (I've noticed when you've found some before). Pretty sure that's in the 14th-16th century Georgian Orthodox style.
I wonder quite a bit about the timing of Pentecost - and, in direct connection, the timing of Jesus' birth/life/death/resurrection. Where we, as a species, not ready for it sooner because of cultural, behavioral, and/or biological developments? Specifically in relation to Pentecost, why wait to bless us with the Spirit? I just wonder what was so special about that time (in God's view) that made it the right time for Jesus and the Spirit to do their work. Aren't all times, theoretically (theologically?) "right" for Jesus and the Holy Spirit?
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