Examine and compare the following images of Evangelism drawn from the Global Church. As you interpret connections between imagery and its context, what implications do they have for Mission as Evangelization?
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The angel Gabriel, the divine "messenger", is envisioned from this Ethiopian image as the one who brings God's message as a powerful, conquering, hierarchical emissary who towers over faceless humanity who must submit to this message. How does the surrounding culture and its history shaping such a view of mass evangelism? |
A rare 18th century American painting of Christ sharing with two men on the
road to Emmaus, with characteristic American bucolic scenes and stylistic renderings.What
kind of evangelism is hinted at here, and how would the American historical
and political events of the period have combined to find this image particularly
compelling? Here the crucified is helping to clarify what his hearer's needs,
expectations, and disappointments are, before he reveals himself as the solution
and the key to their theological questions. In some ways, this painting and
the biblical story it depicts, is reminiscent of what D.T. Niles, the great
Methodist Sri Lankan Evangelist said: "Evangelism is one beggar telling
another beggar where to find bread."
A European painting of Christ preaching the Sermon on the Mount (Plain), with a good rendering of the geography of Palestine in the background. The Dead Sea on the left does not fall off so low in comparison to the mountain in the distance. But this conscious effort to show how Christ's teaching was adapted to the geography and the situation of his hearers as represented in Scripture is given some symbolic atttention here. Though Christ is almost dwarfed by the rocks and trees surrounding him, giving the illusion of a large silence into which his sermon might be swallowed up, the perspective of the artist has focused on the attentiveness, the identity, and the needs of the listeners and their community. Does such an image, particularly in comparison to the previous images, have anything to say about a theology and praxis of authentic evangelism in a global era?