Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Four Lds Perspectives On Images Of Christ: Introduction, Doris R. Dant

BYU Studies Quarterly

As members of a Christ-centered church and consumers of a proliferation of visual images, Latter-day Saints face the enigma of wanting to know their Savior but not having a detailed description of either his mortal or resurrected physical appearance. how should an artist depict Christ? Why do individual members have both strong attachments and aversions to certain images? What conscious principles, if any, stand behind the selection of images for use in official and unofficial LDS publications?

That's Not My Jesus: An Artist's Personal Perspective On Images Of Christ, James C. Christensen

BYU Studies Quarterly

When I was growing up, I was taught that we should not have pictures and statues of Christ on our homes or meetinghouses. Nothing was to come between us and the individual image each of us had of the Lord we worshipped. Now members of the LDS Church are expressing a need for a good image of the Savior that they can reflect upon. For artists, that shift becomes a major challenge as they work to create the desired imaged.

"That's How I Imagine He Looks": The Perspective Of A Professor Of Religion, Richard Neitzel Holzapfel

BYU Studies Quarterly

"Images of Christ in Latter-day Saint Visual Culture" by Noel Carmack offers an outline of the history of the Latter-day Saint use of images depicting Christ, pointing out influences and tensions that Carmack argues directed the choice of these images from 1890 to 1999. My own approach to this historical pattern is a simpler one: the selection of images of Christ by most Latter-day Saints today is influenced more than anything else by the Saints' cultural background, which determines how they think Jesus would look; and the proliferation of these images is largely an economic issue and a result of …

"What Think Ye Of Christ?" An Art Historian's Perspective, Richard G. Oman

BYU Studies Quarterly

In "Images of Christ," Noel Carmack has performed a real service on several fronts. In my response, I would like to suggest some modifications to his comments and, more importantly, discuss some features that I believe a great painting of Christ must have if it is to produce a spiritual change in the lives of its viewers.

Images Of Christ In Latter-Day Saint Visual Culture, 1900-1999, Noel A. Carmack

BYU Studies Quarterly

The motivating impact that visual images of Christ have on members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints cannot be overestimated. Such images often induce feelings of faith and devotion in responsive viewers. For example, Church member Lisa Gemperline of Kaysville, Utah, wrote to the Ensign saying:

Passing a local art gallery one day, I paused, struck by the beauty of painting of Jesus Christ on display. My heart was touched as I looked at the face of the Savior, and I wished I had had the painting in my own home. Afterward, I found myself thinking about …