The ‘Visual Commentary On Scripture’ Is Changing How We Read The Bible
Matthew Peterson
2 min read ⭑
The Bible is by no means a picture book. Yet despite its lack of illustrations, it still presents many powerful images: a burning bush, a giant fish, an army of angels, a pillar of fire.
The Bible seizes the visceral realities of what it means to be human — in all that gore, grief and glory — by connecting its ideas and its characters to natural elements we interact with daily, even if, in some cases, those elements are acting in miraculous ways.
So, to bridge this gap between the descriptions of the world found in Scripture and our physical experience of it, we have artwork. Christian artwork has spanned every generation of believers, with Christ himself being depicted through a multitude of ethnicities, time periods and artistic mediums.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Public Domain
But is “Christian” artwork the only art through which Christians can see reflections of Scripture? Ben Quash, director of the Visual Commentary on Scripture, doesn’t think so. The Visual Commentary on Scripture is an online resource from King’s College London which combines theology, art history and biblical scholarship to pair artwork from all across the stylistic and historical map with Scripture.
These pairings are called exhibits and feature high-quality scans of art pieces tied together with Biblical commentary. The artwork included is created by household names such as Picasso, Van Gogh, Caravaggio and Rembrandt in addition to artists with a smaller footprint.
After over a decade working on the project, Quash is taking a step back. He was interviewed on our podcast six years ago when the project was still relatively young. As his time with the project comes to an end, he talks through what he accomplished, why the internet needs the “Visual Commentary on Scripture” site, and what’s next.
You can visit the Visual Commentary on Scripture website here. The project also has a new newsletter called Bible and Art Daily, which will send artwork and an audio Scripture commentary straight to an inbox. You can also find them on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and X.
Matthew Peterson is Religion Unplugged’s podcast editor and audience development coordinator.
This article is republished from Religion Unplugged under a Creative Commons license.