Seeing Jesus through centuries and cultures
EDMONTON, AB - A curator at the Provincial Museum of Alberta has launched what is undoubtedly the most ambitious exhibition depicting Christianity ever to be shown in Canada. Anno Domini: Jesus Through the Centuries will include some 250 pieces, from a 3,000 year-old Greek vase to 20th century paintings.
But people will have to wait until October to see Anno Domini, developed by David Goa, curator of the museum's Folklife division. Until then, viewers will have to be satisfied with a "virtual edition" on the worldwide web.
Goa, who also teaches at the university's Saint Stephen's College, says the project arose partly out of the realization several years ago that students were completely unaware of how the gospel has shaped and influenced culture.
"Students, whether they were churched or not, no longer had as part of the furnishing of their mind and heart the biblical story," Goa says. "It simply didn't exist." Even 15 years ago, young people "still had the story kicking around in the culture." But in the last decade, "the biblical 'capital' simply has vanished."
This was a revelation to Goa, who was raised in a Norwegian Lutheran home and converted to Catholicism at age 30. In his own childhood, the characters who people the biblical stories "were sort of at the table every day. I treasure that enormously."
"Virulent critique"
As the millennium was approaching, in a time of "quite virulent critique of the church" by some, and ignoring it by others, Goa felt the time was ripe to produce a contemplative exhibit to portray "Jesus' gospel and the way it has been understood how that has shaped and reshaped culture and civilization."
At the same time Goa had made an acquaintance with Jaroslav Pelikan, historian of Christian ideas. Pelikan's book Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture (Yale University Press, 1985) gave the curator a base from which to build the exhibit. The 18 themes of Anno Domini are taken from the 18 chapters of Pelikan's book, including emphases on things like Jesus the Jew, Jesus the Hero of the Gentiles, and Jesus the Liberator. Pelikan is also honourary curator of the production.
The display will include sculpture, painting, illuminated manuscript, ivory, metalwork, textiles, icons, books and other forms. Works from the Renaissance, William Blake, 16th century Greece and 20th century Scotland will be among the eclectic mix. Goa is also bringing in pieces from Australia, China, India, Africa, Mexico and other locations.
"Jesus the Liberator" will include a listening post for visitors to listen to a recording of "Amazing Grace" while reading the diary of hymn writer John Newton, who repented of being a slave-ship owner.
Pre-Christian image
And what does a pre-Christian Greek vase featuring Odysseus have to do with Jesus shaping culture? When the early church fathers, Goa explains, were looking for the prefiguration of the gospel story in gentile sources, they turned both to Old Testament biblical sources and to classical sources. The Greek vase depicts Odysseus lashed to the mast of a ship in a scene from Homer's Odyssey. "They saw in this image the full theme of how the cross of Christ aids us in our struggles," Goa says.
Goa sees the undertaking as a way of communicating both to Christians and non-Christians. "I'm interested in people who know nothing about this, or only inklings, actually recognizing and having a chance to think about how our culture has been shaped," Goa says. "Some of this," he adds, "has been very life-giving, and some of it has been death-dealing."
He also feels the exhibition can be used by Christians of all kinds. "Very few Christians have much of a feel for anything other than a small portion of their tradition," he comments. "Here will be a chance for them to enrich their sense of the Christian community."
The logistics of Anno Domini are massive, and include extensive negotiations with museums and collectors around the world. Museums lending pieces require detailed documentation on the temperature and lighting of the facility, the weather in the city, security, and transportation from the airport. Fifteen major institutions in Canada, the U.S. and Europe are on the "short list" to host Anno Domini, but so far there is no firm itinerary beyond the October 7, 2000 to January 7, 2001 dates in Edmonton.
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