Sensing God Through Sight: Depicting God

The Catholic worship combines all of the five senses: sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste. Catholics believe that divine grace entering the soul cannot be detected by our human senses. Since this is the case, the Church uses external symbols for the human body to detect, while the soul actually receives the grace.

Most people rely on sight more than any other sense. From the words you read, to the images you examine, the ability to see visually is important for human knowledge. Catholicism teaches that God (the Father) has no human body. He is a pure spirit, meaning that He is totally inivisible. But since sight is such an important human trait, people have felt the need to represent God somehow, to create a visible symbol for an invisible being. One problem is that the First Commandment forbids the use of graven images, which are objects of worship, or idols.

Pagans, such as the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, and Romans, had multiple gods and goddesses, which were represented in stone or metal and worshipped. The Hebrews were one of the few ancient cultures to have a monotheistic religion, meaning they worshipped only one deity. Although their pagan counterparts had numerous temples and idols for worship, the Jews were forbidden from making an image of God. From Abraham to Moses, no one even knew the name "God." He was referred to as "the nameless One." This invisible, imageless, and nameless deity was different than other cultures'. Invoking the name or possessing an image of a god gave the believer some sort of influence over the deity. However, the one true God had no name and could not be depicted by any imagery.

Once paganism died out and the Roman Empire embraced Christianity, the danger of distorting God disappeared. Once God took on the human nature of Jesus (the theory goes), he possessed a real body and had a real name. The fear of using graven imagery thus disappeared in Christian culture. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are usually represented in a consistent manner.

God the Father: Usually depicted as an old man with a long beard, which can be traced to early European Christians. In modern art, however, God is also portrayed as an Asian, or an African. Since He is a spirit, the reasoning goes, why should he only be portrayed as a Caucasian?

Jesus: Had a face, but there are no contemporary images that artists can use. Artists have used their own creativity in drawing Christ.

God the Holy Spirit: Usually portrayed as a dove, because the Bible speaks of a dove descending on Jesus at his Baptism.

Today, you can see God portrayed in paintings, as well as on stained glass. Michelangelo's Creation of Adam is probably the most famous portrayal of God.