Christus Paradox - The Many Faces of a Symbol ~ Bread for Beggars

Who is Jesus? The way you answer that question affects the way you see your life and the lives of others. Here’s what the Augsburg Confession (1530) had to say about Jesus.

We teach that the Word, that is, the Son of God, did assume the human nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, so that there are two natures, the divine and the human, inseparably enjoined in one Person, one Christ, true God and true man, who was born of the Virgin Mary, truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, that He might reconcile the Father unto us, and be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men.
He also descended into hell, and truly rose again the third day; afterward He ascended into heaven that He might sit on the right hand of the Father, and forever reign and have dominion over all creatures, and sanctify them that believe in Him, by sending the Holy Ghost into their hearts, to rule, comfort, and quicken them, and to defend them against the devil and the power of sin.
The same Christ shall openly come again to judge the quick and the dead, etc., according to the Apostles’ Creed.

Over the past five years, I’ve developed and used this image of Jesus to communicate aspects of his nature. I certainly don’t intend this as a portrait of what your eyes would see if you met him at the Sea of Galilee. This image is meant to carry ideas. It’s a symbol.

This is an image of duality. In one face we see both his majesty and his ministry. Dramatic lighting from both sides obscures the facial features. We don’t need to get too distracted by that debate. A curtain of shadow separates left from right. The left side reveals the image of a king. He is the creator of the universe, reigns over all, and will judge in power. The right side commemorates the historical moment when he “did assume the human nature” to “be a sacrifice”. While I sometimes use subtle differences in color or texture between the two sides, the clearest contrast can be seen in the transformation of the crown.

I’ve gathered some video and photo records here to provide a tour of the life of this image so far.

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This video offers you more information and “making of” footage.

Christus Paradox has been a drawing, poster, program cover, banner, canvas, sculpture, sand animation, and motion graphic. This photo gallery chronicles the development and various applications of the same image.

My Christus Paradox image came about because we needed a poster/promo image for Tenebrae Services with The Lutheran Ceili Orchestra in 2015. That service featured the following sand animations accompanied by the Ceili Orchestra. The ancient hymn explores various complex dualities in Jesus the God-Man. I had finished making these sand animations full of paradoxes but needed one still image for the poster to say it all.

Note: Because the Ceili Orchestra did not have recordings of this hymn available at the time, I substituted other instrumentals of theirs. Captions relay the lyrics.