Modern Christians picture Jesus as gentle, calm, and spotless, but medieval Catholics saw Him in ways that feel completely alien to us today. Their art, devotion, and imagination produced a Jesus who was fierce, wounded, intimate, royal, cosmic, heroic, and sometimes shockingly strange.
This video explains exactly why medieval Christians envisioned Jesus so differently: from early Byzantine “living” crucifixions, to 12th-century affective piety, to mystical bridal imagery, to homunculus Christ-child depictions, to the wild Eucharistic statues used in late medieval processions.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – Why Medieval Christians Saw Jesus Differently
0:39 – The Early Medieval Alive Christ
2:22 – Why Jesus Didn’t Look Anatomically Correct
3:14 – Byzantine Influence and Non-Realistic Symbolism
3:48 – The Cross of Otto & Mathilde and Medieval Ornate Simplicity
4:30 – Medieval Loincloths and Royal Drapery
5:10 – The Side Wound: Channels of Grace
6:54 – Quick Patreon Plug
7:22 – Christ the Knight and Chivalric Savior
8:24 – Erotic Devotion and Medieval Mysticism
9:47 – The Wound as Mystical Passage
11:29 – Homunculus Jesus and Fully Formed Infancy
12:15 – Eucharistic Devotion and Christ in Processions
13:25 – Jesus as the Logos: Medieval Visual Theology
15:01 – Why Medieval Depictions Changed Over Time
Works Cited
- Bonne of Luxembourg, Prayer Book of Bonne of Luxembourg. The Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art, ca. 1340–1345.
- Colin Morris. The Discovery of the Individual, 1050–1200. University of Toronto Press, 1987.
- Duffy, Eamon. The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400–1580. Yale University Press, 1992.
- Langland, William. Piers Plowman. Edited by A. V. C. Schmidt, Oxford University Press, 2012.
- Mechthild of Magdeburg. The Flowing Light of the Godhead. Translated by Frank Tobin, Paulist Press, 1998.
- Röttgen Pietà. Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, early 14th century.
- San Damiano Cross. Basilica of Saint Clare, Assisi, 11th century.
- Moutier-Grandval Bible. British Library, Add MS 10546, 840s.
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