Jesus through Medieval Eyes: Beholding Christ with the Artists, Mystics, and Theologians of the Middle Ages

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C.S. Lewis noted that the church has a problem: Whenever Christians are brainstorming together about who Jesus is and who we are, we go out and read mostly people who agree with us, or who live in our same time and place. It's hard to separate the cultural wheat from the chaff. But what happens when we do read people's answers to Jesus's question from the past lives and places of the church--people who may be wholly unlike us Who is Jesus What is he like And who am I, encountering Jesus

The answers will surprise you.

Jesus Through Medieval Eyes, by Grace Hamman, looks to the Christians of the Middle Ages, to a time and culture dissimilar to our own, for their answers to these questions. Medieval Europeans were also suffering through pandemics, dealing with political and ecclesial corruption and instability, and reckoning with gender, money, and power. Yet their concerns and imaginations are unlike ours. Their ideas, narratives, and art about Jesus open up paradoxically fresh and ancient ways to approach and adore Christ--and reveal where our own cultural ideals about the Messiah fall short.

In thoughtful and accessible chapters, medievalist scholar Grace Hamman explores and meditates upon medieval representations of Jesus in theology and literature. These representations of Jesus span from the familiar, like Jesus as the Judge at the End of Days, or Jesus as the Lover of the Song of Songs, to the more unusual, like Jesus as Our Mother. Through the words of medieval people like Julian of Norwich, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Margery Kempe, and St. Thomas Aquinas, we meet these faces of Jesus and find renewed ways to love the Savior, in the words of St. Augustine, that "beauty so ancient and so new."

Reviews

'In Jesus Through Medieval Eyes Grace Hamman combines the scholarly and the practical in a way that is, alas, all too uncommon. She deploys her broad and deep knowledge of the Middle Ages in the service of helping ordinary Christians become more knowledgeable and more faithful lovers of Christ. Beautifully and engagingly written, this book helps us understand ourselves better by introducing us to our fellow Christians who lived in a world that is at once strikingly strange and strangely familiar.' * Fritz Bauerschmidt, professor of theology, Loyola University Maryland; deacon of the Archdiocese of Baltimore *
'In Jesus through Medieval Eyes, Grace Hamman offers an absorbing and accessible work of Christian retrieval, guiding readers back to the delightfully distinct treasures of medieval Christianity. With erudition and devotional care, Hamman guides us toward the radiant goodness of Christ--a goodness best beheld when we gaze upon him from a vantage point beyond our own. Whether 'medieval' as a modifier to 'Christianity' makes you sing with joy, hum with curiosity, or shriek with fear, humble readers will find this book an intellectual and spiritual feast.' * Claude Atcho, pastor of Church of the Resurrection, author of Reading Black Books *
'Jesus Through Medieval Eyes offers vivid, earthy, and sometimes jarring insights into Jesus as seen through the lives and minds of those who walked this faith journey ahead of us. The Jesus they understood is, in some ways, as startling to us as our portrayals of him today would be to them. But we have much to learn from ages past, and Grace Hamman is the perfect one to guide us on this tour. Her writing is as sharp, witty, and sparkling as the medieval minds she studies and introduces us to. This book is rich and utterly delightful.' * Karen Swallow Prior, PhD, author of The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images & Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis *
'Under Grace Hamman's tutelage, readers enter a 'school of love.' Jesus through Medieval Eyes challenges our assumptions about Jesus, expanding our vision of him with medieval images. After reading this book, we know Jesus as judge, lover, mother, and more. Contrary to books that offer contemporary solutions to contemporary problems, Jesus through Medieval Eyes illuminates an eternal and timeless Savior.' * Jessica Hooten Wilson, Fletcher Jones Endowed Chair of Great Books at Pepperdine University, author of Reading for the Love of God *
'With a scholar's eye and a pastor's hand, Grace Hamman gently accompanies us on a journey of challenging our under-examined beliefs and biases until we find ourselves beholding Christ in new, exciting ways. This book is a breath of fresh air.' * Shannon K. Evans, author of Rewilding Motherhood and Feminist Prayers for My Daughter *

Author Bio

Grace Hamman, Ph.D. (Duke University) is a writer and independent scholar of late medieval poetry and contemplative writing. Her work has been published by academic and popular outlets, including Plough Quarterly and The Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. Grace hosts a podcast called Old Books with Grace which celebrates the beauty and joy found in reading the literature and theology of the past. She lives near Denver, Colorado with her husband and three young children.