Loaded Bible 2: Blood of Christ
Comic Books: Horror: 0 comments: 05/26/2007
By Rae_rae
Jesus Christ Vampire Slayer
Quick warning: if you do not like vampires, if you do not have a sense of humor when it comes to Christianity, if books like Battle Pope and The Goon offend you then do not even think about picking this up. Everyone else should at least be mildly amused by this. Almost a year or so ago the first Loaded Bible came out. In that we were introduced to a post apocalyptic world where vampires ruled most of the Earth, the Vatican controlled most of society and killed anyone who rebelled, and Jesus came back to kill the vampires. Or so that’s what Jesus and the people thought. A circle of vamp leaders infiltrated the priests that ran society in order to show humans ‘the truth.’ What was this ‘truth’? How about the fact that their faith did not bring the second coming of Jesus to save them but cloning did. Add that with film of Jesus talking to a very sexy, very naked female vampire showing him (and the camera) the reserve of clones makes for a rebellion of the people. Then nothing. I don’t know what took Image so long to put this second book out but I’m glad they did. This issue picks up two days after the people who followed the Vatican learned ‘the truth.’ Jesus, trying to cope with the fact that he is not the messiah, is now MIA in the desert. Things get more confusing for him when he finds a vampire baby and tries to save it but cannot. Meanwhile, an angry mob becomes violent when drones for the Vatican try to kill the vamp that told them the truth about their Jesus. Then the priests let loose they other Jesus clones, but not before letting hell break loose on the mob by releasing some starved test vamps they had captured first. After all, what better way to restore faith then by the farce of saving people from monsters you let loose yourself.
This book was very comical. Ok, so not obviously comical like Battle Pope, but the plot is just so fanatical that I couldn’t stop laughing. This book has a bit of a dark tone, is bloody, has boobies, and is violent. Maybe I just have a sick sense of humor, but if you want something different pick this book up. The only downside to this for me was the $4.99 price tag. Looks like gas isn’t the only thing going up in price.
http://www.popsyndicate.com/site/story/loaded_bible_2_blood_of_christ
2008/02/26
THE BLASPHEMOUS COMIC :LOADED BIBLE
JESUS SAVES: SEELEY TALKS "LOADED BIBLE" by Dave Richards, Staff Writer Posted: February 1, 2006 — More From This Author
NOTE: The following contains some adult content and language.
Contrary to what the heavy metal band Slayer would have you believe, Jesus saves everyone; not through sermons, but by kicking some undead ass! This is the premise behind "Loaded Bible: Jesus vs. Vampires," a 48 page one shot shipping in April from Image Comics. CBR News spoke with writer Tim Seeley about the book, which is set in a dystopian future world overrun by blood thirsty nosferatu.
The roots of "Loaded Bible" stretch back to Seeley's teenage years. "Waaaay back when I was a teenager I was driving around listening to college radio when they played this crazy song where the lyrics were something to do with 'a rifle in one hand and a bible in the other,'" Seeley told CBR News. "For whatever reason, it gave me this idea to do a western where Jesus fought vampires. I went home and told my brother Steve about it and he started talking about an idea he had involving Jesus. I liked his, so we combined our ideas into 'Loaded Bible.' When I worked for Dead Dog Comics, I actually published a 'Loaded Bible' short story in 'From Heaven to Hell' #1, with art by pre- 'G.I. Joe' Steve Kurth. Eventually, I started working for DDP, and 'Bible' got back-burnered as I worked on 'G.I. Joe,' 'Dark Elf' and 'Hack/Slash.'
"But, one day a year ago, I sat down and wrote a 42 page story, out of nowhere," Seeley continued. "I was surprised it just came out like that. I 'm friends with several of the guys at Image and I sent it to them. They thought it sounded fun, so we began the slow process of getting an artist on it, and scheduling it up. Robert Kirkman, who's an old friend of mine, kicked it in high gear by hooking me up with Nate Bellgrade and Make Englert. And, away we went, hopefully right in time for an Easter release!"
Horror movie fans might incorrectly think that Seeley was influenced by the 2001 independent horror comedy "Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter." "That movie came out several years after young Steve and I started working on 'Bible.'" Seeley said. "I was so bummed when I saw the ad for that movie. But, I rented it anyway...it's good. Check it out. But, it's pretty different from 'Bible.' 'Bible' is actually this sort of epic science fiction story (believe it or not!), with more in common with stories like 'Blade Runner' and 'I Am Legend.' No seriously. But, being me, I also wrote in a fair amount of silly, bad-ass Jesus one-liners. I mean, I'm just not that strong. I had to."
"Loaded Bible" is set in the near future in a dark, dystopian world. "After 9/11, Americans become more insular, more routed in Christian faith, to the point where church and state become inseparable. Then, one day, we find out that vampires exist. And from there, everything goes to hell," Seeley explained. "Bible takes place in the aftermath of a nuclear war with the Vampire Nation. The last outpost of humanity is a giant theocratic church-state called New Vatican City. Vampires are everywhere, most of them starving due to a lack of human prey. They're getting desperate. And then, our boy Jesus comes along."
Seeley is keeping mum on the details of Christ's return, but Jesus finds himself thrust into a world where living up to the role of Savior of mankind won't be an easy task. "Our Jesus is as much based on what I could find out about the real Christ as possible, combined with a sort of Snake Plissken bad ass hero. He's a good person - a thinker, a progressive. But, he's responsible for all these people, who all look to him to save them. It makes him sort of tortured hero - a guy with the weight of the world on his shoulders who covers it up with brash confidence."
Some people might wonder what kind of special skills the Jewish carpenter possesses to aid him in his crusade against the vile, blood sucking hordes. "Well, he's Jesus. I mean, just the image of a cross fucks with vampires," Seeley stated. "Imagine what the actual guy who hung from it can do. Three words....holy water spit."
Jesus will need all the weapons and skills at his disposal to take on the horde of adversaries he faces in "Loaded Bible." "In this first story, it's mostly vampires that Jesus will be tussling with, but by the end of the tale, we set him up for a whole new set of adversaries," Seeley explained. "Also, there are different kinds of vampires, so you get to see the difference between Jesus chopping up lesser vampires, which are more like zombies, and Greater Vampires, which can do all kinds of Dracula-shit."
In "Loaded Bible: Jesus vs. Vampires," readers will also meet some of the major players in the Vampire Nation, including their ruling body the Vampire Council. "The head of the council is Lilith, the first vampire," Seeley said. "But, our Lilith ain't no sexy, Vampirella looking dame. She's the first vampire. She's a goddamn monkey. An Australopithecus to be exact. And, Sistine Centura, the vampire assassin plays a major role."
The plot of "Loaded Bible: Jesus vs. Vampires" will reveal the answer to a mystery and introduce readers to the book's unique setting. "'Loaded Bible' deals with Christ coming to find the truth of his existence, while setting up the world and the colorful characters that inhabit it. Also, there's shitloads of crazy fight scenes."
Seeley hopes "Jesus vs. Vampires" is just the first installment in the "Loaded Bible" series and notes that if it does well, there'll definitely be more stories to come. "I have [the next story] all plotted out and ready to go," said Seeley. "And the sequel will involve a familiar character. After all, what kind of Bible story would I be telling if I didn't include the devil?"
Some people might mistakenly dismiss "Loaded Bible" as just a humor book, but Seeley says it's a tad more serious than the solicitation text had people believing. "It's an epic, so it's got a heavy tone," Seeley explained. "But, on the other hand, at it's heart, it's still a sacrilegious romp, with plenty of big summer blockbuster moments"
Seeley feels that anyone who appreciates fun, sweeping cinematic adventure epics should appreciate "Loaded Bible." "If you're a close-minded type who can't stand any criticism or exploration of Christianity, you should probably avoid it," warned Seeley. "But, if you're up for a wild, action/horror comic, you should definitely get it. The art is great, the characters are cool, and it's not just another corporate superhero book."
Discuss this story here on CBR's Image Comics Forum.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=6560
NOTE: The following contains some adult content and language.
Contrary to what the heavy metal band Slayer would have you believe, Jesus saves everyone; not through sermons, but by kicking some undead ass! This is the premise behind "Loaded Bible: Jesus vs. Vampires," a 48 page one shot shipping in April from Image Comics. CBR News spoke with writer Tim Seeley about the book, which is set in a dystopian future world overrun by blood thirsty nosferatu.
The roots of "Loaded Bible" stretch back to Seeley's teenage years. "Waaaay back when I was a teenager I was driving around listening to college radio when they played this crazy song where the lyrics were something to do with 'a rifle in one hand and a bible in the other,'" Seeley told CBR News. "For whatever reason, it gave me this idea to do a western where Jesus fought vampires. I went home and told my brother Steve about it and he started talking about an idea he had involving Jesus. I liked his, so we combined our ideas into 'Loaded Bible.' When I worked for Dead Dog Comics, I actually published a 'Loaded Bible' short story in 'From Heaven to Hell' #1, with art by pre- 'G.I. Joe' Steve Kurth. Eventually, I started working for DDP, and 'Bible' got back-burnered as I worked on 'G.I. Joe,' 'Dark Elf' and 'Hack/Slash.'
"But, one day a year ago, I sat down and wrote a 42 page story, out of nowhere," Seeley continued. "I was surprised it just came out like that. I 'm friends with several of the guys at Image and I sent it to them. They thought it sounded fun, so we began the slow process of getting an artist on it, and scheduling it up. Robert Kirkman, who's an old friend of mine, kicked it in high gear by hooking me up with Nate Bellgrade and Make Englert. And, away we went, hopefully right in time for an Easter release!"
Horror movie fans might incorrectly think that Seeley was influenced by the 2001 independent horror comedy "Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter." "That movie came out several years after young Steve and I started working on 'Bible.'" Seeley said. "I was so bummed when I saw the ad for that movie. But, I rented it anyway...it's good. Check it out. But, it's pretty different from 'Bible.' 'Bible' is actually this sort of epic science fiction story (believe it or not!), with more in common with stories like 'Blade Runner' and 'I Am Legend.' No seriously. But, being me, I also wrote in a fair amount of silly, bad-ass Jesus one-liners. I mean, I'm just not that strong. I had to."
"Loaded Bible" is set in the near future in a dark, dystopian world. "After 9/11, Americans become more insular, more routed in Christian faith, to the point where church and state become inseparable. Then, one day, we find out that vampires exist. And from there, everything goes to hell," Seeley explained. "Bible takes place in the aftermath of a nuclear war with the Vampire Nation. The last outpost of humanity is a giant theocratic church-state called New Vatican City. Vampires are everywhere, most of them starving due to a lack of human prey. They're getting desperate. And then, our boy Jesus comes along."
Seeley is keeping mum on the details of Christ's return, but Jesus finds himself thrust into a world where living up to the role of Savior of mankind won't be an easy task. "Our Jesus is as much based on what I could find out about the real Christ as possible, combined with a sort of Snake Plissken bad ass hero. He's a good person - a thinker, a progressive. But, he's responsible for all these people, who all look to him to save them. It makes him sort of tortured hero - a guy with the weight of the world on his shoulders who covers it up with brash confidence."
Some people might wonder what kind of special skills the Jewish carpenter possesses to aid him in his crusade against the vile, blood sucking hordes. "Well, he's Jesus. I mean, just the image of a cross fucks with vampires," Seeley stated. "Imagine what the actual guy who hung from it can do. Three words....holy water spit."
Jesus will need all the weapons and skills at his disposal to take on the horde of adversaries he faces in "Loaded Bible." "In this first story, it's mostly vampires that Jesus will be tussling with, but by the end of the tale, we set him up for a whole new set of adversaries," Seeley explained. "Also, there are different kinds of vampires, so you get to see the difference between Jesus chopping up lesser vampires, which are more like zombies, and Greater Vampires, which can do all kinds of Dracula-shit."
In "Loaded Bible: Jesus vs. Vampires," readers will also meet some of the major players in the Vampire Nation, including their ruling body the Vampire Council. "The head of the council is Lilith, the first vampire," Seeley said. "But, our Lilith ain't no sexy, Vampirella looking dame. She's the first vampire. She's a goddamn monkey. An Australopithecus to be exact. And, Sistine Centura, the vampire assassin plays a major role."
The plot of "Loaded Bible: Jesus vs. Vampires" will reveal the answer to a mystery and introduce readers to the book's unique setting. "'Loaded Bible' deals with Christ coming to find the truth of his existence, while setting up the world and the colorful characters that inhabit it. Also, there's shitloads of crazy fight scenes."
Seeley hopes "Jesus vs. Vampires" is just the first installment in the "Loaded Bible" series and notes that if it does well, there'll definitely be more stories to come. "I have [the next story] all plotted out and ready to go," said Seeley. "And the sequel will involve a familiar character. After all, what kind of Bible story would I be telling if I didn't include the devil?"
Some people might mistakenly dismiss "Loaded Bible" as just a humor book, but Seeley says it's a tad more serious than the solicitation text had people believing. "It's an epic, so it's got a heavy tone," Seeley explained. "But, on the other hand, at it's heart, it's still a sacrilegious romp, with plenty of big summer blockbuster moments"
Seeley feels that anyone who appreciates fun, sweeping cinematic adventure epics should appreciate "Loaded Bible." "If you're a close-minded type who can't stand any criticism or exploration of Christianity, you should probably avoid it," warned Seeley. "But, if you're up for a wild, action/horror comic, you should definitely get it. The art is great, the characters are cool, and it's not just another corporate superhero book."
Discuss this story here on CBR's Image Comics Forum.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=6560
LOADED BIBLE-WIKIPEDIA
Loaded Bible
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Cover to Loaded Bible #1.
Cover to Loaded Bible #2.
Loaded Bible: Jesus vs. Vampires is a comic book written by Tim Seeley, with art by Nate Bellgrade published February 2006 by Image Comics. The story is about an apocalyptic future where Jesus Christ must save America from vampires after a nuclear war. A follow-up was released May 2007 called Loaded Bible 2: Blood of Christ and it takes place right after the first one. Loaded Bible 3: Communion is being released February 20, 2008 and will the be the conclusion to the first part of the series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loaded_Bible
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Cover to Loaded Bible #1.
Cover to Loaded Bible #2.
Loaded Bible: Jesus vs. Vampires is a comic book written by Tim Seeley, with art by Nate Bellgrade published February 2006 by Image Comics. The story is about an apocalyptic future where Jesus Christ must save America from vampires after a nuclear war. A follow-up was released May 2007 called Loaded Bible 2: Blood of Christ and it takes place right after the first one. Loaded Bible 3: Communion is being released February 20, 2008 and will the be the conclusion to the first part of the series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loaded_Bible
TIM SEELEY:LOADED BIBLE
by Daniel Robert Epstein
Tim Seeley is best known as the penciler of dozens of Devil's Due books and the co-creator of the cult favorite Hack/Slash. Now he's strutting out another creator owned book with penciler Nate Bellgrade in a one-shot called Loaded Bible. The book is set in the near future where after America has become a fervent Christian nation, the usually quiet vampire segment of the population has made its move which caused a nuclear war. The only chance the world has left is the second coming of Jesus Christ. Now instead of loaves and fishes he's got a sword and pistols.
One wouldn't expect a comic book that has Jesus Christ spouting off lines that would make Arnold Schwarzenegger wince to have a strong political substance. But Seeley has managed to infuse his book with intelligence, wit and stupidity all at the same time.
Newsarama: Are people attacking you and Loaded Bible yet?
Tim Seeley: Initially I was thinking "Wow, it's been light so far." But Image got a letter yesterday that was basically someone saying that they're not going to purchase anymore Image books and they're going to encourage others not to purchase Image books for supporting books like Loaded Bible and Battle Pope. I was like, "Yeah. I guess I expected this." But it is surprising when it happened. I'm sure by the time the book comes out, either people will attack it in a knee-jerk reaction or they'll just realize that it's not specifically criticizing Jesus or something. It's more about religion and church and state and then also about stupid action scenes. So hopefully they'll get that and won't just knee jerk.
NRAMA: You and your brother, Steve, came up with this, right?
TS: Yeah. Actually it's really old. It was one of those things we first came up with when I was 18 years old. We started saying, "Loaded Bible. Yeah. We've got to do that comic someday." Initially it was just more of the just fun and crazy idea of having Jesus fight vampires, which changed over the years partially. They released a film that was basically just the fun aspect of that called Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter.
Then I started getting angrier politically, so I wanted to slide more of that in and make it at least partially relevant.
NRAMA: You used to draw G.I. Joe, right?
TS: Yep. Now I'm currently drawing the Forgotten Realms stuff.
NRAMA: It's funny that now you're attacking the stuff that Joe kind of espouses.
TS: Yeah, In its way G.I. Joe does espouse that but it's also generally supposed to be for kids so it's always skirted any political aspect. That's why Cobra has always been very generalized and has very vague motivations of world dominance. I think G.I. Joe has really always avoided that thing. I do think that the adult fans tend to be the more conservative types. I hope it doesn't sound like hypocrisy coming from me. There's definitely ways to do that kind of book and not have it be political and I think G.I. Joe is the best example of trying to pull that off. They're very sensitive about doing anything with actual terrorists and stuff. Hopefully it doesn't come across I'm this guy that's like, "Oh, I'll draw the stuff, but I'll start talking shit about everything else."
NRAMA: It is just G.I. Joe…
TS: Yeah. It's really more of a kid thing. When I worked on G.I. Joe, I wouldn't try to cram my little political beliefs into it like making Cobra clearly this religious regime or something.
NRAMA: Are you a very political person, or is it just impossible to not be a political person now?
TS: I've always really been interested in politics and trying to see the world run the way that it says it wants to be run or the way that it was intended to be, especially this country. I think in the current political climate it is impossible to not to be galvanized and it's impossible to not to have any opinion because it's so extreme. The current administration is about as gung ho in one direction as you can get. It just seems like there's so little room for middle ground anymore.
NRAMA: How did Loaded Bible become this pastiche of action films as well?
TS: Originally that's what it was going to be. When I first started plotting this story with my brother, it really was just the gimmick of "what Blade Runner-esque wacky ideas can we throw into this?" The things that are in there now are really just the leftovers. It's so unnecessary sometimes to make something completely preachy. Give them a good time for god's sake. I didn't want it to be as mindless as something like [the movie] Ultraviolet, but it definitely was intended to have things that make you chuckle because they are twisted and fun. There's no reason not to have some little die-hard foul laughs at a comic book about Jesus in the future.
NRAMA: Putting the World Trade Center burning on the very front page really lays all the cards out on the table.
TS: Yeah. Pre 9/11, the Bush administration was really just a lame duck. It wasn't until they had something to push and something to fight against that they became this really powerful aspect in this country. Anyone who was on the fence picked a side, because now it was about Operation Eternal Justice and us versus them. I thought it was a combination of things. I thought it was all about freedom of religion or from religion and it became this thing where it's Christianity versus Islam. That's really the starting point of when people became angry about what's going on now.
NRAMA: How come you didn't draw Loaded Bible?
TS: Same reason as usual. I just get too busy. It's always that thing where you want to do a little of both, but in this case it was just time. I would've loved to draw it, but I think Nate kicked my ass so hard that I'm glad I didn't touch a pencil on this thing.
NRAMA: How'd you find Nate?
TS: He was given to me by [Walking Dead creator] Robert Kirkman, who is an old friend of mine. I went through two artists on this book basically. One of the things you learn about working on an Image book is that all these people are going to be doing this book for free off the front end. They don't know how much money they're going to make. When it comes down to it, they could make nothing. So I had two artists that started and they couldn't finish. Finally I was just so frustrated, I called Kirkman. He seems to have this amazing ability to have all these great artists at his beck and call. So I was like, "Oh great and powerful Kirkman, could you please give me some artists because I am not having any luck?" He said, "Oh yeah. I've got a perfect guy for you." He hooked me with up with Nate and [inker] Mark Englert. They did an awesome job. Those guys are so interested in making sure it looked good that they went out of their way to make themselves look good, which ended up making the whole book look good.
NRAMA: Why did Loaded Bible go to Image and not Devil's Due?
TS: There are a few reasons. I love Devil's Due, so it's not like any "Fuck you guys" thing. I always wanted to do a book for Image by myself because I think it's one of those things that can give you a good resume point. Also I really like Image. There. Also I knew that if I did it at Devil's Due I wasn't going to be able to advertise it because Devil's Due is primarily a licensing company. They do G.I. Joe and stuff like that. I knew it wasn't going to be possible for me to like put an ad for Loaded Bible in the newest issue of Snake Eyes. Image is known for Battle Pope and other stuff. It just makes more sense for them to put this stuff out than it does for Devil's Due.
NRAMA: How do you like the whole process of working with Image?
TS: I liked it a lot. It's a learning experience. I'm lucky because I know how it works. I've seen it done and I've put together books. You're dealing with putting the book together; getting your artists to get their shit done and you're doing promotion for yourself. If I didn't have previous experience in this, I probably would be a babbling incoherent wreck at this point. It's a lot of work and it's really worth it.
NRAMA: Is Loaded Bible a one-shot?
TS: Yep, but there will be a sequel. It's going to be like Caine from Kung Fu, yeah. He's going to be walking the world. The second one will probably be more about Jesus. But after this, it will be more Jesus and crazier vampire death scenes.
NRAMA: Touching on your other projects, what's the status of the Hack/Slash movie?
TS: I read a treatment yesterday. I'm impressed because what I've read so far is really good. I wasn't sure about it but now I'm actually excited. Any time you go into this, you just remember everybody's horror stories. You start thinking "Bulletproof Monk the movie! Oh fuck." But so far, so good.
NRAMA: Is the girl from Sleepaway Camp supposed to be in it?
TS: No. That would be awesome though.
NRAMA: I wasn't sure.
TS: I would love that. If I ever have anything to do with anything involving Sleepaway Camp, consider me the happiest guy on fucking Earth. That's one of my favorite slasher films.
NRAMA: Will you be credited as executive producer and co-creator?
TS: I think my credit on the film is "created by Tim Seeley and Stefano Caselli," which is more than enough for me. I'm a comic guy. My interest is purely in doing a comic and having it come out and then going to see the movie and being happy with it. That's good enough for me.
NRAMA: Do you ever want to make movies?
TS: No, I'm a comic guy. I think if I ever decided to work in film, it would be on a very basic level where I'd take out a loan for a few thousand bucks and make some cobbled together Troma-esque films. I don't think I would ever go directly to Hollywood and try to like weasel my way into directing the latest Mission Impossible. I'm glad there are people that are all about that thing, but I'm just not that talented.
NRAMA: Has there been a bump in sales with Hack/Slash since the announcement of the movie?
TS: Yeah, there has. The sales of the trade paperback went up which is just so weird to me. I guess people get excited like, "Oh Hollywood cares. It must be good." Hopefully the movie will be great and people will be interested in seeing the source material. Then Hollywood will want to buy Loaded Bible and make a movie out of that, which everyone will hate.
NRAMA: Is the movie going with a whole new slasher or is it going to be a pastiche like you do in the comic?
TS: It's a combination. The story's pretty fun, but it is like a combination of the comics that you've seen before with some new, completely different shifts on it.
Loaded Bible is 48 pages, priced at $4.99 and will be in comic book stores May 24
Keep checking out the official website of Tim Seeley for updated info on Loaded Bible and its eventual sequel: http://www.timseeley.com/
Tim Seeley is best known as the penciler of dozens of Devil's Due books and the co-creator of the cult favorite Hack/Slash. Now he's strutting out another creator owned book with penciler Nate Bellgrade in a one-shot called Loaded Bible. The book is set in the near future where after America has become a fervent Christian nation, the usually quiet vampire segment of the population has made its move which caused a nuclear war. The only chance the world has left is the second coming of Jesus Christ. Now instead of loaves and fishes he's got a sword and pistols.
One wouldn't expect a comic book that has Jesus Christ spouting off lines that would make Arnold Schwarzenegger wince to have a strong political substance. But Seeley has managed to infuse his book with intelligence, wit and stupidity all at the same time.
Newsarama: Are people attacking you and Loaded Bible yet?
Tim Seeley: Initially I was thinking "Wow, it's been light so far." But Image got a letter yesterday that was basically someone saying that they're not going to purchase anymore Image books and they're going to encourage others not to purchase Image books for supporting books like Loaded Bible and Battle Pope. I was like, "Yeah. I guess I expected this." But it is surprising when it happened. I'm sure by the time the book comes out, either people will attack it in a knee-jerk reaction or they'll just realize that it's not specifically criticizing Jesus or something. It's more about religion and church and state and then also about stupid action scenes. So hopefully they'll get that and won't just knee jerk.
NRAMA: You and your brother, Steve, came up with this, right?
TS: Yeah. Actually it's really old. It was one of those things we first came up with when I was 18 years old. We started saying, "Loaded Bible. Yeah. We've got to do that comic someday." Initially it was just more of the just fun and crazy idea of having Jesus fight vampires, which changed over the years partially. They released a film that was basically just the fun aspect of that called Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter.
Then I started getting angrier politically, so I wanted to slide more of that in and make it at least partially relevant.
NRAMA: You used to draw G.I. Joe, right?
TS: Yep. Now I'm currently drawing the Forgotten Realms stuff.
NRAMA: It's funny that now you're attacking the stuff that Joe kind of espouses.
TS: Yeah, In its way G.I. Joe does espouse that but it's also generally supposed to be for kids so it's always skirted any political aspect. That's why Cobra has always been very generalized and has very vague motivations of world dominance. I think G.I. Joe has really always avoided that thing. I do think that the adult fans tend to be the more conservative types. I hope it doesn't sound like hypocrisy coming from me. There's definitely ways to do that kind of book and not have it be political and I think G.I. Joe is the best example of trying to pull that off. They're very sensitive about doing anything with actual terrorists and stuff. Hopefully it doesn't come across I'm this guy that's like, "Oh, I'll draw the stuff, but I'll start talking shit about everything else."
NRAMA: It is just G.I. Joe…
TS: Yeah. It's really more of a kid thing. When I worked on G.I. Joe, I wouldn't try to cram my little political beliefs into it like making Cobra clearly this religious regime or something.
NRAMA: Are you a very political person, or is it just impossible to not be a political person now?
TS: I've always really been interested in politics and trying to see the world run the way that it says it wants to be run or the way that it was intended to be, especially this country. I think in the current political climate it is impossible to not to be galvanized and it's impossible to not to have any opinion because it's so extreme. The current administration is about as gung ho in one direction as you can get. It just seems like there's so little room for middle ground anymore.
NRAMA: How did Loaded Bible become this pastiche of action films as well?
TS: Originally that's what it was going to be. When I first started plotting this story with my brother, it really was just the gimmick of "what Blade Runner-esque wacky ideas can we throw into this?" The things that are in there now are really just the leftovers. It's so unnecessary sometimes to make something completely preachy. Give them a good time for god's sake. I didn't want it to be as mindless as something like [the movie] Ultraviolet, but it definitely was intended to have things that make you chuckle because they are twisted and fun. There's no reason not to have some little die-hard foul laughs at a comic book about Jesus in the future.
NRAMA: Putting the World Trade Center burning on the very front page really lays all the cards out on the table.
TS: Yeah. Pre 9/11, the Bush administration was really just a lame duck. It wasn't until they had something to push and something to fight against that they became this really powerful aspect in this country. Anyone who was on the fence picked a side, because now it was about Operation Eternal Justice and us versus them. I thought it was a combination of things. I thought it was all about freedom of religion or from religion and it became this thing where it's Christianity versus Islam. That's really the starting point of when people became angry about what's going on now.
NRAMA: How come you didn't draw Loaded Bible?
TS: Same reason as usual. I just get too busy. It's always that thing where you want to do a little of both, but in this case it was just time. I would've loved to draw it, but I think Nate kicked my ass so hard that I'm glad I didn't touch a pencil on this thing.
NRAMA: How'd you find Nate?
TS: He was given to me by [Walking Dead creator] Robert Kirkman, who is an old friend of mine. I went through two artists on this book basically. One of the things you learn about working on an Image book is that all these people are going to be doing this book for free off the front end. They don't know how much money they're going to make. When it comes down to it, they could make nothing. So I had two artists that started and they couldn't finish. Finally I was just so frustrated, I called Kirkman. He seems to have this amazing ability to have all these great artists at his beck and call. So I was like, "Oh great and powerful Kirkman, could you please give me some artists because I am not having any luck?" He said, "Oh yeah. I've got a perfect guy for you." He hooked me with up with Nate and [inker] Mark Englert. They did an awesome job. Those guys are so interested in making sure it looked good that they went out of their way to make themselves look good, which ended up making the whole book look good.
NRAMA: Why did Loaded Bible go to Image and not Devil's Due?
TS: There are a few reasons. I love Devil's Due, so it's not like any "Fuck you guys" thing. I always wanted to do a book for Image by myself because I think it's one of those things that can give you a good resume point. Also I really like Image. There. Also I knew that if I did it at Devil's Due I wasn't going to be able to advertise it because Devil's Due is primarily a licensing company. They do G.I. Joe and stuff like that. I knew it wasn't going to be possible for me to like put an ad for Loaded Bible in the newest issue of Snake Eyes. Image is known for Battle Pope and other stuff. It just makes more sense for them to put this stuff out than it does for Devil's Due.
NRAMA: How do you like the whole process of working with Image?
TS: I liked it a lot. It's a learning experience. I'm lucky because I know how it works. I've seen it done and I've put together books. You're dealing with putting the book together; getting your artists to get their shit done and you're doing promotion for yourself. If I didn't have previous experience in this, I probably would be a babbling incoherent wreck at this point. It's a lot of work and it's really worth it.
NRAMA: Is Loaded Bible a one-shot?
TS: Yep, but there will be a sequel. It's going to be like Caine from Kung Fu, yeah. He's going to be walking the world. The second one will probably be more about Jesus. But after this, it will be more Jesus and crazier vampire death scenes.
NRAMA: Touching on your other projects, what's the status of the Hack/Slash movie?
TS: I read a treatment yesterday. I'm impressed because what I've read so far is really good. I wasn't sure about it but now I'm actually excited. Any time you go into this, you just remember everybody's horror stories. You start thinking "Bulletproof Monk the movie! Oh fuck." But so far, so good.
NRAMA: Is the girl from Sleepaway Camp supposed to be in it?
TS: No. That would be awesome though.
NRAMA: I wasn't sure.
TS: I would love that. If I ever have anything to do with anything involving Sleepaway Camp, consider me the happiest guy on fucking Earth. That's one of my favorite slasher films.
NRAMA: Will you be credited as executive producer and co-creator?
TS: I think my credit on the film is "created by Tim Seeley and Stefano Caselli," which is more than enough for me. I'm a comic guy. My interest is purely in doing a comic and having it come out and then going to see the movie and being happy with it. That's good enough for me.
NRAMA: Do you ever want to make movies?
TS: No, I'm a comic guy. I think if I ever decided to work in film, it would be on a very basic level where I'd take out a loan for a few thousand bucks and make some cobbled together Troma-esque films. I don't think I would ever go directly to Hollywood and try to like weasel my way into directing the latest Mission Impossible. I'm glad there are people that are all about that thing, but I'm just not that talented.
NRAMA: Has there been a bump in sales with Hack/Slash since the announcement of the movie?
TS: Yeah, there has. The sales of the trade paperback went up which is just so weird to me. I guess people get excited like, "Oh Hollywood cares. It must be good." Hopefully the movie will be great and people will be interested in seeing the source material. Then Hollywood will want to buy Loaded Bible and make a movie out of that, which everyone will hate.
NRAMA: Is the movie going with a whole new slasher or is it going to be a pastiche like you do in the comic?
TS: It's a combination. The story's pretty fun, but it is like a combination of the comics that you've seen before with some new, completely different shifts on it.
Loaded Bible is 48 pages, priced at $4.99 and will be in comic book stores May 24
Keep checking out the official website of Tim Seeley for updated info on Loaded Bible and its eventual sequel: http://www.timseeley.com/
LOADED BIBLE :JESUS vs VAMPIRES-BLASPHEMOUS COMIC
Loaded Bible: Jesus vs Vampires
Book Released: 24 May 2006
Review posted: 03 June 2006
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Nate Bellegarde
Publisher: Image Comics
3.00 out of 5 Stars
Reviewed by Adam White
Ever since I first heard about it I had been excited about Loaded Bible; I mean, who wouldn’t like Jesus fighting vampires (except nutty religious zealots, of course)? It was just a strange enough concept that I thought it would either be utterly brilliant or complete rubbish, so imagine my surprise when I actually ended up feeling conflicted about the final product.
Tim Seeley definitely has the right ideas, and also unveils a frighteningly accurate potential future for those of us in the States. Seeley creates a believable Jesus that is neither corny nor sappy (as in many portrayals), and a Jesus that relies on his own humanity rather than
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seeley creates a Jesus that relies on his own humanity rather than others’ notions of him as a religious symbol.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
others’ notions of him as a religious symbol. The main vampire characters are interesting if brief and provide both contrasts and similarities to the religious warmongers ruling the world in the book. There were some great one-liners, but most were there for the sake of being there and didn’t flow naturally with the dialogue. The revelations of this future Jesus’s origins come as a believable surprise, yet also unfold too quickly. Which is my main complaint about the story — this story told in 48 pages should have been told in at least sixty issues. Loaded Bible has many layers that Seeley could have richly explored over the course of a great series, yet because the market will not sustain any new ideas or ongoings at the moment he was forced to cram it all into a one-shot. So my problem is not so much the concepts in the book but the brevity that was forced on the creators involved.
The art from Nate Bellegarde suited the book well, with eerily deformed vampires and taciturn clergymen. I felt that Jesus sometimes looked as emaciated as the vampires, but not enough to take me out of the story at hand. The subject matter might have drawn other artists in the direction of cartoony satire, but Bellegarde rightfully gave the book the gritty, primal treatment it deserved. I believe that Bellgarde would have grown with a longer series as well and only improved with each issue.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loaded Bible has many layers that Seeley could have better explored over the course of a long series, yet the market’s atmosphere forced him to cram it all into a one-shot.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I guess I hyped myself up on Loaded Bible too much before I actually read it, which is always a danger, but the more I think about it the more I see a potential Preacher stamped out before it began by a violently apathetic readership. That makes me extremely sad, because we could use more longterm series that explore issues beyond costume changes and endless resurrections (ironically enough). So while Loaded Bible was an entertaining diversion of a one-shot, it would have really flourished as long-form series in the tradition of Preacher and Sandman.
—CCdC—
Book Released: 24 May 2006
Review posted: 03 June 2006
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Nate Bellegarde
Publisher: Image Comics
3.00 out of 5 Stars
Reviewed by Adam White
Ever since I first heard about it I had been excited about Loaded Bible; I mean, who wouldn’t like Jesus fighting vampires (except nutty religious zealots, of course)? It was just a strange enough concept that I thought it would either be utterly brilliant or complete rubbish, so imagine my surprise when I actually ended up feeling conflicted about the final product.
Tim Seeley definitely has the right ideas, and also unveils a frighteningly accurate potential future for those of us in the States. Seeley creates a believable Jesus that is neither corny nor sappy (as in many portrayals), and a Jesus that relies on his own humanity rather than
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seeley creates a Jesus that relies on his own humanity rather than others’ notions of him as a religious symbol.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
others’ notions of him as a religious symbol. The main vampire characters are interesting if brief and provide both contrasts and similarities to the religious warmongers ruling the world in the book. There were some great one-liners, but most were there for the sake of being there and didn’t flow naturally with the dialogue. The revelations of this future Jesus’s origins come as a believable surprise, yet also unfold too quickly. Which is my main complaint about the story — this story told in 48 pages should have been told in at least sixty issues. Loaded Bible has many layers that Seeley could have richly explored over the course of a great series, yet because the market will not sustain any new ideas or ongoings at the moment he was forced to cram it all into a one-shot. So my problem is not so much the concepts in the book but the brevity that was forced on the creators involved.
The art from Nate Bellegarde suited the book well, with eerily deformed vampires and taciturn clergymen. I felt that Jesus sometimes looked as emaciated as the vampires, but not enough to take me out of the story at hand. The subject matter might have drawn other artists in the direction of cartoony satire, but Bellegarde rightfully gave the book the gritty, primal treatment it deserved. I believe that Bellgarde would have grown with a longer series as well and only improved with each issue.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loaded Bible has many layers that Seeley could have better explored over the course of a long series, yet the market’s atmosphere forced him to cram it all into a one-shot.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I guess I hyped myself up on Loaded Bible too much before I actually read it, which is always a danger, but the more I think about it the more I see a potential Preacher stamped out before it began by a violently apathetic readership. That makes me extremely sad, because we could use more longterm series that explore issues beyond costume changes and endless resurrections (ironically enough). So while Loaded Bible was an entertaining diversion of a one-shot, it would have really flourished as long-form series in the tradition of Preacher and Sandman.
—CCdC—
2008/02/03
THE WEB-SITE OF JOHN WIJNGAARDS-WOMEN PRIESTS
The ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church
Welcome to the largest international website on
women and sacred ministry!
We are Roman Catholic theologians who firmly believe that the discussion on women priests should be left open.
We love our family, the Catholic Church. We fully accept the authority of the Pope. We respect his personal integrity as an outstanding spiritual leader. But we are convinced that the Pope and his advisors in Rome are making a serious mistake by dismissing women as priests. We feel obliged in conscience to make our carefully considered reasons known, fulfilling our duty to speak out as our present Pope has repeatedly told us.
“All the faithful, both clerical and lay, should be accorded a lawful freedom of inquiry, freedom of thought and freedom of expression.”
Gaudium et Spes, no 62; Canon Law no 212 § 3.
Our aim is to enable the Church to reform its way of thinking and its practice
so that women, as much as men,
will be admitted to all the ordained ministries.
Eight out of ten Catholic scholars in the world support the ordination of women.
Read here the complete texts of many contemporary Catholic theologians who give their reasons in favour of women priests. Our site is unique in providing in full all Roman documents that ban the ordination of women .
Judge for yourself the arguments of the Congregation for Doctrine in Rome.
We offer thousands of documents in English relevant to the ordination of women. They cover decrees of councils and synods, statements by the Fathers of the Church and medieval theologians, historical records, contemporary articles, classical publications, discussions on scripture, tradition and the teaching authority, picture galleries and much more.
http://www.womenpriests.org/default.asp
Welcome to the largest international website on
women and sacred ministry!
We are Roman Catholic theologians who firmly believe that the discussion on women priests should be left open.
We love our family, the Catholic Church. We fully accept the authority of the Pope. We respect his personal integrity as an outstanding spiritual leader. But we are convinced that the Pope and his advisors in Rome are making a serious mistake by dismissing women as priests. We feel obliged in conscience to make our carefully considered reasons known, fulfilling our duty to speak out as our present Pope has repeatedly told us.
“All the faithful, both clerical and lay, should be accorded a lawful freedom of inquiry, freedom of thought and freedom of expression.”
Gaudium et Spes, no 62; Canon Law no 212 § 3.
Our aim is to enable the Church to reform its way of thinking and its practice
so that women, as much as men,
will be admitted to all the ordained ministries.
Eight out of ten Catholic scholars in the world support the ordination of women.
Read here the complete texts of many contemporary Catholic theologians who give their reasons in favour of women priests. Our site is unique in providing in full all Roman documents that ban the ordination of women .
Judge for yourself the arguments of the Congregation for Doctrine in Rome.
We offer thousands of documents in English relevant to the ordination of women. They cover decrees of councils and synods, statements by the Fathers of the Church and medieval theologians, historical records, contemporary articles, classical publications, discussions on scripture, tradition and the teaching authority, picture galleries and much more.
http://www.womenpriests.org/default.asp
BLASPHEMY-CHRISTIAN PORNOGRAPHY
JOHN WIJNGAARDS A FALSE BLASPHEMOUS CHRISTIAN.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sexual Fantasies?
Sexual fatasizing means entertaining mental images of sexual activities or sexual objects.
Is it sinful to be involved in sexual fantasies?
Jesus seems to speak about sexual fantasies in the following text (Matthew 5,27-30):
“You have heard how it was said: ‘You shall not commit adultery’.
But I say to you: whosoever (a) looks at a woman (b) in order to lust after her has already (c) committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye has caused you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one member than to have your whole body thrown into hell.
And if your right hand should cause you to sin, cut if off and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one member than to have your whole body go to hell.”
This is traditionally understood as: a person who looks at a naked person or who fantasizes about making love to another person has committed a sin equivalent to adultery. However is this correct?
What does Jesus say?
‘Who looks at a woman’.
The Bible brings out in a number of its stories that looking at a woman lustfully frequently leads to acts of adultery. One example is David who watched Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife, taking a bath and who subsequently committed adultery with her and then had Uriah killed to cover up his deed (2 Samuel 11,2-27). Another is that of the two lecherous elders who saw Susannah bathe and who wanted to force her to have sex with them (Daniel 13,15-22). Jesus is talking about looking aimed at adultery.
‘in order to lust after her’.
This refers to the tenth commandment: “You shall not lust after your neighbour’s house, your neighbour’s wife, or his slave, male or female, or his donkey or anything that is his” (Exodus 20,17). The Hebrew word for ‘lusting after’ (chamad) means a desiring that includes the intention to take and appropriate a property. This again links the ‘looking’ to the act of adultery which was considered stealing a wife from the husband.
‘has already committed adultery with her in his heart’. This is the point of Jesus’ statement. Jewish judicial practice in Jesus’ time defined adultery purely in the external act which had to be attested to by witnesses. In line with all the other statements in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus declares that not just the external act, but the interior intention to commit an act of adultery is sinful.
Conclusion.
Mt 5,27-30 does not refer to sexual fantasising in a general kind of way. He was teaching the importance of what happens in our heart. The sin of adultery lies in the intention of committing adultery rather than in the external act. Most fantasizing does not intend adultery.
When interpreting Scripture we have to pay attention to the scope intended by the original author, not to the literal sounds of the words.
Otherwise we would also have to take the words of ‘tearing out an eye’ or ‘hacking off your hand’ literally! Or other scriptural passages that require women to wear a veil in church ( 1 Corinthians 11,2-16), which ban part-wool part-cotton clothing (Deuteronomy 22,11), the eating of pork, shrimp, and hamburgers (Leviticus 11,1-12), or which regulate slavery (Ephesians 6,5-9).
So how to judge sexual fantasies?
Moralists and mental health professionals have concluded that sexual fantasies in themselves can be normal and healthy. Usually they are not harmful.
Fantasies, such as imagining having intercourse with a person, often arise spontaneously.
Sexual attraction to other people is natural and, to a degree, an automatic and unavoidable response. If no actual intercourse is intended, they do not involve sin.
Then what about ‘pornography’?
Sexual fantasizing is often aided by the use of pornography, i.e. by looking at naked pictures of men or women, or at couples engaged in the sexual act. This is more common among men than among women because men are more readily sexually aroused by visual means.
There are forms of pornography that should be rejected.
All forms of pornography that involves or presupposes violence, rape, pedofilia, and so on should obviously not be tolerated.
Pornography that encourages sexual gratification for its own sake could be harmful in the long run and should be avoided.
However, there may be justification for the looking at pictures of naked men and women and sexual imagery in a number of cases. I mention a few examples:
Research in western societies has shown that the use of ‘pornography’ is often found among teenagers and adolescents who go through a phase of discovering sex.
This is partly due to the lack of adequate sexual education which at times forces youngsters to obtain necessary information from all kinds of sources. The youngsters in question may be using the material in a responsible fashion.
Looking at sex images is also frequently found among middle-aged and older persons, more often among men than women, who compensate for the lack of active sex in their lives.
The reasons may be a sense of past sexual loss because of a restricted, Puritan childhood, or an attempt to cope with present sexual loss. Studies have shown that this periodic turning to pornographic material only very, very rarely leads to violence against other persons. Neither does it usually imply a ‘degrading of women by men’ as is all too readily asserted by some feminists. It should be judged according to a person’s own conscience, within the specific circumstances the person finds himself/herself in.
Sexual images of pornographic media are at times an aid to stimulating healthy sexual activity within a loving relationship.
In some persons the sexual impulse needs to be wakened or boosted for it to function normally in sexual intercourse. Psychotherapists may recommend the use of ‘pornographic’ images in stead of drugs, or people themselves may feel it helps them free themselves from their inhibitions.
Naturism is a perfectly wholesome spiritual and physical practice for Catholics to be involved in. It promotes the seeing of naked people and having dealings with naked people as a normal thing.
Some naturists, just like anyone else, may at times (rarely) indulge in indecent acts, but the impression that many people have that naturists are sexually less sensitive or responsible than others is entirely unfounded. Most naturists follow a high ethical and sexual code. Moreover, there is nothing wrong in celebrating the beauty of the naked body.
Presenting nakedness and sexual intimacy is a natural component of art.
In our time this applies not only to paintings and sculpture but drama and film. If we truly believe in the goodness of the human body and its essential role in human relationships, it is unavoidable that a full expression of that reality includes explicit scenes. Films that include such scenes should not, on that account, be judged as ‘pornographic’ in the pejorative sense of the term. If films describe life, they will also of necessity describe sex.
For all such reasons we may not indiscriminately brand all the use of naked or sexual imagery as ‘pornographic’; or condemn it without assessing the context.
http://www.thebodyissacred.org/body/fantasy.asp
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sexual Fantasies?
Sexual fatasizing means entertaining mental images of sexual activities or sexual objects.
Is it sinful to be involved in sexual fantasies?
Jesus seems to speak about sexual fantasies in the following text (Matthew 5,27-30):
“You have heard how it was said: ‘You shall not commit adultery’.
But I say to you: whosoever (a) looks at a woman (b) in order to lust after her has already (c) committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye has caused you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one member than to have your whole body thrown into hell.
And if your right hand should cause you to sin, cut if off and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one member than to have your whole body go to hell.”
This is traditionally understood as: a person who looks at a naked person or who fantasizes about making love to another person has committed a sin equivalent to adultery. However is this correct?
What does Jesus say?
‘Who looks at a woman’.
The Bible brings out in a number of its stories that looking at a woman lustfully frequently leads to acts of adultery. One example is David who watched Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife, taking a bath and who subsequently committed adultery with her and then had Uriah killed to cover up his deed (2 Samuel 11,2-27). Another is that of the two lecherous elders who saw Susannah bathe and who wanted to force her to have sex with them (Daniel 13,15-22). Jesus is talking about looking aimed at adultery.
‘in order to lust after her’.
This refers to the tenth commandment: “You shall not lust after your neighbour’s house, your neighbour’s wife, or his slave, male or female, or his donkey or anything that is his” (Exodus 20,17). The Hebrew word for ‘lusting after’ (chamad) means a desiring that includes the intention to take and appropriate a property. This again links the ‘looking’ to the act of adultery which was considered stealing a wife from the husband.
‘has already committed adultery with her in his heart’. This is the point of Jesus’ statement. Jewish judicial practice in Jesus’ time defined adultery purely in the external act which had to be attested to by witnesses. In line with all the other statements in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus declares that not just the external act, but the interior intention to commit an act of adultery is sinful.
Conclusion.
Mt 5,27-30 does not refer to sexual fantasising in a general kind of way. He was teaching the importance of what happens in our heart. The sin of adultery lies in the intention of committing adultery rather than in the external act. Most fantasizing does not intend adultery.
When interpreting Scripture we have to pay attention to the scope intended by the original author, not to the literal sounds of the words.
Otherwise we would also have to take the words of ‘tearing out an eye’ or ‘hacking off your hand’ literally! Or other scriptural passages that require women to wear a veil in church ( 1 Corinthians 11,2-16), which ban part-wool part-cotton clothing (Deuteronomy 22,11), the eating of pork, shrimp, and hamburgers (Leviticus 11,1-12), or which regulate slavery (Ephesians 6,5-9).
So how to judge sexual fantasies?
Moralists and mental health professionals have concluded that sexual fantasies in themselves can be normal and healthy. Usually they are not harmful.
Fantasies, such as imagining having intercourse with a person, often arise spontaneously.
Sexual attraction to other people is natural and, to a degree, an automatic and unavoidable response. If no actual intercourse is intended, they do not involve sin.
Then what about ‘pornography’?
Sexual fantasizing is often aided by the use of pornography, i.e. by looking at naked pictures of men or women, or at couples engaged in the sexual act. This is more common among men than among women because men are more readily sexually aroused by visual means.
There are forms of pornography that should be rejected.
All forms of pornography that involves or presupposes violence, rape, pedofilia, and so on should obviously not be tolerated.
Pornography that encourages sexual gratification for its own sake could be harmful in the long run and should be avoided.
However, there may be justification for the looking at pictures of naked men and women and sexual imagery in a number of cases. I mention a few examples:
Research in western societies has shown that the use of ‘pornography’ is often found among teenagers and adolescents who go through a phase of discovering sex.
This is partly due to the lack of adequate sexual education which at times forces youngsters to obtain necessary information from all kinds of sources. The youngsters in question may be using the material in a responsible fashion.
Looking at sex images is also frequently found among middle-aged and older persons, more often among men than women, who compensate for the lack of active sex in their lives.
The reasons may be a sense of past sexual loss because of a restricted, Puritan childhood, or an attempt to cope with present sexual loss. Studies have shown that this periodic turning to pornographic material only very, very rarely leads to violence against other persons. Neither does it usually imply a ‘degrading of women by men’ as is all too readily asserted by some feminists. It should be judged according to a person’s own conscience, within the specific circumstances the person finds himself/herself in.
Sexual images of pornographic media are at times an aid to stimulating healthy sexual activity within a loving relationship.
In some persons the sexual impulse needs to be wakened or boosted for it to function normally in sexual intercourse. Psychotherapists may recommend the use of ‘pornographic’ images in stead of drugs, or people themselves may feel it helps them free themselves from their inhibitions.
Naturism is a perfectly wholesome spiritual and physical practice for Catholics to be involved in. It promotes the seeing of naked people and having dealings with naked people as a normal thing.
Some naturists, just like anyone else, may at times (rarely) indulge in indecent acts, but the impression that many people have that naturists are sexually less sensitive or responsible than others is entirely unfounded. Most naturists follow a high ethical and sexual code. Moreover, there is nothing wrong in celebrating the beauty of the naked body.
Presenting nakedness and sexual intimacy is a natural component of art.
In our time this applies not only to paintings and sculpture but drama and film. If we truly believe in the goodness of the human body and its essential role in human relationships, it is unavoidable that a full expression of that reality includes explicit scenes. Films that include such scenes should not, on that account, be judged as ‘pornographic’ in the pejorative sense of the term. If films describe life, they will also of necessity describe sex.
For all such reasons we may not indiscriminately brand all the use of naked or sexual imagery as ‘pornographic’; or condemn it without assessing the context.
http://www.thebodyissacred.org/body/fantasy.asp
BLASPHEMY-CHRISTIAN NUDISM!
Naked without Shame
by John Wijngaards
from MISSION TODAY, Summer 1995, pp. 12 - 13.
AFTER the Good Friday liturgy I was asked confidentially whether the crucifix we use is true to Scripture. The enquirer had learned in school that Jesus died naked on the cross.
Actually, it is not easy to establish with certainty what happened at the crucifixion of Jesus in this regard. The apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus states that Jesus wore a loincloth (Nicod 1:10). This Gospel, however, was written centuries after the event. It is not reliable. It takes its description of the crucifixion from a pious but legendary source, the so-called Acts of Pilate, which was composed towards the end of the second century.
Some scripture scholars believe that wearing a loincloth may have been a special concession the Romans had given to the Jews to spare Jewish sensitivity. Offering a pain-killing drug before the crucifixion may have been another such concession. Jesus was offered one, but he refused to drink from it (Matt. 27:34; Mark 15:23).
However, we have no independent confirmation of such a concession regarding nakedness. The four Gospels give the impression that the soldiers took all Jesus's clothes and divided them as loot.
How did the Romans treat those who were crucified? Contemporary writers, such as Artemidorus and Arnanus, have left descriptions that imply that the unhappy victims were, indeed, left totally naked. Some of the Fathers of the Church, such as St Cyprian and St Augustine meditated on the nakedness of Jesus in words that show they were convinced that total nakedness was one of the humiliations inflicted on him. Weighing the evidence I believe that, in all probability, Jesus did not wear a loincloth on the cross.
Understandably, we avoid extreme realism in our crucifixes and other representations of the passion. But this should not make us forget the horrors of the crucifixion. For our sake, Jesus gave up everything he possessed, as Paul says (Phil 2:7). Next to all the physical pain, Jesus also suffered the excruciating humiliation of being publicly exposed, naked and vulnerable, on a "pillar of disgrace". Is that in itself not worth a meditation and a word of thanks?
But then it may also be important to consider nakedness itself. Because of our Victorian and Puritan past, we still have traces of anti-body feelings in our spirituality. I remember a nurse once telling me that, while she was giving a Catholic patient a bath, this person said to her: "Sister, it must be hard for you to be seeing so much sin."
"What do you mean?", she asked.
"Well, touching the body and all that."
The remark probably hid a complex of incorrect notions: as if any part of our body is less holy and honourable; as if our sexuality is only tolerated by God as a lesser evil; or, as I heard from some people, as if original sin is transmitted through sexual intercourse. Just imagine: the most marvellous bond in the world through which a married couple cooperates with God's creation was seen as a channel of sin!
In our culture, in which sex is discussed much more openly and in which nudity at the same time is often exploited by the media for commercial purposes, we find side by side the old Puritan shame of the body, an unhealthy preoccupation with sex and the search for a responsible freedom. In our time it is essential that we re-state our Christian convictions about the body.
The human body is beautiful. There nothing in it that is sinful, or of which we need to be ashamed. The body even retains its dignity and beauty when people grow older. In Jesus's time people were much more natural about this than we are. Peter was naked when working in his boat (John 21:7). The Greeks and Roman practised their sports without clothes on. The Greek word gymnos meant “naked”. We still find the word in such terms as gymnastics and gymnasium.
We can be shy about nakedness in a healthy and prudent way. But we may also have inherited a false shame about our naked body; like Adam and Eve who, after their sin, suddenly discovered that they were naked (Gen 3:7). In a good Christian education we should be helped to discover the true beauty of the human body and sex. It is precisely because of our deep respect for the body, which is a temple the Holy Spirit, that we will then avoid making it merely an instrument of pleasure (1 Cor 6:18-20).
I find the nakedness of Jesus on the cross meaningful in that context. In his body Jesus carried all scars of our world, including our sexual searchings and aberrations. He redeemed us, and through his risen body enables us to carry our own body with a renewed sense of happiness a respect. "This is Me, this is my body", says to us, as we receive holy communion. His passion, his humiliation, but also his resurrection then flow into us.
http://www.womenpriests.org/body/nakedwos.asp
by John Wijngaards
from MISSION TODAY, Summer 1995, pp. 12 - 13.
AFTER the Good Friday liturgy I was asked confidentially whether the crucifix we use is true to Scripture. The enquirer had learned in school that Jesus died naked on the cross.
Actually, it is not easy to establish with certainty what happened at the crucifixion of Jesus in this regard. The apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus states that Jesus wore a loincloth (Nicod 1:10). This Gospel, however, was written centuries after the event. It is not reliable. It takes its description of the crucifixion from a pious but legendary source, the so-called Acts of Pilate, which was composed towards the end of the second century.
Some scripture scholars believe that wearing a loincloth may have been a special concession the Romans had given to the Jews to spare Jewish sensitivity. Offering a pain-killing drug before the crucifixion may have been another such concession. Jesus was offered one, but he refused to drink from it (Matt. 27:34; Mark 15:23).
However, we have no independent confirmation of such a concession regarding nakedness. The four Gospels give the impression that the soldiers took all Jesus's clothes and divided them as loot.
How did the Romans treat those who were crucified? Contemporary writers, such as Artemidorus and Arnanus, have left descriptions that imply that the unhappy victims were, indeed, left totally naked. Some of the Fathers of the Church, such as St Cyprian and St Augustine meditated on the nakedness of Jesus in words that show they were convinced that total nakedness was one of the humiliations inflicted on him. Weighing the evidence I believe that, in all probability, Jesus did not wear a loincloth on the cross.
Understandably, we avoid extreme realism in our crucifixes and other representations of the passion. But this should not make us forget the horrors of the crucifixion. For our sake, Jesus gave up everything he possessed, as Paul says (Phil 2:7). Next to all the physical pain, Jesus also suffered the excruciating humiliation of being publicly exposed, naked and vulnerable, on a "pillar of disgrace". Is that in itself not worth a meditation and a word of thanks?
But then it may also be important to consider nakedness itself. Because of our Victorian and Puritan past, we still have traces of anti-body feelings in our spirituality. I remember a nurse once telling me that, while she was giving a Catholic patient a bath, this person said to her: "Sister, it must be hard for you to be seeing so much sin."
"What do you mean?", she asked.
"Well, touching the body and all that."
The remark probably hid a complex of incorrect notions: as if any part of our body is less holy and honourable; as if our sexuality is only tolerated by God as a lesser evil; or, as I heard from some people, as if original sin is transmitted through sexual intercourse. Just imagine: the most marvellous bond in the world through which a married couple cooperates with God's creation was seen as a channel of sin!
In our culture, in which sex is discussed much more openly and in which nudity at the same time is often exploited by the media for commercial purposes, we find side by side the old Puritan shame of the body, an unhealthy preoccupation with sex and the search for a responsible freedom. In our time it is essential that we re-state our Christian convictions about the body.
The human body is beautiful. There nothing in it that is sinful, or of which we need to be ashamed. The body even retains its dignity and beauty when people grow older. In Jesus's time people were much more natural about this than we are. Peter was naked when working in his boat (John 21:7). The Greeks and Roman practised their sports without clothes on. The Greek word gymnos meant “naked”. We still find the word in such terms as gymnastics and gymnasium.
We can be shy about nakedness in a healthy and prudent way. But we may also have inherited a false shame about our naked body; like Adam and Eve who, after their sin, suddenly discovered that they were naked (Gen 3:7). In a good Christian education we should be helped to discover the true beauty of the human body and sex. It is precisely because of our deep respect for the body, which is a temple the Holy Spirit, that we will then avoid making it merely an instrument of pleasure (1 Cor 6:18-20).
I find the nakedness of Jesus on the cross meaningful in that context. In his body Jesus carried all scars of our world, including our sexual searchings and aberrations. He redeemed us, and through his risen body enables us to carry our own body with a renewed sense of happiness a respect. "This is Me, this is my body", says to us, as we receive holy communion. His passion, his humiliation, but also his resurrection then flow into us.
http://www.womenpriests.org/body/nakedwos.asp
THE BLASPHEMOUS SCULPTOR:GUY REID
About Guy
As a sculptor working in lime wood, Reid's work is informed by the figure in relation to its spatial, thematic and narrative contexts. His carvings are more often then not, left in the natural wood but can be both painted or partially painted.
Whilst studying for his MA in Theology at King's College London in 1995, Reid undertook a thesis on the relationship between revelation and art. The philosophical debate surrounding this subject has been a significant influence on his work and he has since lectured on the subject.
Reid is facinated by Christain religious narrative and symbolism. Whilst suspicious of religion and its dangers, Reid feels that religion remains (at a profoundly subconscious level) something human beings search for, are intrigued by and engaged with both positively and negatively.
His universalising of traditional religious imagery such as the Madonna and Child, The Crucifixion and Adam, strip away the sentimentality and exclusivity of many of the traditional religious archetypes he refers to, but from within a theologically informed framework. It is this aspect of Reid's work which confuses and challenges both secular and religious interpretation.
Reid works from both live models and photographs and his early works were often framed in a variety of inanimate, abstract settings. When working on portraits, the engagement he has with the individuals who sit for him is central to the work. His repeated studies of his partner Andrew represent a tender and questioning examination of a life shared and form the central focus for recent works. It is the the body itself, both naked and clothed which facinates Reid, evoking the complex nature of being human. At times Reid's work carries an irresistible, contemplative force. Art critics have described certain pieces as beautiful and ugly in almost the same breath.
Reid's relief carvings and studies function like and bare a close relation to the preparatory drawings traditionally used by sculptors. The illusion of depth is created by a play with shadow, light and perspective.
Reid lives and works in the countryside south of Toulouse with his partner Andrew, two dogs and a cat. Silence and space remain central to his work.
Education and Exposure
Arriving from South Africa in 1967 aged 4, Reid was educated at the Priory Comprehensive Wimbledon. In 1975 he moved to Shropshire where he attended Meole Brace Secondary Modern School Shrewsbury and later the Priory Grammer School.
Having completed his first degree in Politics and History at North London Polytechnic he commenced an apprenticeship with the Spink Restoration workshop. In 1995 he completed an MA in Systematic Theology at King's College London.
Reid's reputation was established in the 1990s, with his first Solo Show in the summer of 1999 receiving strong reviews. Other exhibitions followed in London, Manchester, Yorkshire, Birmingham and Liverpool, and internationally in New York, Toulouse and Paris.
Public commissions include the controversial and much acclaimed nude Madonna and Child at St Matthew's Westminster, a figure of Adam for Mirfield College, Yorkshire, a sculpture of St Editha for Polesworth Abbey, 14 lifesize portraits held permanetly at the Avoncroft Museum Bromsgrove and a portrait of the painter Glynn Boyd Harte for the Art Workers Guild London. In 2006 Reid completed a naked crucifixiton for Saint George's Church Paris. A life sized relief carving of the same subject is currently being considered for installation by a Bendedictine abbey in the UK.
Reid's Madonna and Child has been featured in many publications and is also on the cover of the book, Art and Worship (SPCK, 2002).
Reid has been the subject of a documentary for Japanese Television on Contemporary British Artists and appears in Michael Petry's anthology Hidden Histories (www.hiddenhistories.net) published by Artmedia Press 2004. The Museum of Liverpool Life lists Reid's Avoncroft corbels as being of international significance. One of these 14 life-sized portraits is of Reid himself and is featured on the National Portrait Gallery's Self-Portrait UK website.
Reid's work can be found in important private collections worldwide.
Guy Reid lives and works in both Benque d'Aurignac and Toulouse in the South of France
As a sculptor working in lime wood, Reid's work is informed by the figure in relation to its spatial, thematic and narrative contexts. His carvings are more often then not, left in the natural wood but can be both painted or partially painted.
Whilst studying for his MA in Theology at King's College London in 1995, Reid undertook a thesis on the relationship between revelation and art. The philosophical debate surrounding this subject has been a significant influence on his work and he has since lectured on the subject.
Reid is facinated by Christain religious narrative and symbolism. Whilst suspicious of religion and its dangers, Reid feels that religion remains (at a profoundly subconscious level) something human beings search for, are intrigued by and engaged with both positively and negatively.
His universalising of traditional religious imagery such as the Madonna and Child, The Crucifixion and Adam, strip away the sentimentality and exclusivity of many of the traditional religious archetypes he refers to, but from within a theologically informed framework. It is this aspect of Reid's work which confuses and challenges both secular and religious interpretation.
Reid works from both live models and photographs and his early works were often framed in a variety of inanimate, abstract settings. When working on portraits, the engagement he has with the individuals who sit for him is central to the work. His repeated studies of his partner Andrew represent a tender and questioning examination of a life shared and form the central focus for recent works. It is the the body itself, both naked and clothed which facinates Reid, evoking the complex nature of being human. At times Reid's work carries an irresistible, contemplative force. Art critics have described certain pieces as beautiful and ugly in almost the same breath.
Reid's relief carvings and studies function like and bare a close relation to the preparatory drawings traditionally used by sculptors. The illusion of depth is created by a play with shadow, light and perspective.
Reid lives and works in the countryside south of Toulouse with his partner Andrew, two dogs and a cat. Silence and space remain central to his work.
Education and Exposure
Arriving from South Africa in 1967 aged 4, Reid was educated at the Priory Comprehensive Wimbledon. In 1975 he moved to Shropshire where he attended Meole Brace Secondary Modern School Shrewsbury and later the Priory Grammer School.
Having completed his first degree in Politics and History at North London Polytechnic he commenced an apprenticeship with the Spink Restoration workshop. In 1995 he completed an MA in Systematic Theology at King's College London.
Reid's reputation was established in the 1990s, with his first Solo Show in the summer of 1999 receiving strong reviews. Other exhibitions followed in London, Manchester, Yorkshire, Birmingham and Liverpool, and internationally in New York, Toulouse and Paris.
Public commissions include the controversial and much acclaimed nude Madonna and Child at St Matthew's Westminster, a figure of Adam for Mirfield College, Yorkshire, a sculpture of St Editha for Polesworth Abbey, 14 lifesize portraits held permanetly at the Avoncroft Museum Bromsgrove and a portrait of the painter Glynn Boyd Harte for the Art Workers Guild London. In 2006 Reid completed a naked crucifixiton for Saint George's Church Paris. A life sized relief carving of the same subject is currently being considered for installation by a Bendedictine abbey in the UK.
Reid's Madonna and Child has been featured in many publications and is also on the cover of the book, Art and Worship (SPCK, 2002).
Reid has been the subject of a documentary for Japanese Television on Contemporary British Artists and appears in Michael Petry's anthology Hidden Histories (www.hiddenhistories.net) published by Artmedia Press 2004. The Museum of Liverpool Life lists Reid's Avoncroft corbels as being of international significance. One of these 14 life-sized portraits is of Reid himself and is featured on the National Portrait Gallery's Self-Portrait UK website.
Reid's work can be found in important private collections worldwide.
Guy Reid lives and works in both Benque d'Aurignac and Toulouse in the South of France
2008/02/02
BLASPHEMY-THE NAKED MADONNA
The naked Madonna
by Sarah Jane Boss
from THE TABLET, 17 February 2001, p. 235; here republished with the necessary permissions.
A limewood statue of a naked Madonna and Child in an Anglican church in London has caused a furore. The sculptor sees it as expressing the Christian theme of Mary as the Second Eve. The issues are here considered by the director of the Centre for Marian Studies at the Margaret Beaufort Institute in Cambridge.
DURING the past 150 years English viewers have periodically been shocked by representations of the Madonna and Child. The Anglican theologian B. F. Westcott, visiting the Marian apparition shrine of La Salette in 1846, wrote approvingly of the new statue of Our Lady which he found there - an undemanding narrative representation of the original apparition - and contrasted it favourably with the medieval statues of the Virgin in Majesty that he had seen at Le Puy and Dijon, the latter, he said, creating "an involuntary sense of repulsion or even of disgust as if we were in the presence of some fetishworship".
In 1926-27, Jacob Epstein produced a bronze sculpture of the Virgin and Child in which he employed Indian models for the two figures in the group. Believing that Christian art had become tame, and that the awe-inspiring characteristics needed to be reinstated in sacred art, he deliberately chose models who did not conform to current European canons of beauty. Newspaper critics hated his work of this kind, describing it as "primitive" and "barbaric". In 1928, Epstein sculpted a Pietà figure to represent Night on the London Transport building in Westminster. The Daily Express thought that it showed a "prehistoric, blood-sodden cannibal intoning a horrid ritual over a dead victim".
There is therefore nothing surprising about the controversy that has arisen over a recently carved limewood statue of the Virgin and Child which now stands in St Matthew's Church, Westminster. Guy Reid, the statue's sculptor, says he intends the image to be a focus for meditation. Reid's sculpture is small - about 18in in height - and stands on a tall, square column made of soil from the churchyard. Behind the seated Madonna and Child there rises a high, flat, stone back, so that, taken as a whole, the impression is one of enthronement and elevation. The mother looks straight ahead with solemn features, her head resting on that of the child, whom she holds firmly in her hands as he, too, looks forward at the viewer. The mother's face does not conform to popular conventions of beauty, and is extremely striking. One viewer said with tears in her eyes how lovely it was to see Mary represented as a black woman, whilst a Hawaiian visitor said: "Oh, she's Polynesian!" Perhaps it is not foolish to see this Madonna as encapsulating not just everywoman but something beyond human divisions altogether.
Looking at the group straight on, the child appears naked, and the mother is seen to have bare legs and feet, and to be seated on a disc. The disc represents the moon, which has long associations in Marian art and devotion: "fair as the moon", says the Song of Songs, and the Church has for centuries applied this to Our Lady. Looking at the group in profile, the mother leans forward, presenting her son to the world. And from this angle it is clear that the woman is entirely naked, her bare legs and muscular arms being prominent. And this, or course, is what has caused the controversy.
What are the grounds on which the Mother of God might be represented entirely nude? Is it due to a modern obsession with sex? This seems unlikely, since there is nothing obviously erotic about the image. Is the artist just trying to shock? This, too, seems unlikely, since Guy Reid is a deeply devout Anglican, who, like a medieval craftsman, works in St Matthew's church tower and joins in the church's daily prayer and Sunday eucharist. He has a degree in theology, and cares deeply for the inheritance of Christian art. Reid refers his work back to that of the late-fifteenth-century German Gothic wood sculptors, whose strongly individual pieces were some of the first to be made without polychrome.
Reid says that the nakedness of his two figures signifies Christ and the Virgin as the New Adam and the New Eve. The motif of Mary as the Second Eve - in correspondence with St Paul's designation of Christ as the Second Adam - goes back at least as far as the Church Fathers of the second century. As Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden and thereby brought about the fall from grace, so Christ and Mary restore humanity to God's favour, thus rescuing their fallen ancestors. In art, the contrast and complementarity between Eve and Mary has usually been depicted with Eve naked and Mary clothed, but Reid evidently wants to show a restoration to the primal innocence of Paradise.
A further significance of the figures' nudity is a pointing to the full humanity of the Word of God incarnate. The motif of Christ's own nudity was certainly used in the Middle Ages to indicate precisely this point, as were the Virgin's bare breasts, but she was not shown entirely naked. The only exceptions to this are certain images of Mary's conception which show her naked and more or less mature - in her mother's womb.
But this emphasis on Christ's real humanity is perhaps the sculpture's weakness. For an image of the Incarnation must indicate both the humanity and the divinity of Christ. Already in Gothic sculpture a sense of the divine was beginning to be lost, and Westcott's objections to Romanesque statues of the Virgin in Majesty are surely - in part, at least - the product of a mind accustomed to seeing his Lord depicted only in his creatureliness, without suggestion of the terrifying majesty incarnated in that vulnerable body.
Reid's sculpture is set in a church that already has a large bronze Virgin and Child sculpted by Mother Concordia, and much lavishly gilded imagery, including a huge golden nativity scene for a reredos. If the eye turns between the wood of the statue and the gold, one might have a sense of timeless divinity and fragile humanity; but on its own, this Virgin and Child may not achieve the paradox that the subject requires. Only time, and the meditators, will tell.
http://www.womenpriests.org/body/boss3.asp
by Sarah Jane Boss
from THE TABLET, 17 February 2001, p. 235; here republished with the necessary permissions.
A limewood statue of a naked Madonna and Child in an Anglican church in London has caused a furore. The sculptor sees it as expressing the Christian theme of Mary as the Second Eve. The issues are here considered by the director of the Centre for Marian Studies at the Margaret Beaufort Institute in Cambridge.
DURING the past 150 years English viewers have periodically been shocked by representations of the Madonna and Child. The Anglican theologian B. F. Westcott, visiting the Marian apparition shrine of La Salette in 1846, wrote approvingly of the new statue of Our Lady which he found there - an undemanding narrative representation of the original apparition - and contrasted it favourably with the medieval statues of the Virgin in Majesty that he had seen at Le Puy and Dijon, the latter, he said, creating "an involuntary sense of repulsion or even of disgust as if we were in the presence of some fetishworship".
In 1926-27, Jacob Epstein produced a bronze sculpture of the Virgin and Child in which he employed Indian models for the two figures in the group. Believing that Christian art had become tame, and that the awe-inspiring characteristics needed to be reinstated in sacred art, he deliberately chose models who did not conform to current European canons of beauty. Newspaper critics hated his work of this kind, describing it as "primitive" and "barbaric". In 1928, Epstein sculpted a Pietà figure to represent Night on the London Transport building in Westminster. The Daily Express thought that it showed a "prehistoric, blood-sodden cannibal intoning a horrid ritual over a dead victim".
There is therefore nothing surprising about the controversy that has arisen over a recently carved limewood statue of the Virgin and Child which now stands in St Matthew's Church, Westminster. Guy Reid, the statue's sculptor, says he intends the image to be a focus for meditation. Reid's sculpture is small - about 18in in height - and stands on a tall, square column made of soil from the churchyard. Behind the seated Madonna and Child there rises a high, flat, stone back, so that, taken as a whole, the impression is one of enthronement and elevation. The mother looks straight ahead with solemn features, her head resting on that of the child, whom she holds firmly in her hands as he, too, looks forward at the viewer. The mother's face does not conform to popular conventions of beauty, and is extremely striking. One viewer said with tears in her eyes how lovely it was to see Mary represented as a black woman, whilst a Hawaiian visitor said: "Oh, she's Polynesian!" Perhaps it is not foolish to see this Madonna as encapsulating not just everywoman but something beyond human divisions altogether.
Looking at the group straight on, the child appears naked, and the mother is seen to have bare legs and feet, and to be seated on a disc. The disc represents the moon, which has long associations in Marian art and devotion: "fair as the moon", says the Song of Songs, and the Church has for centuries applied this to Our Lady. Looking at the group in profile, the mother leans forward, presenting her son to the world. And from this angle it is clear that the woman is entirely naked, her bare legs and muscular arms being prominent. And this, or course, is what has caused the controversy.
What are the grounds on which the Mother of God might be represented entirely nude? Is it due to a modern obsession with sex? This seems unlikely, since there is nothing obviously erotic about the image. Is the artist just trying to shock? This, too, seems unlikely, since Guy Reid is a deeply devout Anglican, who, like a medieval craftsman, works in St Matthew's church tower and joins in the church's daily prayer and Sunday eucharist. He has a degree in theology, and cares deeply for the inheritance of Christian art. Reid refers his work back to that of the late-fifteenth-century German Gothic wood sculptors, whose strongly individual pieces were some of the first to be made without polychrome.
Reid says that the nakedness of his two figures signifies Christ and the Virgin as the New Adam and the New Eve. The motif of Mary as the Second Eve - in correspondence with St Paul's designation of Christ as the Second Adam - goes back at least as far as the Church Fathers of the second century. As Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden and thereby brought about the fall from grace, so Christ and Mary restore humanity to God's favour, thus rescuing their fallen ancestors. In art, the contrast and complementarity between Eve and Mary has usually been depicted with Eve naked and Mary clothed, but Reid evidently wants to show a restoration to the primal innocence of Paradise.
A further significance of the figures' nudity is a pointing to the full humanity of the Word of God incarnate. The motif of Christ's own nudity was certainly used in the Middle Ages to indicate precisely this point, as were the Virgin's bare breasts, but she was not shown entirely naked. The only exceptions to this are certain images of Mary's conception which show her naked and more or less mature - in her mother's womb.
But this emphasis on Christ's real humanity is perhaps the sculpture's weakness. For an image of the Incarnation must indicate both the humanity and the divinity of Christ. Already in Gothic sculpture a sense of the divine was beginning to be lost, and Westcott's objections to Romanesque statues of the Virgin in Majesty are surely - in part, at least - the product of a mind accustomed to seeing his Lord depicted only in his creatureliness, without suggestion of the terrifying majesty incarnated in that vulnerable body.
Reid's sculpture is set in a church that already has a large bronze Virgin and Child sculpted by Mother Concordia, and much lavishly gilded imagery, including a huge golden nativity scene for a reredos. If the eye turns between the wood of the statue and the gold, one might have a sense of timeless divinity and fragile humanity; but on its own, this Virgin and Child may not achieve the paradox that the subject requires. Only time, and the meditators, will tell.
http://www.womenpriests.org/body/boss3.asp
BLASPHEMY-THE PREGNANT VIRGIN BY MALAGOLI
The Pregnant Virgin
by Malagoli
This article orginally appeared in Conscience, published by Catholics for a Free Choice, Spring (2003) p. 35; republished here with permission of the artist and publisher.
MALAGOLI is a Belgian artist and a professor of pictorial art. Her drawings on religious themes are regularly published by the French Catholic monthly review Golias and she has had exhibitions in Belgium and France.
The Pregnant Virgin
©Malagoli, 2002
SINCE JESUS WAS BORN OF A WOMAN, a woman was pregnant with Jesus.
For this woman, the pregnancy must have been what it is for every woman: a world. A world of feelings and thoughts. A succession and crisscrossing of moments of glory and moments of doubt, times of courage and weariness. An experience where the feeling of being inhabited by a mystery gives way to the prosaic reality, where the physical reality of the pregnant body magnifies to a mystical elevation.
Mary's pregnancy must have been all of this. It must have been more than this, due to the Annunciation. How does one believe that the Annunciation put Mary's pregnancy above all others as a sort of "angelic" pregnancy? The son was exposed to temptation and doubt. How can one believe that his mother was spared these trials? The Annunciation did not simplify Mary's pregnancy. It most likely complicated it, and at least intensified it.
The pregnancy of the Virgin: a sublime, but also worrying experience. A subject, that at first glance is susceptible to stimulating artistic inspiration.
So where, in religious icons, do we see a representation of the pregnant Virgin? We go from the Annunciation to Mother and Child, from the announcement of a child to the child already being born. So where is the mother carrying this child and preparing for it to be born? Where is the woman carrying the Word made Flesh, her flesh?
What obstacles, what inhibitions, what embarrassments prevented the representation of this theme? If it involves censorship, it's surely censorship in a quasi-psychoanalytical sense: not a prohibition from expressing what we think or imagine, but inhibition of thinking or imagining.
If there was this prohibition in the past, there are reasons that might explain why. These reasons are linked most notably to the social status of women.
But how does one explain why even today, as soon as one presents to the public — as I have done —a work representing the pregnant Virgin, one is met with reactions of surprise, unease and scandal? At least, once one manages to show it, notably in a private gallery. Because, if one plans on showing this piece in an open space —a cultural center, the foyer of a theatre, a business —one runs the risk of being rejected by those in charge (not necessarily people of faith, by the way) who say they are scared of offending the "religious sentiments" of the public. As if it were a blasphemous theme...
There are also perhaps explanations that call upon the imposed, normative nature of religious iconography. These explanations still leave the following unexplained: That a religion that believes in the Word made Flesh prohibits itself from imagining and representing this flesh that welcomed the Word.
http://www.womenpriests.org/it/body/malagoli.asp
by Malagoli
This article orginally appeared in Conscience, published by Catholics for a Free Choice, Spring (2003) p. 35; republished here with permission of the artist and publisher.
MALAGOLI is a Belgian artist and a professor of pictorial art. Her drawings on religious themes are regularly published by the French Catholic monthly review Golias and she has had exhibitions in Belgium and France.
The Pregnant Virgin
©Malagoli, 2002
SINCE JESUS WAS BORN OF A WOMAN, a woman was pregnant with Jesus.
For this woman, the pregnancy must have been what it is for every woman: a world. A world of feelings and thoughts. A succession and crisscrossing of moments of glory and moments of doubt, times of courage and weariness. An experience where the feeling of being inhabited by a mystery gives way to the prosaic reality, where the physical reality of the pregnant body magnifies to a mystical elevation.
Mary's pregnancy must have been all of this. It must have been more than this, due to the Annunciation. How does one believe that the Annunciation put Mary's pregnancy above all others as a sort of "angelic" pregnancy? The son was exposed to temptation and doubt. How can one believe that his mother was spared these trials? The Annunciation did not simplify Mary's pregnancy. It most likely complicated it, and at least intensified it.
The pregnancy of the Virgin: a sublime, but also worrying experience. A subject, that at first glance is susceptible to stimulating artistic inspiration.
So where, in religious icons, do we see a representation of the pregnant Virgin? We go from the Annunciation to Mother and Child, from the announcement of a child to the child already being born. So where is the mother carrying this child and preparing for it to be born? Where is the woman carrying the Word made Flesh, her flesh?
What obstacles, what inhibitions, what embarrassments prevented the representation of this theme? If it involves censorship, it's surely censorship in a quasi-psychoanalytical sense: not a prohibition from expressing what we think or imagine, but inhibition of thinking or imagining.
If there was this prohibition in the past, there are reasons that might explain why. These reasons are linked most notably to the social status of women.
But how does one explain why even today, as soon as one presents to the public — as I have done —a work representing the pregnant Virgin, one is met with reactions of surprise, unease and scandal? At least, once one manages to show it, notably in a private gallery. Because, if one plans on showing this piece in an open space —a cultural center, the foyer of a theatre, a business —one runs the risk of being rejected by those in charge (not necessarily people of faith, by the way) who say they are scared of offending the "religious sentiments" of the public. As if it were a blasphemous theme...
There are also perhaps explanations that call upon the imposed, normative nature of religious iconography. These explanations still leave the following unexplained: That a religion that believes in the Word made Flesh prohibits itself from imagining and representing this flesh that welcomed the Word.
http://www.womenpriests.org/it/body/malagoli.asp
A BLASHEMOUS COMIC BOOK UPON JESUS
A controversial comic book depicting Jesus as a party animal is not amusing the Greeks. They have banned the book and sentenced its author to a six-month jail term.
Calling it "hurtful to public decency and blasphemous," an Athens court upheld a ban on a comic book portraying Jesus Christ as a naked surfer high on marijuana and sentenced its author to six months in jail last month.
The book's Greek publishers and four local booksellers were acquitted of all charges regarding the book, called "The Life of Jesus." A separate case on the book's seizure is pending in the Greek Supreme Court.
"If the ban is not lifted, we'll consider appealing to the European Court of Human Rights," said Haderer's lawyer, Minas Mihailovic.
Ruling is "scandalous"
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: another view of JesusAustrian author Gerhard Haderer did not attend the trial and faces imprisonment only if he enters Greece. He called the ruling "scandalous."
"I have done nothing other than to go too far in depicting the contrast between non-believers and believers," he said. "But when the state suddenly begins to set limits for humor, then that is really a reason for disquiet."
Haderer's book, which sold over 100,000 German-language copies, is reportedly the first one to be banned in Greece in more than 20 years. It first ran into trouble in February 2003 after the Greek edition was confiscated by the Greek government and the powerful and conservative Greek Orthodox Church filed a complaint against the author.
In 2000, another book, an erotic Greek novel was provisionally seized in Greece after the church condemned it as blasphemous.
Jesus on a surfing trip
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: a surfing JesusThe book is controversial because of its out-of-the-ordinary depictions of Jesus, such as one of his crossing the Sea of Galilee naked on a surfboard, receiving divine inspiration from frankincense. One illustration recasts the Last Supper as a drinking binge. Characters such as fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld and the late guitar wonder Jimi Hendrix mingle with Jesus in the tales.
The book has been published in Austria, Germany, France, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Hungary and South Korea. In some countries, it has sparked protests and a Czech lawmaker wanted the author fined. But in no other country has the book been banned.
"After all, Greece is a member of the European Union and, so you would think, not a religious state in which an artist's freedom of expression is kicked to the ground," said Harderer's publisher, Fritz Panzer.
Blasphemy laws hinder artistic freedom
The crackdown on the book was condemned by the Geneva-based International Publishers' Association (IPA) because of concerns that the ruling will hinder other authors.
Bildunterschrift: Gerhard Haderer poses in front of one of his comics
"While IPA opposes all forms of religious intolerance, it stands for the elimination of all prohibitions limiting freedom of expression whether imposed by governments or by religious authorities," IPA officials wrote in a statement.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1480744,00.html
Calling it "hurtful to public decency and blasphemous," an Athens court upheld a ban on a comic book portraying Jesus Christ as a naked surfer high on marijuana and sentenced its author to six months in jail last month.
The book's Greek publishers and four local booksellers were acquitted of all charges regarding the book, called "The Life of Jesus." A separate case on the book's seizure is pending in the Greek Supreme Court.
"If the ban is not lifted, we'll consider appealing to the European Court of Human Rights," said Haderer's lawyer, Minas Mihailovic.
Ruling is "scandalous"
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: another view of JesusAustrian author Gerhard Haderer did not attend the trial and faces imprisonment only if he enters Greece. He called the ruling "scandalous."
"I have done nothing other than to go too far in depicting the contrast between non-believers and believers," he said. "But when the state suddenly begins to set limits for humor, then that is really a reason for disquiet."
Haderer's book, which sold over 100,000 German-language copies, is reportedly the first one to be banned in Greece in more than 20 years. It first ran into trouble in February 2003 after the Greek edition was confiscated by the Greek government and the powerful and conservative Greek Orthodox Church filed a complaint against the author.
In 2000, another book, an erotic Greek novel was provisionally seized in Greece after the church condemned it as blasphemous.
Jesus on a surfing trip
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: a surfing JesusThe book is controversial because of its out-of-the-ordinary depictions of Jesus, such as one of his crossing the Sea of Galilee naked on a surfboard, receiving divine inspiration from frankincense. One illustration recasts the Last Supper as a drinking binge. Characters such as fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld and the late guitar wonder Jimi Hendrix mingle with Jesus in the tales.
The book has been published in Austria, Germany, France, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Hungary and South Korea. In some countries, it has sparked protests and a Czech lawmaker wanted the author fined. But in no other country has the book been banned.
"After all, Greece is a member of the European Union and, so you would think, not a religious state in which an artist's freedom of expression is kicked to the ground," said Harderer's publisher, Fritz Panzer.
Blasphemy laws hinder artistic freedom
The crackdown on the book was condemned by the Geneva-based International Publishers' Association (IPA) because of concerns that the ruling will hinder other authors.
Bildunterschrift: Gerhard Haderer poses in front of one of his comics
"While IPA opposes all forms of religious intolerance, it stands for the elimination of all prohibitions limiting freedom of expression whether imposed by governments or by religious authorities," IPA officials wrote in a statement.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1480744,00.html
GREEK BAN ON 'BLASPHEMOUS' BOOK
Friday, 10 March, 2000, 14:41 GMT
Greek ban on 'blasphemous' book
"Insult to our faithful": Metropolitan Kallinikos.
A judge in Greece has banned a book after it was condemned by the Greek Orthodox church because of passages about the possible sexual longings of Jesus Christ.
Judge Maria Robbi said she banned sales of the book in the north of the country to prevent outbreaks of violence, after religious zealots threatened to take action against the author and shops selling the book.
The ban applies to provinces around the northern city of Thessaloniki, where Judge Robbi's court has jurisdiction - an area that represents nearly 25% of the country.
A dark side of the Greek moon is revealed
Book's author, Mimis Androulakis
She said the ban would remain in force until 16 May, when a hearing is to be held to consider whether to halt the sale of the best-selling book "M to the Power of N", by former Communist parliamentary deputy Mimis Androulakis.
Mr Androulakis immediately condemned the judge's decision, saying it revealed "a dark side of the Greek moon".
A church spokesman, Metropolitan Kallinikos, said Mr Androulakis had no right "to insult millions of our faithful with what he has said about the leader of our faith."
The book is a series of fictional dialogues between women whose names all begin with the letter M. The central theme is misogyny in various aspects of life, including religion.
One chapter mentions a possible sexual element in the relationship between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene, a prostitute who became a follower.
Mimis Androulakis
Nearly all political parties, literary societies and scholars have backed the author.
Development Minister Evangelos Venizelos, a leading professor of constitutional law, also questioned the court's jurisdiction to ban the book.
At a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, dozens of black robed priests and monks stormed the court house and Judge Robbi's chambers, rhythmically chanting "blasphemers" and "antichrists" at Androulakis' defence lawyer, Thomas Trikoukis, who was also attacked by some protesters.
One precedent
With one exception, publishers say they cannot recall any book being banned in Greece since the fall of the 1967-74 military dictatorship.
Two years ago, a court banned a dictionary and ordered the author to remove an insulting reference to residents of Thessaloniki.
But the supreme court overturned the ban, saying that constitutional guarantees on free speech did not allow books to be banned or censored.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/672736.stm
Greek ban on 'blasphemous' book
"Insult to our faithful": Metropolitan Kallinikos.
A judge in Greece has banned a book after it was condemned by the Greek Orthodox church because of passages about the possible sexual longings of Jesus Christ.
Judge Maria Robbi said she banned sales of the book in the north of the country to prevent outbreaks of violence, after religious zealots threatened to take action against the author and shops selling the book.
The ban applies to provinces around the northern city of Thessaloniki, where Judge Robbi's court has jurisdiction - an area that represents nearly 25% of the country.
A dark side of the Greek moon is revealed
Book's author, Mimis Androulakis
She said the ban would remain in force until 16 May, when a hearing is to be held to consider whether to halt the sale of the best-selling book "M to the Power of N", by former Communist parliamentary deputy Mimis Androulakis.
Mr Androulakis immediately condemned the judge's decision, saying it revealed "a dark side of the Greek moon".
A church spokesman, Metropolitan Kallinikos, said Mr Androulakis had no right "to insult millions of our faithful with what he has said about the leader of our faith."
The book is a series of fictional dialogues between women whose names all begin with the letter M. The central theme is misogyny in various aspects of life, including religion.
One chapter mentions a possible sexual element in the relationship between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene, a prostitute who became a follower.
Mimis Androulakis
Nearly all political parties, literary societies and scholars have backed the author.
Development Minister Evangelos Venizelos, a leading professor of constitutional law, also questioned the court's jurisdiction to ban the book.
At a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, dozens of black robed priests and monks stormed the court house and Judge Robbi's chambers, rhythmically chanting "blasphemers" and "antichrists" at Androulakis' defence lawyer, Thomas Trikoukis, who was also attacked by some protesters.
One precedent
With one exception, publishers say they cannot recall any book being banned in Greece since the fall of the 1967-74 military dictatorship.
Two years ago, a court banned a dictionary and ordered the author to remove an insulting reference to residents of Thessaloniki.
But the supreme court overturned the ban, saying that constitutional guarantees on free speech did not allow books to be banned or censored.
Search BBC News Online
Advanced search options
BBC RADIO NEWS
BBC ONE TV NEWS
WORLD NEWS SUMMARY
BBC NEWS 24 BULLETIN
PROGRAMMES GUIDE
Europe Contents
Country profiles
Internet links:
Banned books and censorship
The Church of Greece Website
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
Top Europe stories now:
Mass resignations rock Turkey
Crash pilots given conflicting orders
Serbia jails first war criminal
New hope for Aids vaccine
Ukraine mine death toll rises
Russian anti-Jewish sign explodes
Sicilians dish up anti-Mafia pasta
Finland and Sweden plan 'Eurocity'
Links to more Europe stories are at the foot of the page.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/672736.stm
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