Book Review: Jesus through Medieval Eyes

Jesus through Medieval Eyes: Beholding Christ with the Artists, Mystics, and Theologians of the Middle Ages by Grace Hamman (Zondervan, 2023).

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the Middle Ages seem to be having a bit of a renaissance. (Sorry, I’ll show myself out.) Not long ago I reviewed The Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis, and also read The Making of Biblical Womanhood, which focused heavily on that period. I’m hoping to make time for Unfortunate Ends, by the creator of Twitter’s late lamented Medieval Death Bot. The past couple of years have seen the release of at least three novels about medieval anchoress and author Julian of Norwich.

And now we have Jesus through Medieval Eyes by scholar, writer, and fellow Substacker

Grace Hamman

. (Full disclosure: Grace was once kind enough to interview me about one of my own books on her podcast, Old Books with Grace.)

What we—I mean the general reading public—are coming to know about medieval times through all these books is just how little we know about them. Beyond the stigmas and the stereotypes many of us are familiar with, there are vast intellectual, theological, and artistic riches to discover. Obviously, the era wasn’t without its problems, because no era is. And yet, warts and all, it still has a lot to teach us.

In clear and lively language, and occasionally with the help of some gorgeous illustrations, Grace shows us several different facets of how medieval thinkers saw Jesus. Some of them—like Jesus as the “barefoot knight” who breaks down the gates of hell without weapons—are appealing and inspiring. Others, like Jesus as mother or Jesus as lover, can seem weird, confusing, maybe even close to sacrilegious in our modern minds. But the book demonstrates how these images are grounded in Scripture and built on a robust theology that can greatly expand our understanding of Christ. (And its descriptions of the medieval “Jesus as lover” idea contrast sharply with recent evangelical attempts to treat marital sex as an “icon.”)

A major theme in the book is that people in every era read the Bible through their own specific cultural lens, which shapes and colors our mental image of Jesus—and not always for the better. Grace reminds us that this is true of us today, but she doesn’t let the medieval culture off the hook, either.

She does delight in many of the “quaint” and colorful details that characterize medieval portrayals of Christ—it’s hard not to enjoy them, really. For instance, she cites a popular text that asserts that Jesus used “excellent table manners” when breaking His fast in the desert, because that would have signified to the medieval reader His true nobility. But while we can enjoy these portrayals and the refreshing perspective they bring, they can also be bound in troubling ways to the preoccupations of that era, as when one writer twists his thoughts on the Last Supper into a diatribe against his theological opponents.

So it’s not just the virtues of the Middle Ages that have much to teach us, but also its faults. As Grace writes:

We are all guilty of fitting Jesus neatly into our culture and our concerns instead of heeding the strangeness of his call. We domesticize him. We think of him like ourselves. Depending on your own background, you probably think of him in your own terms. If you’re an American, he tends to become a good American Christian of whatever variety you like best.

Similarly, when medieval thinkers went too far in adapting Jesus to their own times, they fell into the trap of using Him for their own ends, often with tragic results for those around them. But, Grace adds, “as we gaze into the mirror of the Christian past, if we can learn to recognize ourselves there, the voices of the dead can speak truth to our present-day power.”

Christians in every era need to discover Jesus’ “strangeness” anew, to keep His life and work and teachings fresh and real. A great way to do that, this book compellingly argues, is not to try to escape our own era and ways of thinking, but rather to listen with humility to what other eras are telling us, and find balance there. In the “strangeness” of medieval ideas and imagery—in prayers with phrases like “console your chicken,” and in paintings depicting the church being born out of Jesus’ side on the cross—we catch a glimpse of the weird and wonderful nature of faith, which helps to make it truly timeless.

(Cover image copyright Zondervan)

Book Links:

Jesus through Medieval Eyes on Amazon
Jesus through Medieval Eyes on Bookshop

(Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualified purchases.)

Goodreads Links:

Not without Laughter by Langston Hughes
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee

And with that, Dear, Strange Things is now on Christmas break. Enjoy your holidays, everyone, and see you in January!