A response to "Medieval and Renaissance Influence on Christian Culture"

This is a response to William Peckham’s recent post "Medieval and Renaissance Influence on Christian Culture":

William Peckham’s post:

http://williampeckhamsmc305.blogspot.com/2012/03/medieval-and-renaissance-influence-on.html

I am firstly attracted by the picture shows in the blog, and then also the title of the post. As an art person, I do feel resonate when I read William’s post. When I took the courses about mediaeval tradition and mediaeval arts, the common theme repeated over and over again was the involvement of Christianity in culture activities and people’s daily life.

It was an undeniable phenomenon, and as long as it was active during the periods, it must had some influence on culture, while it was also influenced by culture. Medieval and Renaissance artists created numerous paintings with Christian content, they represented their faith, their piety. These paintings also reveal their attempts to communicate with God through the icons. They got their ideas from Bible, and also from poem or stories during the period. Their works definitely influenced the development of Christianity.

The nice and friendly cute angel icon also reminds me of the “Buddy” Jesus culture in North America. The Christian images have been influenced by popular culture in a certain degree. Just as the angel we picture now is very different from the accounts in the Bible, it was a frightening four-headed monster with the face of a man, eagle and lion. But the angel images become so different now, it has been developing towards a more friendly, more acceptable, and more lovely approach which also implies how Christianity has been developing towards a similar way. 

The Renaissance culture was indeed attributed to this culture change. Christianity has been shaped a lot through all kinds of culture movement, and just as William said, they provided rich themes and stories for movies and books in North America. In a certain extent, Mediaeval Renaissance culture and Christianity has shaped each other just like how popular culture and Christianity shapes each other in contemporary society.