Jesus Through Medieval Eyes - by Grace Hamman

About the Book

By exploring surprising medieval representations of Jesus in art and literature, Jesus through Medieval Eyes, by Grace Hamman, expands readers' Christian imaginations. Meeting Jesus as a Knight, a Lover, a Judge, even a Mother allows us to see Christ's face with eyes paradoxically both fresh and ancient, and reorient ourselves towards the Savior.

Book Synopsis

Jesus through Medieval Eyes will take you on an exploration of medieval representations of Jesus in theology and literature.

Who is Jesus? What is he like? And who am I, encountering Jesus? These questions were just as important to Christians in the Middle Ages as they are today.

And yet--as C.S. Lewis noted--the modern church tends to forget that people of different cultures and times also thought carefully about who Jesus was; and sometimes their ideas and emphases were different.

Medievalist scholar Grace Hamman believes that we can deepen our understanding and adoration of Christ by looking to the Christians of the Middle Ages. Medieval Europeans were also suffering through pandemics, dealing with political and ecclesial corruption and instability, and reckoning with gender, money, and power. But their concerns and imaginations are unlike ours. Their ideas, narratives, and art about Jesus open up paradoxically fresh and ancient ways to approach and adore Christ--and to reveal where our own cultural ideals about the Messiah fall short.

Medieval representations of Jesus span from the familiar--like Jesus as the Judge at the End of Days, or Jesus as the Lover of the Song of Songs--to the more unusual, like Jesus as Our Mother. Through the words of medieval people like Julian of Norwich, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Margery Kempe, and St. Thomas Aquinas, we meet these faces of Jesus and find renewed ways to love the Savior, in the words of St. Augustine, that "beauty so ancient and so new."

Review Quotes

'In Jesus through Medieval Eyes, Grace Hamman offers an absorbing and accessible work of Christian retrieval, guiding readers back to the delightfully distinct treasures of medieval Christianity. With erudition and devotional care, Hamman guides us toward the radiant goodness of Christ--a goodness best beheld when we gaze upon him from a vantage point beyond our own. Whether 'medieval' as a modifier to 'Christianity' makes you sing with joy, hum with curiosity, or shriek with fear, humble readers will find this book an intellectual and spiritual feast.'-- Claude Atcho, pastor of Church of the Resurrection, author of Reading Black Books

'In Jesus Through Medieval Eyes Grace Hamman combines the scholarly and the practical in a way that is, alas, all too uncommon. She deploys her broad and deep knowledge of the Middle Ages in the service of helping ordinary Christians become more knowledgeable and more faithful lovers of Christ. Beautifully and engagingly written, this book helps us understand ourselves better by introducing us to our fellow Christians who lived in a world that is at once strikingly strange and strangely familiar.'-- Fritz Bauerschmidt, professor of theology, Loyola University Maryland; deacon of the Archdiocese of Baltimore

'Jesus Through Medieval Eyes offers vivid, earthy, and sometimes jarring insights into Jesus as seen through the lives and minds of those who walked this faith journey ahead of us. The Jesus they understood is, in some ways, as startling to us as our portrayals of him today would be to them. But we have much to learn from ages past, and Grace Hamman is the perfect one to guide us on this tour. Her writing is as sharp, witty, and sparkling as the medieval minds she studies and introduces us to. This book is rich and utterly delightful.'-- Karen Swallow Prior, PhD, author of The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images & Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis

'Under Grace Hamman's tutelage, readers enter a 'school of love.' Jesus through Medieval Eyes challenges our assumptions about Jesus, expanding our vision of him with medieval images. After reading this book, we know Jesus as judge, lover, mother, and more. Contrary to books that offer contemporary solutions to contemporary problems, Jesus through Medieval Eyes illuminates an eternal and timeless Savior.'-- Jessica Hooten Wilson, Fletcher Jones Endowed Chair of Great Books at Pepperdine University, author of Reading for the Love of God

'With a scholar's eye and a pastor's hand, Grace Hamman gently accompanies us on a journey of challenging our under-examined beliefs and biases until we find ourselves beholding Christ in new, exciting ways. This book is a breath of fresh air.'-- Shannon K. Evans, author of Rewilding Motherhood and Feminist Prayers for My Daughter