Christ Driving Moneylenders from the Temple. Church of St. Aignan (1899). Chartres, France. Photo: Reinhardhauke Wikimedia Commons
By Nina Heyn – Your Culture Scout
If you need to impart important messages to people who cannot read, then your choices include talking to them directly or showing them pictures—preferably images rendered in long-lasting materials such as stone, wood, or glass. This is the reason that Christian churches, especially the medieval ones, have such an abundance of scenes from the lives of Christ, his disciples, and saints. As early as the 7th century, Pope Gregory declared that church images should provide a “gospel for the unlettered.”
