Crucifixion is horribly violent – we must confront its reality head on
Jonathan Jones | The Guardian UK
Glasgow theology students have been warned about brutal crucifixion images. But such paintings remind us of the grisly truth about death
Glasgow University is giving theology students what the Daily Mail calls “trigger warnings” about potentially upsetting images of the crucifixion. The theology department concedes that its course about Christ in cinema “contains graphic scenes of the crucifixion, and this is flagged up to students beforehand”. Given it includes Mel Gibson’s blood-spattered The Passion of the Christ, you can understand the anxiety (though the university tells us no students opted out); more recently, Martin Scorsese has featured underwater crucifixions in his new film Silence. Yet long before Jesus was dying on screen he was being nailed up in paintings and in sculpture. Continue reading
