7. Jesus, the Dreary Deity?: The Imagination Fallout
A Christian should use these arts to the glory of God, not just as tracts, mind you, but as things of beauty to the praise of God. An art work can be a doxology in itself.
—FRANCIS SCHAEFFER
Today, from countless paintings, statues, and buildings, from literature and history, from personality and institution, from profanity, popular song, and entertainment media, from confession and controversy, from legend and ritual—Jesus stands quietly at the center of the contemporary world, as he himself predicted.
—DALLAS WILLARD
“Samantha, please forgive us.” I handed Frank Webb’s daughter the search warrant. After our first interview with Samantha, we knew we’d have to investigate Frank further.
We conducted follow-up investigations all week, and Frank’s letter wasn’t the only interesting piece of potential evidence we uncovered during our interviews. Another one of Steve and Tammy’s neighbors, Sally Broadman, told us she talked to Tammy the day before she disappeared. Tammy said she was excited about a job interview later in the month. The job with BizFax would allow her to work from home and earn significant income.
We telephoned the business and spoke with Spencer Kidman, the man who wanted to interview Tammy. He recalled her and had anticipated hiring Tammy for an important sales job. He talked with her twice on the phone and was expecting her to come in to complete the hiring process. Tammy told him she was extremely interested in the job because it would allow her to work from home, so he was surprised that she never showed up for the meeting or called afterward. Spencer also remembered dialing her home phone number. A man, presumably Tammy’s husband, answered and was incredibly angry that Spencer bothered him with a phone call. Spencer never forgot how Tammy’s husband treated him.
The missed meeting was yet another factor in the fallout that seemed to indicate that something nefarious had happened to Tammy. Why, if she was so excited about the job, would she voluntarily skip the final interview? In addition, Steve’s response to Spencer appeared consistent with his involvement in Tammy’s disappearance. But while the growing body of evidence in the fallout continued to point to Steve as our person of interest, Frank Webb cast a shadow of doubt on the case.
OBJECTION: YOU CAN’T TRUST OLD MEMORIES
Jurors can evaluate witnesses to determine how well they “remember and describe what happened.” But how can a witness be trusted when their testimony occurs many years after an event took place? Remember that not all events leave the same impression on witnesses. Some events (such as Spencer’s phone call to Tammy’s husband) are more memorable than others. Jurors are told to consider the importance of a memory when evaluating the witness. In a similar way, the gospel accounts, even though they were written about Jesus many years after the fact, recall events that were highly unusual and memorable.
That’s why we decided to write a search warrant for Samantha Webb’s house.
Kyle and I remembered the box in Frank’s old bedroom. Samantha sifted through several letters and drawings before retrieving Frank’s letter to Steve, and we suspected those materials might be useful.
“Samantha, we’re not here to make a mess,” said Kyle as he pulled a notepad from his folder. “We just wonder if there might be something in Frank’s box that will help us better understand his relationship with Tammy . . . and her disappearance.”
“Do you suspect my dad because of his past?” Samantha asked. “He was unstable toward the end of his life, I’ll admit that. But I know he didn’t have anything to do with Tammy. He was really never out of my sight in those days, and to be honest, he didn’t even know Tammy at all.”
Frank’s box contained many letters. Some were nonsensical and irrational. Frank wrote as though he knew dozens of people intimately, although Samantha said most of the letter recipients were complete strangers. He wrote letters to virtually everyone he met, and most of these notes were pure fiction.
The box also contained drawings.
“Dad was an artist,” Samantha said as she watched us sort through the illustrations. “His drawings used to worry me, though.”
We could see why.
Frank’s sketches were self-portraits, and they were increasingly abstract and distressed. Frank’s pastel drawings reminded me of the self-portraits of Vincent van Gogh, who also struggled with mental illness.
“I hardly ever look at dad’s old drawings,” continued Samantha. “They’re too personal for me. Too sad, really.”
I added the additional data about Spencer Kidman and Frank’s drawings to the fallout section of our diagram.
Frank Webb struggled to distinguish truth from his own personal fictions. But was he mentally disturbed enough to harm Tammy?
ART, MUSIC, AND A PLACE TO MEET
“Doesn’t it seem strange that so much has been written about Jesus?” Susie had been reading through the New Testament, and after finishing a chapter, she closed her Bible and placed it on her nightstand.
“Not really. A lot’s been written about a lot of people,” I replied, trying not to admit what seemed increasingly obvious to her.
“Do you remember our trip to Germany before grad school?” she asked. “How many churches did we visit prior to your first year in architecture school?”
“Too many to count,” I admitted.
Susie agreed. “Don’t you think it’s amazing that so much art and architecture was also inspired by Jesus?”
Susie had unknowingly initiated yet another one of my investigations into the Common Era fallout. As an unbelieving architecture student, I never stopped to think about the amount of art that Jesus followers generated, even as I admired their artistry. But this imaginative aspect of the Common Era is indebted—to an oversized degree—to Jesus and to those who followed him.
The German vacation Susie described included a visit to Ottobeuren Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Southern Germany, near the town where Susie was born. It was founded in 764 CE and includes a magnificent basilica that has been described as the “pinnacle of Bavarian Baroque architecture.” The interior is nothing short of breathtaking, covered in paintings and housing a magnificent pipe organ above the narthex. Jesus followers have been meeting in this space for centuries, admiring the art and singing to the accompaniment of organ music.
Their experience hasn’t been unusual. Christians have been meeting in this way for two thousand years, although they haven’t always enjoyed this kind of artistic grandeur. Instead, the early Christians met in simple homes.
Most first-century houses in Israel were single-room residences. They were constructed with thick mudbrick walls built on stone foundations. These walls supported a roof structure built with wood and thatch. Because the building materials were primitive and the climate was warm, most interior spaces were dark with few windows. Thick walls supported the roof. As a result, the inside of the home was significantly cooler and more comfortable than the outdoors.
Adequate for Christian meetings, but hardly inspiring.
These early gathering spaces were nothing like the basilica at Ottobeuren Abbey. They were shadowy, heavy environments that seemed inconsistent with the nature of Jesus, who said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). They were also mired in earthly mudbrick and thatch, even though the apostle Paul wrote, “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).
How could gathering believers “set [their] hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1) in spaces that neither reflected the light of Christ nor the nature of “things above”? A desire to better reveal the identity of Jesus and the reality of heaven initiated a movement unique in the history of architecture, art, and music.
As Christian groups grew, their creativity and engineering skills were put to the test. How could they build roofs to span greater distances? How could they increase the lighting within these larger spaces? What could they do to create a heavenly environment? Early Christian church architects solved the first problem, even if they did little—at first—to solve the second two.
Churches in the first centuries of the Common Era were still relatively dark, uninspiring spaces, although they were much larger than their house church counterparts. But even in these heavy spaces, a simple architectural development would eventually point believers heavenward.
Domes were not unknown to the Greek and Roman world, of course, but they were mastered by Christian church builders who stretched the limit of the archetype.
These arched ceiling surfaces provided opportunities to paint images of the angelic realm, and architects designed them to be illuminated in heavenly ways with hidden light wells and strategically placed window openings. Many domes also allowed for the placement of statues, providing yet another artistic avenue for expression. The technology involved in perfecting dome architecture stretched the imagination and engineering skills of designers and builders. The dome at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome is an excellent example.
Designed by Michelangelo, the structure of the dome is an artistic and engineering tour de force. He carefully controlled the way in which he allowed light to enter the space by building a double-walled dome with a light chamber. Windows along the base provided another source of controlled light. The result is nothing less than stunning.
So central was the dome to Christian architecture of this period that Rome became known as the “city of domes.”
Most of these domed church structures were supported by heavy stone walls. Although these walls provided surfaces for murals and sculptures, they still limited the amount of light that permeated each sanctuary. As a result, churches were still rather dark.
Christian architects and artists thought deeply about how they could allow light to penetrate the heavy walls.
What if the supporting walls (or at least their structural equivalent) could be pushed outside the church to allow for the construction of a lighter, non-weight-bearing peripheral wall? The “flying buttress” provided church architects with a way to support the roof from stone structures well outside the perimeter of the church. This allowed them to build a secondary, peripheral wall that was windowed.
Architects began to reimagine the walls of their churches, creating glass surfaces on secondary walls that were placed alongside (or within the boundaries of) the buttresses.
In spaces like these, worshipers had a virtually unobstructed view of window panels, and these new, lighter walls allowed artists to master yet another form of expression: the stained glass window.
Gothic cathedrals such as these began to populate the European landscape. The church became a formidable patron of the arts, churches became display centers and performance halls, and Christian gatherings became the epicenter for artistic and musical expression.
While worship centers such as these became conservatories for the arts, they also became monuments to the impact Jesus had on culture in the Common Era. In fact, no person of interest in the history of persons of interest had the kind of impact Jesus had on art and music.
AN UNEXPECTED INSPIRATION
It started early.
Artists and musicians were immediately inspired by Jesus, and artwork appeared surprisingly soon in Christian history. Consider, for example, the first three hundred years of Christianity, prior to the edicts of Milan and Thessalonica. Why would we expect any Christian art to emerge and survive in this period? The Christian movement, after all, lacked people, position, property, patronage, permission, and protection.
In the earliest years, Christ followers comprised one of the smallest people groups in the empire. How many from this limited group would be artists? Jesus followers also lacked prestige and position within the culture, which are typically the seedbed of artistic activity. Early Christians didn’t even own the property on which to create art. Large churches and significant Christian structures like the ones I’ve described didn’t emerge until later in history. These followers also lacked financial patronage . Significant, lasting art is usually created at the behest of wealthy patrons. In addition, the earliest believers lacked the permission of the government to exercise their beliefs without some form of compromise. To be a Christian in this period of history often meant risking everything without the protection of authorities, and active artistry would only serve to identify believers and place them in harm’s way.
Given this environment, I wouldn’t expect much art to be created (or to have survived) in the first centuries of Christianity, yet significant art did emerge and endure.
The early Christians were immediately inspired by Jesus and eventually employed every art media at their disposal to draw, paint, sculpt, and craft images of their Savior. Even those who opposed Jesus and his followers were inspired to depict Jesus, if only mockingly. Perhaps the earliest image of Jesus was drawn in this way, illustrating him as a donkey. But shortly thereafter, emerging images of Jesus revealed the adoration of his followers as they illustrated episodes of his life and ministry.
Why did art emerge in this early period when there were relatively few Christians and the environment was less than encouraging? It may simply be that Jesus followers were emboldened by Jesus’s message and the promise of eternal life. As Justin Martyr wrote in the second century, “You can kill us, but cannot do us any real harm.”
Once hostilities toward Christians diminished within the empire, Christian art flourished. Churches were constructed, wealthy patrons emerged, and the Christian population exploded. The setting was perfect for the proliferation of art in every form. This next period of history (typically described as the Early Middle and Middle Ages, from the fifth to fifteenth century CE) saw an increase in artistic expression.
Images of Jesus appeared on church doors, in murals, in sanctuaries, on tombs, and in manuscripts. Painters, etchers, sculptors, and architects applied their talents to the story of Jesus. Virtually every aspect of his life, ministry, death, and resurrection inspired these artists to master their craft.
An even more expansive explosion of artistic expression was inevitable, and it occurred in the Renaissance. While the Renaissance (a period in European history that marks the transition between the Middle Ages and modernity—the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries) was inspired in large part by the rediscovery of classical Greek philosophy, Jesus remained the chief inspiration in the arts.
Artists in this period perfected their craft, with Jesus as their subject matter. Many painters, for example, developed and mastered the use of linear perspective by painting New Testament scenes (such as Leonardo da Vinci in his Last Supper ). Painters also focused on the use of light and shadow and studied anatomy to better perfect the realism of their paintings.
Much of this occurred at the beginning of the modern period, before or alongside the early years of the “scientific revolution.” As an atheist investigating Jesus and reviewing my art history books, I wasn’t surprised that a religious figure like Jesus would have a creative impact on a largely religious world, but as successive generations embraced a more scientific, secular mindset, I expected Jesus’s inspiration to wane.
It didn’t.
Jesus also dominated the modern era of art history, serving as subject matter for believers and unbelievers alike.
While most expect Jesus to dominate the artistic thought life of Westerners (Europe did, after all, emerge from the vestiges of the Roman Empire), I was surprised to find that Jesus was a global inspiration.
An “A to Z” survey of nations reveals Jesus-inspired artists in every region of the world. No other sacred figure has stirred the imagination in this transcendent manner. Consider, for example, the religious systems that preceded Christianity and are still active today. Indra, Thakur Jiu, Zoroaster, Krishna, and the Buddha had a dramatic head start on Jesus, yet combined they haven’t had the global impact on art that Jesus has had. Jesus is not just the most inspirational historical figure in the West —he’s the most inspirational figure in the history of the world .
THE EVIDENCE IN THE ARTWORK
Buried within this historic collection of inspired art is an evidence trail . The fingerprints of Jesus dominate the art of the earliest centuries of the Common Era. So much so that the truth about Jesus can be completely reconstructed simply from the oldest known Christian paintings and sculptures.
Let’s return to our initial thought experiment and imagine that every New Testament document has been destroyed, including the gospel of Mark. This early, brief gospel contains everything you need to know about Jesus, organized into a series of narrative episodes:
If Mark’s gospel, along with every episode it described, was destroyed, it could be reconstructed from the earliest Christian art I’ve described (most originating from late antiquity to the Middle Ages, and all well before the Renaissance period):
Every important detail about the life and ministry of Jesus—as described in the gospel of Mark—has also been painted or sculpted by inspired artists in the earliest centuries of the Common Era. This is also true of the other gospels. Artists looked to every chapter of every gospel for inspiration. Even if all the New Testament manuscripts were gone, the story of Jesus would remain unless, of course, you were willing and able to destroy two thousand years of art. That’s what it would take to erase the evidence of Jesus’s life and ministry. That’s how much Jesus has mattered to artists.
EVERY MASTER INFLUENCED BY THE MASTER
Jesus’s influence wasn’t limited to obscure religious artisans. The greatest painters and artists of history have been inspired by Jesus, from antiquity to modernity.
Art history is typically divided into stylistic periods as artists reimagined their craft in each new generation. Genres of art have emerged over time, each led by its own set of top masters.
Jesus inspired all of them.
Investigate for yourself: perform an internet search of the top three masters in each historic artistic genre. Once you’ve compiled that list, search to see if they’ve painted or sculpted Jesus. You’ll find that the top masters in every genre were inspired by the Master.
The list you assemble from your internet search will be a “who’s who” of Common Era artists, but if art hasn’t been your interest in the past, you may not be familiar with these creative artisans. As an art student, I admired the work of historic artists in every genre, including these renowned masters:
Duccio (c. 1255–c. 1319 CE)
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519 CE)
Giotto (c. 1266–1337 CE)
Albrecht Durer (1471–1528 CE)
Donatello (1386–1466 CE)
Michelangelo (1475–1564 CE)
Jan van Eyck (c. 1390–1441 CE)
Giorgione (c. 1478–1510 CE)
Cosimo Rosselli (1439–1507 CE)
Raphael (1483–1520 CE)
Sandro Botticelli (c. 1445–c. 1510 CE)
Titian (c.1488–1576 CE)
El Greco (1541–1614 CE)
Paul Cézanne (1839–1906 CE)
Caravaggio (1571–1610 CE)
Odilon Redon (1840–1916 CE)
Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640 CE)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919 CE)
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680 CE)
Diego Rodríguez Velázquez (1599–1660 CE)
Mary Cassatt (1844–1926 CE)
Paul Gauguin (1848–1903 CE)
Philippe de Champaigne (1602–1674 CE)
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890 CE)
Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939 CE)
Rembrandt (1606–1669 CE)
Edvard Munch (1863–1944 CE)
Anton Raphael Mengs (1728–1779 CE)
Gustav Klimt (1862–1918 CE)
Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944 CE)
Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806 CE)
Emil Nolde (1867–1956 CE)
Henri Matisse (1869–1954 CE)
Benjamin West (1738–1820 CE)
Paul Klee (1879–1940 CE)
Francisco de Goya (1746–1828 CE)
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973 CE)
Alexander Ivanov (1806–1858 CE)
Marc Chagall (1887–1985 CE)
Jean-François Millet (1814–1875 CE)
Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986 CE)
William Bouguereau (1825–1905 CE)
Max Ernst (1891–1976 CE)
Domenico Morelli (1826–1901 CE)
Marcel Janco (1895–1984 CE)
John Everett Millais (1829–1896 CE)
René Magritte (1898–1967 CE)
Édouard Manet (1832–1883 CE)
Ansel Adams (1902–1984 CE)
Carl Heinrich Bloch (1834–1890 CE)
Salvador Dalí (1904–1989 CE)
Edgar Degas (1834–1917 CE)
Andy Warhol (1928–1987 CE)
You may not recognize everyone on this list (although, if you’re a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the names Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael will ring a bell), but all of them—that’s right, all of them—were inspired at some point by Jesus. The renowned masters of every historic period, every artistic genre, and every region of the world painted, sculpted, sketched, or etched Jesus of Nazareth.
This did not have to be the case, and it cannot be said of the leader of any other religious movement. Art as we know it today was forever shaped by the inspiration of Jesus, even when those who were inspired didn’t claim a Christian identity. No other person in history has been such a person of interest to artists. No other historical figure has received this much artistic attention. No one has mattered like Jesus.
AN ADAPTABLE INSPIRATION
Why has Jesus been so broadly inspiring to artists? Perhaps it’s because he transcends culture. Artists in every nation have freely reimagined Jesus from their own cultural perspective. He transcends racial, ethnic, and cultural boundaries. Artists have depicted Jesus in every possible cultural, artistic style.
By comparison, search for global images of the Buddha and closely examine what you find. Artists around the globe sculpt statues and paint images of the Buddha in nearly the same artistic language, regardless of their regional or cultural differences. If you didn’t know where this art was created, you might assume these images of the Buddha were sculpted or painted in the same region of the world at the same point in history. They were not, even though they conform to the same visual language.
Artists depicting Jesus, on the other hand, have shown him in strikingly different ways, imagining him in a manner specific to their own culture. The image of Jesus is adaptable. The imagery of Jesus looks vastly different depending on where and when he is depicted. He became one of us, so we portray him as one of us, regardless of our time, culture, or location.
The truth about Jesus cannot be erased simply by destroying manuscripts and Bibles. It resides in art that spans the globe and transcends history. But even if you were somehow able to burn every painting and smash every statue, Jesus would still emerge as a person of interest in yet another form of artistic expression.
JESUS IN THE HYMNS
Like many American teenagers, I honestly believed I would someday become a rock star. I spent hundreds of hours perfecting the guitar licks I heard on the radio, purchased far more than my fair share of record albums, and eventually owned the best musical equipment I could afford. I formed several bands and learned how to play hundreds of popular songs.
None of them were about Jesus.
All of them, however, were written and originally performed by people who were inspired by Jesus, even though I didn’t know it at the time.
Music has always been incredibly important to Jesus followers. The earliest believers regularly sang songs, continuing a long Jewish tradition that began in antiquity. Consider, for example, the words of this worship song:
Oh give thanks to the L ORD , for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Let Israel say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
Let the house of Aaron say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
Let those who fear the L ORD say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.” (Psalm 118:1–4 ESV)
If you’re a Christian, you might recognize some of these words from a popular Chris Tomlin worship song titled “Forever.” Tomlin borrowed many of these lyrics from an ancient source. These words are from Psalm 118. Christians still sing these lyrics, and they have been for thousands of years. Scholars believe that Psalm 118 may have been the hymn Jesus sang with his disciples at the end of the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:30). Songs have always been an important form of Christian expression.
The earliest Christians continued the tradition of their ancestors and Master. Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns, for example, even as prisoners (Acts 16:25). Later, Paul and James wrote to early congregations and instructed them to sing.
Aside from the Psalms, other early Christian hymns may also be included in the New Testament letters. When biblical scholars examine these letters in their native languages, they find several passages that seem to be “imported” into the text, as if they represent a series of words, even lyrics , that were recited or sung by the earliest believers. This passage, for example, is a beautiful summary of the “mystery of godliness”:
He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory. (1 Timothy 3:16 ESV)
This passage is a wonderful expression of Jesus’s sinless nature: “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten” (1 Peter 2:22–23 ESV).
Are the scholars correct that these passages were songs sung by the earliest believers? Perhaps. One thing is sure: Jesus followers were inspired by Jesus to sing songs about Jesus to Jesus. They borrowed these songs from Old and New Testament Scriptures and quickly began to write their own.
OBJECTION: CHRISTIAN ART IS INFERIOR TO SECULAR ART BECAUSE CHRISTIANITY IS INFERIOR TO SECULARISM
Perhaps you’ve heard people complain that Christian art, music, or movies are somehow inferior when compared with contemporary secular movies and artists. Without examining specific examples, one thing is certain: some of the greatest art and music in history has been inspired by Jesus and created by Jesus followers. From an artistic standpoint, Jesus is not an irrelevant historical figure who established an uninspiring, inferior worldview, and his followers are not second-tier artists and musicians. The Christian worldview has given birth to some of the greatest writers, artists, and musicians history has ever known.
THE EVIDENCE IN THE HYMNALS
Just as the fingerprints of Jesus can be found in the art of the earliest centuries of the Common Era, so too can they be seen in music. Hundreds of historic hymns were written in the first four centuries of the church, most well before Christianity was safe to sing about.
Embedded in these sacred songs were the simple truths about Jesus. The early church hymns are a rich evidential source of information about Jesus. The broad narrative of Jesus’s life, ministry, death, and resurrection can be heard in these songs, along with many rich theological truths that early believers affirmed. In fact, if all the New Testament manuscripts were destroyed, we would still know the following truths about Jesus from Christian hymns sung in the first four centuries.
The Jesus described in ancient hymns matches the Jesus depicted by ancient artists and the Jesus described by the earliest authors of literature. The fallout in the earliest centuries of the Common Era pointed to the same Jesus described on the pages of the New Testament.
MORE THAN JUST CHRISTIAN MUSIC
Jesus inspired more than hymnal music, however. His influence has been felt in every generation of musicians in the Common Era. Much like the history of art, the history of music can also be divided into historic periods representing successive genres of musical expression. And as with the history of art, Christian composers, musicians, and performers dominate the history of music. Even a cursory search of the leading talent in each historic period reveals Jesus followers at the forefront.
These contributors were more than musicians and composers. They were innovators . They pushed the envelope of their own contemporary forms of musical expression, making structural and compositional changes even as they invented (or added) new musical instruments.
Jesus followers creatively changed the course of musical history, systematically advancing forms of expression toward the music we know today. Christ followers led the way, advancing music from:
Pure memorization
TO
Musical notation
Monophony
Harmonization
A cappella
Instrumentation
Modal systems
Major and minor scales
Sacred and royal exclusivity
Popular accessibility
Rigid structure
Boundless creativity
You may have noticed, however, that I’ve truncated this description of music history just short of the generation in which we live. Jesus may have affected the musicians and composers of the past, but does he have any impact on musicians today?
JESUS AND THE CONTEMPORARIES
Regardless of your favorite style of popular music (be it jazz, rock, adult contemporary, hip hop, country, rap, punk, synth, or anything in between), Jesus followers dramatically influenced it. All these forms of popular music share key characteristics: musicians singing simple, creative compositions (often emotional and intense) in vocal harmony, accompanied by a wide variety of musical and percussion instruments, performing melodies that are documented in musical notation in major and minor keys.
These common characteristics of contemporary music are the result of generations of adaptations, and Jesus followers led this progress. Wherever you are on the globe today, if you listen to the most popular forms of music, you owe a debt of gratitude to a Jesus follower who, in one small way or another, changed the course of musical history.
Historic Christian musicians, singers, and performers laid the foundation on which modern music stands.
Thousands of years later, Jesus followers are still inspired to sing about Jesus of Nazareth. A brief internet search reveals the depth of the contemporary Christian music industry. In the past fifty years, over five hundred artists have contributed to this industry, recording songs numbering into the hundreds of thousands.
Jesus followers aren’t the only artists who have composed or sung music about Jesus, however. Think for a moment about your favorite musical artist over the past fifty to one hundred years. If the artist you have in mind was popular on a national or global level, he or she (or they if you’re thinking of a band) is probably on this list formed from the Billboard , Rolling Stone , and IMDb charts of the greatest popular musical artists of all time:
Muddy Waters
Johnny Cash
Simon and Garfunkel
Hank Williams
Carl Perkins
The Everly Brothers
Frank Sinatra
Eric Clapton
Otis Redding
Ray Charles
James Brown
John Lennon
The Drifters
Jerry Lee Lewis
The Stooges
Jackie Wilson
The Four Tops
Booker T. and the MGS
Fats Domino
Patti Smith
Marvin Gay
Al Green
Smokey Robinson
Sly and the Family Stone
Little Richard
Aretha Franklin
Van Morrison
B.B. King
Willie Nelson
Diana Ross and the
Sam Cooke
The Ramones
Supremes
Elvis Presley
Roy Orbison
Bob Dylan
Neil Young
Led Zeppelin
Nirvana
The Temptations
Black Sabbath
Kanye West
Tina Turner
Michael Jackson
Beyoncé Knowles
Rod Stewart
Parliament and Funkadelic
Tupac Shakur
The Supremes
Judas Priest
Jay-Z
Stevie Wonder
Aerosmith
Eminem
Curtis Mayfield
Elvis Costello
Pearl Jam
The Beach Boys
Hall & Oates
Mariah Carey
Janis Joplin
Queen
Mary J. Blige
Righteous Brothers
Earth, Wind & Fire
Tim McGraw
Bob Marley
Eagles
Usher
David Bowie
Van Halen
The Notorious B.I.G.
The Rolling Stones
AC/DC
Outkast
The Kinks
Blondie
Snoop Dogg
Grateful Dead
Talking Heads
Justin Timberlake
Joni Mitchell
The Clash
Wu-Tang Clan
Frank Zappa
Prince
Linkin Park
The Byrds
Dr. Dre
P!nk
Gram Parsons
Whitney Houston
Nickelback
Jimi Hendrix
Def Leppard
Christina Aguilera
Alice Cooper
Madonna
Toby Keith
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Eurythmics
Sean Paul
Velvet Underground
R.E.M.
Lil Wayne
The Who
Jennifer Lopez
50 Cent
Billy Joel
Nine Inch Nails
Alicia Keys
Elton John
Depeche Mode
Lady Gaga
James Taylor
Run-DMC
Fall Out Boy
The Doors
Fergie
The Killers
Pink Floyd
Anthrax
Kelly Clarkson
Bruce Springsteen
Beastie Boys
Ludacris
Tom Petty
Metallica
Avril Lavigne
Creedence Clearwater
Slayer
Katy Perry
Revival
Public Enemy
Rihanna
The Band
Megadeth
Bruno Mars
Carlos Santana
Guns N’ Roses
T-Pain
Genesis
Radiohead
Ed Sheeran
Taylor Swift
Kesha
Twenty One Pilots
Carrie Underwood
Justin Bieber
There’s a good chance that at least one of your favorite artists is represented here. If you examine the catalog for each of these artists, investigating the titles and lyrics for every song, you might be surprised to find that every one of these artists has recorded a song about Jesus. Every single one.
“Deep Down In My Heart” by Muddy Waters
“Jesus Is Calling” by Hank Williams
“Jesus Is a Rock in the Weary Land” by Frank Sinatra
“Come On Back Jesus” by Willie Nelson
“I’m Not Jesus” by The Ramones
“What Am I Worth” by Roy Orbison
“Why Me Lord?” by Ray Charles
“My Only Desire” by The Drifters
“The First Noel” by Jackie Wilson
“Christmas Is a Special Day” by Fats Domino
“Jesus Is Waiting” by Al Green
“Ride On, King Jesus” by Little Richard
“Jesus Gave Me Water” by B. B. King
“Be with Me Jesus” by Sam Cooke
“Reach Out to Jesus” by Elvis Presley
“Jesus” by Johnny Cash
“Just a Little Talk with Jesus” by Carl Perkins
“We’ve Been Told” by Eric Clapton
“The Old Landmark” by James Brown
“Jesus Is on the Main Line” by Jerry Lee Lewis
“Away In a Manger” by The Four Tops
“Gloria” by Patti Smith
“Jesus Told Me to Love You” by Smokey Robinson
“What a Friend We Have in Jesus” by Aretha Franklin
“Mrs. Robinson” by Simon and Garfunkel
“Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella” by The Everly Brothers
“Little Ol’ Me” by Otis Redding
“God” by John Lennon
“Jesus Loves the Stooges” by The Stooges
“Sweet Little Jesus Boy” by Booker T. and the MGS
“Jesus Is Our Love Song” by Marvin Gaye
“Walking in Jesus Name” by Sly and the Family Stone
“Whenever God Shines His Light” by Van Morrison
“What a Friend We Have in Jesus” by Diana Ross and the Supremes
“Property of Jesus” by Bob Dylan
“Jesus’ Chariot” by Neil Young
“Jesus Is Love” by The Temptations
“What a Friend We Have in Jesus” by Tina Turner
“He Come Down” by The Beach Boys
“River Jordan” by Janis Joplin
“He” by The Righteous Brothers
“So Much Things To Say” by Bob Marley
“Bus Stop” by David Bowie
“Just Wanna See His Face” by The Rolling Stones
“Have a Cuppa Tea” by The Kinks
“We Bid You Goodnight” by Grateful Dead
“Passion Play” by Joni Mitchell
“Jesus Thinks You’re a Jerk” by Frank Zappa
“Jesus Is Just Alright” by The Byrds
“A Song for You” by Gram Parsons
“The Story of Life” by Jimi Hendrix
“King Herod’s Song” by Alice Cooper
“Four Walls of Raiford” by Lynyrd Skynyrd
“Jesus” by Velvet Underground
“Christmas” by The Who
“Goodnight Saigon” by Billy Joel
“Levon” by Elton John
“Fire and Rain” by James Taylor
“When the Music’s Over” by The Doors
“The Hero’s Return” by Pink Floyd
“Jesus Was an Only Son” by Bruce Springsteen
“Free Fallin’ ” by Tom Petty
“Walk on the Water” by Creedence Clearwater Revival
“Christmas Must Be Tonight” by The Band
“Black Jesus” by Carlos Santana
“Jesus He Knows Me” by Genesis
“In My Time of Dying” by Led Zeppelin
“After Forever” by Black Sabbath
“Earth Song” by Michael Jackson
“Livin’ the Life / Talk about Jesus” by Parliament and Funkadelic
“MC Lars” by Judas Priest
“Street Jesus” by Aerosmith
“Deep Dark Truthful Mirror” by Elvis Costello
“A Lot of Changes Coming” by Hall & Oates
“A Man Called Jesus” by Prince
“Jesus Christ” by U2
“Blood of Christ” by Dr. Dre
“Jesus Loves Me” by Whitney Houston
“Personal Jesus” by Def Leppard
“X-Static Process” by Madonna
“Jack Talking” by Eurythmics
“New Test Leper” by R.E.M.
“It’s Hard to Be a Girl” by Jennifer Lopez
“Ringfinger” by Nine Inch Nails
“Personal Jesus” by Depeche Mode
“Christmas Is” by Run-DMC
“What a Time to Be Alive” by Fergie
“Make Me Laugh” by Anthrax
“Dr. Lee, PhD” by Beastie Boys
“Leper Messiah” by Metallica
“Jesus Saves” by Slayer
“What You Need Is Jesus” by Public Enemy
“Captive Honour” by Megadeth
“Sympathy for the Devil” by Guns n’ Roses
“I Am a Wicked Child” by Radiohead
“Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam” by Nirvana
“Jesus Walks” by Kanye West
“Say Yes” by Beyoncé Knowles
“Blasphemy” by Tupac Shakur
“Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z
“Walk on Water” by Eminem
“W.M.A.” by Pearl Jam
“Jesus Oh What a Wonderful Child” by Mariah Carey
“Thank You Lord (Interlude)” by Mary J. Blige
“Problems” by Lil Wayne
“Be a Gentleman” by 50 cent
“Fight” by Alicia Keys
“You and I” by Lady Gaga
“Dear Future Self (Hands Up)” by Fall Out Boy
“When You Were Young” by The Killers
“Jesus” by Kelly Clarkson
“Blow It Out” by Ludacris
“Head above Water” by Avril Lavigne
“Take da Wheel” by T.l.
“When There’s Nothing Left” by Katy Perry
“Love without Tragedy / Mother Mary” by Rihanna
“Silent Night” by Rod Stewart
“Time and Love “by The Supremes
“Jesus Children of America” by Stevie Wonder
“Jesus” by Curtis Mayfield
“Jesus” by Queen
“Away in a Manger” by Earth, Wind & Fire
“The Last Resort” by The Eagles
“Up for Breakfast” by Van Halen
“Kooler Than Jesus” by AC/DC
“Bermuda Triangle Blues” by Blondie
“Bill” by Talking Heads
“The Sound of Sinners” by The Clash
“I’m Only Jesus” by Tim McGraw
“Oh My God” by Usher
“Get Money” by The Notorious B.I.G.
“13th Floor / Growing Old” by Outkast
“Going Home” by Snoop Dogg
“Cabaret” by Justin Timberlake
“A Better Tomorrow” by Wu-Tang Clan
“Skin to Bone” by Linkin Park
“Here Comes the Weekend” by P!nk
“Not Leavin’ Yet” by Nickelback
“Mercy on Me” by Christina Aguilera
“If I Was Jesus” by Toby Keith
“Crick Neck” by Sean Paul
“24K Magic” by Bruno Mars
“Roll in Peace” by T-Pain
“Lately” by Ed Sheeran
“Soon You’ll Get Better” by Taylor Swift
“Jesus, Take the Wheel” by Carrie Underwood
“Frenzy” by Kesha
“Otis Freestyle” by Justin Bieber
“Save” by Twenty One Pilots
Some of these songs are flattering to Jesus; some are not. Some are respectful; some are not. Some are historically accurate; some are not. But even recording artists such as The Kinks, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Megadeth, Public Enemy, The Notorious B.I.G., Outkast, T-Pain, and Black Sabbath have recorded songs that call on the name of Jesus in one way or another (perhaps the funniest song title on this list is Frank Zappa’s “Jesus Thinks You’re a Jerk”). Some of these artists were inspired by Jesus, some were informed by him, and some were infuriated by him. But Jesus mattered to all of them. They saw Jesus as a person of interest, worthy of their attention.
SINGULARLY INSPIRING
“I’m not sure how I was this involved in the arts and did not see it,” I said to Susie one night after dinner. “I studied their work in art school, visited their art overseas, and even played their music in garage bands, yet I never noticed that Jesus had been there all along. These artists and musicians either came out of a Christian tradition or found something inspiring about Jesus.”
“Don’t feel bad. I missed it too.”
Susie and I probably aren’t alone. But make no mistake, no other historical person so universally appears in the lyrics of popular music as does Jesus, and no other person in history has inspired the visual arts as has Jesus.
Art and music are interesting and inspiring in large part because of a person of interest who inspired artists and musicians through the ages.
This person of interest cannot be erased from history without also erasing the arts that have consoled us, encouraged us, described us, and inspired us. One is irreversibly connected to—and dependent on—the other. One gives meaning to our temporal life; the other offers eternal life.
But art and music aren’t the only disciplines that shout the name of Jesus. Another entirely unexpected aspect of the Common Era fallout is even more indebted to Jesus, despite what is commonly believed in our culture today.