Advent nears
Announcing guest authors and a special series on Ruth, Bathsheba, Rahab, and Tamar
Fellow Pilgrims,
Advent approaches.
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:15)
Matthew reminds us of the generations standing behind the birth of Jesus Christ.
“An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Matthew 1:1
Among the names, four women: Tamar, Bathsheba, Rahab, and Ruth.
Feel free to share this image. Hi-res downloads of the image, without the watermark, are available for purchase here, and proceeds during December will be shared with guest post authors.
In this digital collage, I’ve depicted them growing from and through the blood and the root of Jesse. They are the root of Jesse and they could not be who they are without themselves growing from that root. The red and the blue are traditional colors for salvation, red for blood, blue for the waters of baptism. They’re disjointed and awkward, intentionally collaged. We’re in collage with them. Fruit and flowers point us to the beauty that sanctification grows. Lines of gold, referencing the Japanese art of kintsugi, in which broken things are repaired with gold, are crossed with with lines of roots reminding us that these women are Jesus’s heritage and ours. This is an image of incarnation and resurrection.
Each woman wears an element in her hair quoted from a piece of Western art. Rahab, a bit of bow or flower from a headband in a 17th c. “Rahab and the emissaries of Joshua,” Bathsheba, a discarded bath towel from an 1889 painting by Jean-León Gérôme, Ruth a sheaf of grain from Holbein’s “Ruth and Boaz,” and Tamar a bit of a hidey hat from “Judah and Tamar” from the school of Rembrandt. I’ve placed images of these paintings at the bottom of this post.
There aren’t many paintings of some of these women. There’s a more famous one of Judah choking Tamar, but I didn’t want to quote that one, thank you very much. There are also a lot of paintings of the four where the artists did us the favor of giving us breasts hanging out. Thanks guys.
And the women don’t look happy in most paintings, as well they might not. Their stories are rough. I’ve tried to image them into the happiness of God’s light, of resurrection, and healing.
They carried the light. They brought us Jesus.
Their flesh is his flesh, which is our flesh, for we’ve become his flesh, and theirs too. Thanks be to God.
In the four weeks of the Advent season, I’ll be running four pieces on these women, one by me, and three by special guest authors.
On December 2nd, for Advent 1, on Ruth—immigrant, outsider, widow, remarried—a piece by Joy Moore
On December 9th, for Advent 2, on Bathsheba—assaulted and bereaved, leered at and deceived—a piece by
On December 16th, for Advent 3, on Rahab—prostitute and foreigner to Israel, harborer of spies—a piece by me
On December 23rd, for Advent 4, on Tamar—refused the promises of the law, dressed as a prostitute, more righteous than her father-in-law—a piece by Emily Hunter McGowin
Rev. Dr. Joy Moore, newly named President of Northern Theological Seminary; Dr. Beth Allison Barr, James Vardaman Professor of History at Baylor University; Rev. Dr. Emily Hunter McGowin, Associate Professor of Theology at Wheaton College.
I’m excited to bring you these special pieces. They’ll be free for everyone, as is almost everything here at Church Blogmatics.
I’ll be sharing my Substack revenue for December with these guest authors. If you’re already a supporting subscriber, you’ll be supporting them too. If you’d like to become a supporting subscriber, that will also support these amazing guests. The collage in today’s post and art in the upcoming posts will also be available for digital download (hi-res, watermark free), and proceeds there will also be shared with the guest authors.
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Jean-León Gérôme, Bathsheba
Holbein, Ruth and Boaz
Rahab and the emissaries of Joshua.
Judah and Tamar, school of Rembrandt
Grace & peace,
BFJ
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