Course Guidelines Path 1 Calendar Class Discussion Path 2 Groups & Texts Writing Assignments Reference Texts

 


ornamental line

Stumbling Blocks

"'Holy wisdom is not clear and thin like water,
but thick and dark like blood'" (50).
C. S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces (1956)

Points for Reflection

The Bible: I Corinthians 1:1-2:16

  1. In this, the first of his letters to the church at Corinth (in Greece), St. Paul encourages the early group of followers to be united instead of allowing themselves to become divided over what kinds of minutiae (I Cor. 1:10-16)?
  2. Why does St. Paul, the author of I Corinthians, suggest it is better to preach the gospel without "eloquent wisdom" and "lofty words" (I Cor 1.17, 2:1, NRSV)?
  3. What sort of principles might Paul be alluding to when he says that the Christian life flies in the face of conventional wisdom and intelligence (I Cor. 1:18-25)?
  4. In what ways is "Christ crucified" a "stumbling block" that gets in the way of some people accepting Christian doctrine (I Cor. 1:22-24, NIV)?
  5. Does I Corinthians 1:22-25 emphasize differences between, or commonalities shared among Jews and non-Jews? (The author, Paul of Tarsus, references "Greeks" since he's writing to an early church in the Greek city of Corinth, and mentions "Gentiles" as a catch-all for those outside of Judaism.) Do these verses seek to bridge the gap separating the people groups in question, or further divide them?
  6. Is Paul calling God either foolish or weak? What is he getting at in I Cor. 1:25?
  7. What criteria must apparently be present, or absent, for a person to be chosen by God (I Cor. 1:26-29)? Why, according to St. Paul?
  8. Was Paul, by his own account, a dynamic and persuasive speaker (I Cor. 2:1-5)?
  9. Does Paul closely define the divine wisdom which he claims is far superior to earthly wisdom, or gesture towards it in abstract fashion (I Cor. 2:6-10)?
  10. How, presumably, do followers of "The Way" (Christians) gain access to the mind of Christ (I Cor. 2:7-16)?


Matthias Grünewald's The Crucifixion (1515)

  1. Does it surprise you to learn that this particularly rendering of Christ's crucifixion appeared in the hospital chapel of a monastery which treated ergotism (a skin disease also called "Saint Anthony's fire")? What distinguishes this from other paintings of the crucifixion?
  2. Does Christ's body appear light or heavy in this painted panel?
  3. Why might Grünewald, a Germamn painter have retained the Latin abbreviation of INRI (Iesus Nazarenus Rex ludaeorum, meaning "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews) instead of applying an abbreviation of its German equivalent (Jesus von Nazareth, König der Juden)? (Note: Martin Luther's German translation of The Bible would appear in 1522).


Salvador Dalí's The Spectre of Sex Appeal (1934)

  1. What is the sex of the painting's central figure, and what is that of the smaller figure in the foreground?
  2. what two objects appear before and behind this smaller figure? Is either object attached to him?
  3. Though some of the larger figure's limbs seem human, other elements of the figure resemble decidedly non-human objects. Can you identify these?
  4. Which appendages and other body parts are missing from this central figure?
  5. Some art critics have identified in the larger figure a dissected human who has been reassembled, while others see a tortured individual. What role do the crutches play in your own interpretation? Are they propping up a weak figure? Are they an integrated part of the figure, or add-ons? Are they necessary?
  6. What layer of meaning does the painting's title apply to this work?


Salvador Dalí's Corpus Hypercubus (1954)

  1. How does the garment worn by Jesus in this painting compare to that in other depictions of the crucifixion?
  2. without knowing much (if anything) about Dali's intentions and craft, can you generate any plausible explanations for why this painting's cross is constructed out of cubes?
  3. Why might Dali have created the particular design that appears on the black and white, board-like ground below the floating cross?
  4. Gala, Dali's wife, modeled for this painting. Whom is she intended to represent?
  5. Is the Christ depicted in this work suffering? What do you make of the absence of blood in this painting?
  6. How does this work compare to Matthias Grünewald's The Crucifixion (1515)? (Dalí had Grünewald's work in mind when creating this one.)


A man being held upon a large cross by nothing, he levitates in front of it. A person in long robes stands looking up at Him
Corpus Hypercubus (1954)
oil on canvas
Salvador Dali



Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu