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Most Excellent Tree: the changing image of the Cross through the centuries
Date: Thursday, 19th April 2012 at 8pm
Lecturer: Christopher Herbert
Location: Anglican Church of St Thomas Becket, Zeughausmarkt 22, 20459 Hamburg
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The Cross is such a well-known symbol in Christianity, it is all too easy to take it for granted and to forget that, like many other symbols, it has developed and changed overtime. There is very little evidence of the cross being used as a Christian symbol in the earliest centuries, (though one always has to remember that art objects, even religious ones, can be lost or destroyed and therefore to claim that an object was not used may be inaccurate), but with the arrival of the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century, it began to move centre stage. From then on, the cross, as a religious and artistic object, developed according to local circumstances, belief and use.
In one of the earliest mosaics, in the apse of the church of St Pudenziana in Rome, dating from the late fourth century, the cross has a central place and is shown encrusted with jewels and surrounded by the symbols of the four evangelists. By contrast, at St Sabina's basilica in Rome in the fifth century, the cross has no glory but is depicted with a crucified figure of Christ upon it, As the centuries unfolded, so the cross became imbued with more and more characteristics, In England, for example, in the late tenth or early eleventh century, a cross-was created which carried references to the Anglo-Saxon poem, "The Dream of The Rood". At the time it was believed that it consisted of wood taken from the True Cross. Before the Norman Conquest the wealthiest churches in England overflowed with bejewelled crosses, whereas at the Reformation the number of crosses in any one church was quite limited. How did all these changes come about? What can the changes tell us about the beliefs and practices of our forebears?
In this lecture, entitled, "Most Excellent Tree", the developments in the imagery of the cross will be explored, beginning with the earliest surviving examples and charting their course until now. There will be references to poetry, hymnody and spirituality, but at all times the visual image of the Cross will be central. But the question now is whether the Cross, as a symbol, has lost its potency oor is it still an object which can inspire great art and deepen human understanding?
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The Rt. Revd. Dr. Christopher Herbert was born in Lydney, in the Forest of Dean; he was educated at Monmouth School and read Biblical Studies and Philosophy at the University of Wales, Lampeter. In 1967, after attending Wells Theological College and obtaining a PGCE at the University of Bristol, he served as Curate at St Paul's, Tupsley, in Herefordshire.
During this period he taught religious education in a local church secondary school and later became RE Adviser and Diocesan Director of Education. He was made a Prebendary of Hereford Cathedral in 1977.
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In 1981 he became Vicar of The Bourne, near Farnham, in Surrey. In addition, he was appointed as Director of Post-Ordination Training in the diocese of Guildford and was made a Canon of the Cathedral, becoming Archdeacon of Dorking in 1990. He was consecrated a bishop in November 1995 and enthroned as Bishop of St Albans in January 1996. He retired in 2009.
He entered the House of Lords in early December 1999 and established himself as a speaker in the areas of health and medical ethics. He left the House of Lords in 2009 on his retirement, having served on a Select Committee investigating Assisted Dying and having also been a member of a Pre-legislative Scrutiny Committee looking at issues surrounding human fertilisation and embryonic research
His interest in art and in particular the depiction of the Christian faith in art, was afforded an opportunity for expression late in 2000 when he committed a three-month sabbatical leave to research on the image of the Resurrection in 15th Century Northern European Art. His thesis, the first known to address this specific area of art history resulted in the award of an M.Phil by the University of Leicester in 2002. He extended his research and was awarded a Ph.D by Leicester University in 2008 for his ground-breaking work on medieval English Easter sepulchres.
Christopher Herbert has established himself as an authority in the field of medieval Christian art, and his lectures and addresses on the image of the Resurrection and other more specific areas, such as the art of fifteenth century Northern Europe, are in increasing demand. He has given lectures at the invitation of the National Gallery and has lectured in other locations, including Westminster Abbey, the Courtauld Institute, as weIl as at the University of Leicester and at King's College, London,
He became a NADFAS lecturer in 2009.
For more information see Christopher Herbert's website
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