Signs of the Bible's influence on Western culture can be found in the biblical themes that appear in many of the arts, including painting, sculpture, architecture, music, literature, and film.
Most painters in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, a period of renewed commitment to learning that began in about A. D. 1500, used Bible stories as their subjects. Perhaps the most striking examples are the paintings on the walls and ceiling of the Sistine (SIS-teen) Chapel, located in the Vatican, the center of the Catholic faith in Rome. Painted over a period of four years by Michelangelo (mick-ul-AN-jel-o; 1475-1564), it depicts events ranging from the Creation to the Great Flood.
Michelangelo also created many notable works of sculpture, including a statue of David and one of the Virgin Mary holding her son, Jesus, after his death on the cross. Many other painters and sculptors, including Leonardo (lee-o-NAR-do) da Vinci (1452-1519) and Raphael (rah-fie-EL; 1483-1520) composed works depicting Jesus as an infant in the arms of his mother. This particular scene is so well known that it has a name, Nativity (nuh-TlV-i-tee), which means "birth."
The influence of the Bible in architecture can be found in the numerous great churches and Jewish temples of the world. The style of these buildings draws on concepts contained in the Bible. For instance, the front of a Jewish synagogue (SIN-uh-gog) often bears a copy of the original Ten Commandments. Great cathedrals such as Notre-Dame (NO-truh DOM) in Paris, completed in 1 345, are often called "sermons in stone" because they contain numerous statues depicting events from the Old and New Testaments.
The Bible's influence in music extends from classical to popular forms. Each year at Christmas, audiences around the world are treated to performances of the Messiah, a work for vocals, chorus, and symphony composed by George Frideric (FREE-drick) Handel (1685-1789) in 1742.
Persecution of Jews was an act of Christian obedience. (The New Testament paints a very different picture, suggesting that all of humanity, and not just one group of people, is guilty of killing the son of God. It also teaches that all people are to be treated with kindness.) Anti-Semitism sank to its depths under Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and the Nazi Party, which controlled Germany from 1933 to 1945 and killed more than six million Jews in the Holocaust (HOE-loh-cost).
Equally well known is the work of Johann (YO-hahn) Sebastian Bach (BOCK; 1685-1 750), who created numerous Christian works including Jesu, joy of Man's Desiring and the music for the Christian hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." (The latter contains words written by Martin Luther, 1483-1546, the most significant leader of the Reformation. The Reformation was the revolt against Catholicism that created the Protestant churches.) Among popular works based on biblical themes are such well known songs as "Go Tell It on the Mountain" and "Rivers of Babylon."
The Bible itself, of course— particularly the beautiful King James Version, a translation completed in 1611 — is often studied in literature classes. So too is Paradise Lost, a long poem by John Milton (1608-1704) portraying the revolt against God by the angel Lucifer, who became Satan. Many other literary works do not specifically depict biblical events but involve so many references to the Bible that a reader who knew nothing about the religion of the Israelites would be lost. A great example is Moby Dick (1851), a classic of American literature by Herman Melville (1819-1891). It is no mistake that the narrator is named Ishmael, the wanderer, or that the captain of his ship is the evil Ahab. The story itself is closely related to the biblical Book of Jonah.
Even film, the most recently developed of all the major arts, has drawn heavily on biblical themes. Among the best "Bible epics" is The Ten Commandments (1956), produced at a time when Hollywood was churning out movies on biblical subjects. A less notable example is The Bible (1966). Films about Christ include The Robe (1953), The King of Kings (1961), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and Jesus of Nazareth (1977). Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), based on a musical of the same name, and The Last Temptation of Christ (1 988) both raised a great deal of discussion among Christians, many of whom disagreed with the ways in which these two films portrayed Jesus.
Ironically, the Holocaust resulted in the creation of Israel, the first official Jewish nation in 2,000 years. For centuries, there had been a great deal of disagreement as to whether the Jews could reclaim Palestine, since large numbers of Arabs had settled in their former homeland. At one time, the British government even suggested a Jewish state in what is now the African nation of Uganda. But worldwide sympathy after the Holocaust paved the way for the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
The Koran. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.
Independence was one step toward the restoration of Israel, but far from the last one: Israel had to fight wars with Egypt, Syria, and other Arab neighbors in 1948, 1967, and 1973. In spite of an agreement between Israeli and Egyptian leaders in 1977, tensions have remained high, particularly on the West Bank of the Jordan River. This area, taken from the nation of Jordan in the 1967 war, includes Jerusalem, and has a large population of Palestinian Arabs. During the 1990s, hopes for a peace settlement were continually frustrated by outbreaks of violence on all sides.
World History
