Thomas Cole was more than a nineteenth century landscape painter. There is always more than meets the eye in his works. He used his beautiful landscape paintings, especially in his later life, to depict something sublime.
Particularly apropos for the Christian life is Cole’s series The Cross and the World. This series of paintings depicts two pilgrims—one who takes the way of the cross and one who takes the way of the world. This image echoes the biblical description of followers of Jesus as sojourners on our way to a better land. But in this case only one pilgrim makes it to that land.
Cole’s paintings follow the two pilgrims on their respective paths. The Pilgrim of the World, whose way looks promising at first, makes his way to a place of dark squalor in the end. Meanwhile, the Pilgrim of the Cross finds something profound at the end of his journey. Cole depicts this pilgrim with an angelic host coming to meet him while his gaze never leaves the cross of Christ in front of him.
Cole’s depiction of the way of the cross compels us to put our hopes in the things that will last forever rather than in the brevity of human creations.
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Watch part 6 in a teaching series based on the themes of Thomas Cole’s Voyage of Life. These four paintings depict the cyclical dynamics of human life, as signified by the artwork’s titles: Childhood, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age. You can view these paintings in person at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
These are the last recorded statements of Jesus Christ before His death on the cross. Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing. (Luke 23:34) When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and
Mortality and the purpose of life are prominent themes in Thomas Cole’s paintings. Through his paintings, he vividly brings out the human dilemma of mortality, a dilemma we ourselves must wrestle with. Given the inevitability of death, what are we to do with our days? We can try to stave
In the article below, Dr. Boa synthesizes material from several teaching sessions from his series Biblical Principles for Marriage and from portions of his spiritual formation text Conformed to His Image (primarily from chapter 18, “Holistic Spirituality”). Dr. Boa focuses on agape love as one of the five forms of loves (based on the different Greek words). After reviewing all forms, he gives reasons for why agape is the greatest.
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