This stunning collection of paintings and sculpture pieces depicting the life of Jesus from his birth to his resurrection replenishes our image bank with some wonderful new deposits. The Asian Christian Art Association in partnership with the World Council of Churches has gathered together 100 works, most of them by contemporary artists, from 60 countries for this beautifully produced volume.
The opening chapter offers a brief survey of 2000 years of Christian art — a legendary gallery of masterpieces. This collection adds many imaginative, reverent, and wondrous images of Christ for people of all races and traditions. Editor Ron O'Grady, one of the founders of the Asian Christian Art Association, sums up what comes through: "We discover that Christ wears many garments and speaks a variety of different languages. You see him in the villages of Nicaragua and on the streets of Chicago. He is a black man from Benin bearing the cross and an Indonesian fisherman on the beach talking to his disciples. He is every man and every woman and is at home in every place."
Christ For All People is a good book to have by your side throughout the year but especially during Lent, when Christians often focus intently upon the story and message of Jesus. The images here present the man from Nazareth as a bringer of unity in diversity. By being hospitable to so many different portraits of Christ we train ourselves in openness to others. In addition, the fine commentaries on each work would make good devotional reading during the 40 days of Lent.
