Peeling Back the Layers

Watched another fascinating programme last night on the UK Channel 4
"On demand" player on the net, this time about "The Secrets of the 12
Apostles", in which Dr Robert Beckford travelled all over Europe and to India
in search of more information about how, exactly, the early Christian
church was first propagated.

What has caught my interest for the last 15 months, (since I have been a student in the Department of Theology & Religious Studies at Winchester, and touched by the learning of such feminist liberation theologians as Lisa Isherwood and Liz Stuart) caught my interest in this programme - the place of women in the early church, their influence in the propagation of the story of the new
religion of Christianity, and their marginalisation by the patriarchal power
structures that gained ascendency in the Church - until now!
One new organisation which intrigues me is the Phoebe Institute,
named after the deaconess Phoebe, known to the Apostle Paul. The
founder, Rev Evelyn Wiseman, reminds me a lot of some of my Tutors, and
I reckon that a week on one of the Phoebe courses would be a most
fascinating time.

I don't feel that I am any more - or less - "religious" than I was before I
started the course at Winchester - but what I do feel is that I am a great
deal better informed - and a good deal more aware of just how much has
been hidden, or fallen by the wayside, of what started out as a very
different story of Christianity. In my nosey-parker way, I want to know
MORE - and satisfyingly, the more is out there and available for just a
small amount of seeking.

Another facet of this story, which entices me more than most is the art
history aspects of religion, which has been addressed - with respect to
Christianity - in another three part series  "Art of Eternity"
made by Andrew Graham-Dixon, which covers Christian art up to about the 14th century, and has been repeated on TV here over the last few weeks.
I have been attracted to Byzantine art ever since watching John Romer's
"Byzantium" a few years ago, and then, of course, visiting Venice and
being entranced by the mosaics in the Basilica of St Mark  and on Murano
and Torcello. Graham- Dixon's series supplements and extends the story,
and now I am just itching to visit Sienna, Ravenna and Assisi.

So much to learn - so little time!

Mosaics in the Basilica of San Marco, Venice