In the Catholic church, it seems as though there is a large representation of what is idealized the most and what is being asked of the people. Whether this is a painting in the corner of the church or the priest giving mass on Sunday, there seems to be a large idea of authority and a lead of what should be signified and expected of the people during mass and the Christian Faith. For example, the priest is in charge of the mass. He reads the scripture and puts it into his own words in a lesson for the people. At that point in time, he is the authority in the church. Before that, he has to go through many steps in order to make sure that he is prepared for that instance. The bishop then has authority over the priest and so on. In the lecture, Dr. Heidi Campbell mentioned that understanding authority in the church can better the understandings of other aspects in the church such as texts or community.
When looking through paintings, it is pretty easy to see the authority of the church and the people especially in a historical setting. With the first picture represented, it seems as though the baby is being portrayed as Jesus blessing or telling the three wise men what to do. The viewer can understand this painting to be Jesus and all of the people going to him to represent that he is the one true being over all beings. The authority of the time of this picture seems as though Jesus Christ is the man that should be idealized in the Catholic Faith and everyone should praise him as such. For the picture on the right, this is a completely modern and open-ended idea of what the Christian faith could mean. This was painted on the Berlin Wall in Berlin, Germany, which is seen by so many people in the streets. Although not completely obvious, it can be seen that even in the streets, made out of graffiti, the Catholic church is being illustrated in the most public ways. The idea of the dove in the Catholic community means Holy Spirit or peace. The authority in this picture seems so be the dove (Holy Spirit) almost lifting up those that are imprisoned and want to show peace in the world. The peace sign that is being shown in the art is also a signification of the trinity in the Catholic Church. The dove is in charge at this point and can rise up all others in its faith (although this can be argued).
It can be difficult sometimes to see what are is displaying especially in times of modern art that is being exhibited as graffiti in the streets. With this being said, it’s just another way that some people can see the authority through the Catholic Church in all times of their life and all around them.
(The second picture is a replica of the one that I took while being in Berlin. It shows the entirety of the painting.)