Pagan Motif or Christian Symbol?

How Early Christians Expressed Their Faith Visually

Abstract

This paper is an examination of examples from Christian art of the first few centuries that addresses the following questions about the early believers: Why did they choose a particular motif? Was it unconscious enculturation? Was it to teach doctrine? Was it to imprint biblical stories to be understood as allegories or analogies? Did it have a place in devotional practice? Does the motif show up in liturgical settings? Can a motif distort gospel truth? Might the motif communicate the gospel to outsiders? The paper explores answers to these and other questions, providing illustrations along the way.