The Typological Symbol of the Lamb in the Bible

Another association between the symbol of Grendel and the Catholic/Christian Church is that his modest background almost seems to mirror the ambiguity of the bible.

A Christ figure represents the attributes of Christ in the way they live. Foster expands on this idea by arguing a list of characteristics regarding Jesus. As readers, he claims, “while we may not be all that versed in types and archetypes from the Bible, we generally recognize, whatever our religious affiliation, some of the features that make Christ who he is” (Foster 125). If Christ’s attributes reflect themselves in a character, readers can use their knowledge to assume the character is a Christ figure. Likewise, Kingsolver uses Nathan Price as an examples of a Christ figure. Nathan comes to the Congo to redeem an unworthy people, has disciples (his family), and wanders the

However, the artist used Christian meaning in symbols to celebrate their religion. Such symbols were a piece of garland meant victory over death, a tendril was the Eucharist, a nude figure is Christmas, a peacock is immortality, and a flying bird is a soul flying to heaven.

I believe the symbolism here is trying to show us that only certain people can be lucky enough to fit within the criteria that Christianity places on a person in order to be holy, and that a sinner can easily be anyone if you use Christian standards.

Chapter 14 is about how almost everything, in some form, is a Christ figure. The chapter gives a list to relate characters to. The list is 1. crucified, wounds in the hands, feet, side, and head 2. in agony 3. self-sacrificing 4. good with children 5.good with loaves, fishes, water, wine 6. thirty-three years of age when last seen 7. employed as a carpenter 8. known to use humble modes of transportation, feet or donkeys preferred 9. believed to have walked on water 10. often portrayed with arms outstretched 11.

1. The Christ as the Good Shepherd mosaic located on the entrance wall of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, Italy was made circa 425 AD. A mausoleum is a monumental tomb, usually meant for entombing the dead above ground. The mosaic is displayed in a lunette-a semi-circular wall of a vaulted room. Even though the image of Christ as the Good Shepherd was a common one in catacombs in previous centuries, the way that Christ was shown in art had changed since Christianity had been adopted as Rome's official religion and the image of Christ in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia was no different. Previously Christ had been shown as a simple carpenter, but in the Christ as the Good Shepherd mosaic he is shown in a fine Roman wear. At the time, Greeks thought that they could create order within their environments and thus create statues that were "perfect." This is what they believed they were doing with the way Christ was shown in the mosaic at the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia; creating a more worldly, powerful image of Christ. Christ is shown with a large golden nimbus (halo), a royal purple mangle over a golden tunic and holding a tall cross. Also depicted in the mosaic at the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia is a set of three sheep on each side of Christ, with him touching one on the nose.

Christ figures in literature can be used for a number of reasons, such as the author wanting to make a specific point, about the characters sacrifice, their redemption, their hope, and their miracles. The author may also want to use the Christ figure ironically to make the character and their sacrifice look smaller, while making the great sacrifice by Jesus Christ much bigger.

Chapter 14 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor discusses how to identify and the significance of Christ figures in literature. According to the book, Christ Figures are prevalent in literature for various reasons including putting emphasis on the sacrifice of the character or deepening the plot with the parallel to Christ. This works because Christ is an important feature in our culture. I believe that literature from dominantly Christian areas will contain many figures resembling Christ simply because the religion is ingrained in the culture. Foster lists many of the qualities that help to indicate the presence of a Christ figure. Some of these include wounds on hand and feet, and struggle in the wilderness, a sacrificing character,

The two time depiction of Christ was, traditional in how it represents the mass. A closer look at the Lamb shows its blood streaming into a chalice. The blood of the Lamb corresponds to Jesus bleeding on the cross during his Passion. The blood is a physical representation of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. This blood is drunk during mass after the wine is turned into the true blood of Christ. Jesus also made note of this during the last supper when he told his disciples to drink the wine which represents his blood.

Christians have been celebrating the Lord’s Supper for almost two thousand years. In this paper I will refer to the Lord’s Supper as an ordinance of the church. “An ordinance is an outward rite prescribed by Christ to be performed by His Church.” There are quite a few varying interpretations among the different churches on how the Lord’s Supper is to be practiced. I Corinthians 11:23-34 provides Christians with the scriptural meaning and reasons for observing the Lord’s Supper, also known as communion. Many consider the Lord’s Supper of little or no value and some consider the ordinance as more of a ritual. In some modern churches, preaching the Word is emphasized the most and communion is only observed once a month or

During the Middle Ages, symbolism was a big part of the current day art because of the major focus on the church and theology. Jesus and Mary were big symbols during that time, which is evident in the numerous paintings of them from the Middle Ages (Class Notes). During the Middle Ages, Jesus, Mary, Angels, the devil and the cross were huge symbols. In the painting Duccio, Jesus

William Blake’s The Tyger and The Lamb are both very short poems in which the author poses rhetorical questions to what, at a first glance, would appear to be a lamba lamb and a tiger. In both poems he uses vivid imagery to create specific connotations and both poems contain obvious religious allegory. The contrast between the two poems is much easier to immediately realize . “The lamb” was published in a Blake anthology entitled “The songs of experience” which depicted life in a much more realistic and painful light. Both poems share a common AABB rhyme scheme and they are both in regular meter. In “The Tyger” Blake paints a picture of a powerful creature with eyes of fire and dread hands and feet. He asks rhetorical questions with a respectful awe that is almost fearful and makes the setting more foreign to the reader by including imagery like “the forest of the night” By contrast. Blake’s portrait of the lamb is one of innocence and child like wonderment “The Tyger is almost an examination of the horrors in the world while “The lamb examines only that which is “bright,”tender, “mild”. The use of words like “night,” “burning’ and “terrors in the tyger”create quite a contrary image for the reader than that of “The lamb.”

When Jesus arrived to Golgotha, He was nailed to the cross and soon after dies. The symbol of Jesus’ crucifixion is what Christians live by. It represents Jesus sacrificing his life to save humanity from their evil sins. When He died, He was taken down from the cross and was buried in a tomb, where He resurrected into Heaven and was seated at the right Hand of God. Jesus’ resurrection symbolizes two things. First, it proves to Christians that Jesus is the Son of God (Curtis). In the Bible, Paul affirmed that Christ is declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1:4). Second, Jesus’ resurrection represented an assurance that all of humanity is saved and forgiven for their sins (Curtis).

The lamb of course symbolizes Jesus. The traditional image of Jesus as a lamb underscores the Christian values of gentleness, meekness, and peace. The image of the child is also associated with Jesus: in the Gospel, Jesus displays a special solicitude for children, and the Bible's depiction of Jesus in his childhood shows him as guileless and vulnerable. These are also the characteristics from which the child-speaker approaches the ideas of nature and of God. This poem, like many of the Songs of Innocence, accepts what Blake saw as the more positive aspects of conventional Christian belief. But it does not provide a completely adequate doctrine, because it fails to account for the presence of suffering and evil in the world. The pendant (or companion) poem to this one, found in the Songs of Experience, is "The Tyger"; taken together, the two poems give a perspective on religion that includes the good and clear as well as the terrible and inscrutable. These poems complement each other to produce a fuller account

One notices that all of these symbols are from times nearing the end (or at the end) of Jesus' life. (Think of a point to do with this).