Yesterday I’d written about how visually presenting timeless truths from the Bible is nothing new. Infographics (visual theology) as old as the 1600s were published and circulating. I’d noted that the Bible’s format has also morphed over the centuries, changing as new technology made reading it and production of it, easier.
A new trend has come to the fore, a meshing of three streams: our generation’s emphasis on visuals, the Kinfolk Aesthetic movement, and a small startup grown huge called Alabaster Co. These three trends have birthed a new format of the Bible, which Alabaster Co. has named the Bible Beautiful. Continue reading “New Bibles for the Instagram generation, part 2”→
We have to admit something. I mean, if you’re of an age like me, we have to admit that for almost two generations, how we approach print has changed dramatically. Fast-paced video games, TV’s political sound bytes, short tweets, the argument culture replacing debate, and images-images-images has shortened the attention spans of just about everyone. The pull of scrolling, tweeting, and looking rather than reading is now the order of the day.
I fight it myself. I noticed that before the internet, I used to settle in and read for long periods, hours. Now if I have a book in my hand, I’m struggling to not look at the internet after 10 minutes. I’m actively retraining myself to read longer and actively resisting shortening my attention span. Continue reading “Are you ready for ‘Bibles for the Instagram generation’? Part 1”→
Chris Powers at fullofeyes.com and on Patreon, recently created this illustration based on an Isaiah verse. We praise the Lord for all His ways, not just on Sundays but every day.
He was, and is, and is to come.
Illustrator and artist Chris Powers wrote:
Isaiah 52:15, “…he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.”
May it be so…..
Below you can read the string of thoughts from my journal that led me to this text in Isaiah and, eventually, to today’s picture.
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Surely there is at no time a divorce between the Son’s outer form or experience and His revelation of the Father. Surely, the Son is no less the perfect image and radiance of God’s glory when He is stripped and beaten than when He is transfigured in splendor. Surely, the face shining like the sun in full strength and the face marred beyond human recognition are both the face in which we see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God….and no less in one than in the other.
Or perhaps, in our present state, there is less we can see in one….in the face that shines like the sun, we can see nothing….our eyes are overwhelmed, our faces turn away and hide…….But when that same resplendence clothes itself with flesh…and submits that flesh to be beaten and torn and wounded in the place of enemies….then….then we know what we could not know before. Then we shut our mouths for wonder because that which had not been told to us, we can now see, and that which we had not heard, we understand….
Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
O, Lord, help me to be merciful tho those who doubt, the poor and vulnerable (Jude 1:22, Proverbs 19:17, Matthew 25:40). I received mercy in great measure. Help me to always remember from whence mercy came.
Chris Powers is the artist behind Full Of Eyes Ministry. Full of Eyes is creating free visual resources for the global Church.
He produces animations, art, and tracts of Biblical illustrations with verses and explanations, in a powerful way. He is on Patreon (where you can donate) as well as Youtube and the web at fullofeyes.com.
Chris Powers is creating visual resources for the global church. As an artist, Powers illustrates and animates theological concepts, and along with his explanations based on and in scripture, he presents thoughtful and beautiful tracts, studies, and videos for the brethren to consume freely. His work can be found on fullofeyes.com, and at Patreon under Full of Eyes, and of course Youtube at his channel Full of Eyes.
John 16:14-15, “He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine…”
“I was reading through John 16 this morning and was once again struck by the unique role that Jesus tells us the Spirit fulfills. The Spirit glorifies the Son, which is to say, He takes from the fullness of the Son’s glory–from the beauty of who the Son is–and makes that known (With the result that the world is convicted, 16:8-11, and the Church is build up in truth 12-15).”
“So, the Spirit shows us the Son, and the Son shows us the Father–an awesome Trinitarian model of divine self-revelation. And its also interesting to note that the Spirit doesn’t come in His Son-revealing work until after Christ the climactic redemptive work of the crucifixion and resurrection. God’ self-revelation has not reached its climax until the Son has poured Himself out for creation’s redemption on the cross. Supreme redemption serves supreme revelation, and the crucified and risen Son is the one declared to us by the Spirit.”
“For this picture, I also wanted to be clear that the Spirit-illuminated revelation of God in Christ happens primarily in SCRIPTURE. How deadly it is when we go wandering outside the Bible for a definitive revelation of the One True God….it happens in the pages of scripture as the Spirit reveals the glory of God in the Son to His bride”
Chris Powers is creating visual resources for the global church. As an artist, Powers illustrates and animates theological concepts, and along with his explanations based on and in scripture, he presents thoughtful and beautiful tracts, studies, and videos for the brethren to consume freely. His work can be found on fullofeyes.com, and at Patreon under Full of Eyes, and of course Youtube at his channel Full of Eyes.
Here is one of his latest illustrations.
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Artist’s Statement. By Chris Powers.
Love One Another
Jesus’ call to obey His commandment (s) (there are, I believe, two commandments in view when John uses the plural “commandments”, 1) to receive Jesus as the Son and Revealer of God, and 2) to love as He has loved us. I think a strong case can be made that these two commandments are the Johnannine version of the two Great Commandments upon which all commands depend)…So, where was I? Right: Jesus’ call to obey His commandments comes in the context of His call that we abide in Him and His words abide in us (this being, I believe, synonymous with us abiding in His love, v.9). It is only by abiding in Christ–that is, by receiving Him as He declares Himself to us in His words and works–that we will bear the fruit of obedience to His commands, namely, Christ-like love. And this intimate, Spirit-enabled receiving of the Son (which is to receive the Father in the Son) such that God-revealing, Christ-like, self-giving love is born in us–this is the heart of life itself.
So, in today’s picture I tried to show at least two things: First that our love only comes from God’s love in Christ (thus all the branches streaming from the wound). Secondly, that our love is an imaging of God’s love in Christ (thus the fruit borne by cruciform saints).
Another powerful expression of verse through art by Chris Powers. I found this so moving.
Artist’s Statement:
I went back a chapter in my John reading to Jesus’ discussion of Himself as the Good Shepherd. He talks quite a bit here about His ‘shepeople’ hearing “His voice,” in fact, to hear His “voice” and discern it to be the voice of the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls (1 Peter 2:25) is to prove ourselves to have been one of His own. Continue reading “Visual Theology: My Sheep Hear My Voice”→
I have written before about an extraordinary young man named Chris Powers. He is using his artistic gift for the glory of God in creating visual art for the world. He calls his art and animations “visual exegesis” because he uses a verse and creates an artistic rendition of the verse or doctrinal concept in visual form. This is extraordinarily difficult to do.
Famously, John Bunyan did this with words and pictures in his allegorical book Pilgrim’s Progress.
Bunyan also made the first visual theology chart in Christendom when he created his poster Order and Causes of Salvation and Damnation-
Chris Koelle is an artist who worked with Matt Dorff in collaboration to create an artistic rendition of the Book of Revelation. There are multiple difficult images in that apocalyptic book of the Bible and the doctrines are difficult too. Yet some talented people have an ability to create images that communicate these doctrines with clarity and accuracy without disrespect to the Lord or the Holy Spirit who inspired the words. Koelle’s images are drawn in complicated, eerily sinister yet glorifying ways.
Another noted Bible artist is Annie Vallotton, whose images are as far from Koelle’s as it is possible to be. Vallotton’s illustrations contain just a few clear, simple pen lines, yet are just as evocative as Koelle’s grand and complex illustrations. Vallotton illustrated the Good News Bible and created about 500 images for the finished product. However Vallotton said in an interview that for each image she might make up to 90 drafts until she felt the verse’s message was clearly communicated in the image. You can read about her here, or more in depth here. Or here.
The largely expressionless figures make little attempt to interpret the text, but rather invite the reader to do so.
Job railing against the LORD’S ‘injustice’.
I’d like to add Chris Powers to the list for your consideration. I’ve been watching his growth as an artist and as a Brother in the faith for some years now. His work is solidly dedicated to the Lord. He does what he calls visual exegesis, to what Challies calls “visual theology“.
We live in a visual culture. Today, people increasingly rely upon visuals to help them understand new and difficult concepts. The rise and popularity of the Internet infographic has given us a new way to convey data, concepts, and ideas. But the visual portrayal of truth is not a novel idea. God himself used visuals to teach truth to his people. If you have ever considered the different elements within the Old Testament tabernacle or temple you know that each element was a visual representation of a greater truth. The sacrificial system and later the cross were also meant to be visual—visual theology. (source)
Tim Challies’ book Visual Theology goes on sale next month. I’ve already pre-ordered my copy.
Powers is completing his art book titled “Visual Exegesis, Vol. 1” a book which has his visual theology on one page and his explanation on the opposite page. It will be ready for publication on Amazon in a few weeks as of this writing. You can learn more about the upcoming book, here. You can take a sneak peek at the new book, here. You can see Chris explain the book, here and take an even longer sneak peek. Here is Chris explaining his art book, Visual Exegesis:
[I]n the upcoming art book, I try to highlight the exegetical element in each image. The book has a picture on one page and a description of how the text was translated into image on the other. My goal here is to strengthen the tether between word and image so that the imagery might deepen our understanding of scripture, and scripture would enlighten our understanding of the image.
It is a stunning art book:
Mainly, Chris Powers makes animations. To that end, he has completed a stunning new animation to the song It Is Finished. I’ll post the video below. Below that is a video explaining his thought process for why he chose to depict certain arts of the song the way he did. Both videos are worth a look.
Powers’ work is freely available. I repeat: he is giving his animations and study curricula, tracts, and other material away for free. He is also creating lesson plans and guides to accompany each animation, so they can be used n small groups. He has volunteer translators translating the work into Spanish and Portuguese. His website is fullofeyes.com. He is on Patreon and Gaius, if you want to make a one-time donation or support his work each month, even at the $1 level.
I personally believe his work is making a tremendous impact for the kingdom and I am fervently using this medium to promote him and his work at Full Of Eyes. I hope you feel his work is worthy of praise also, and promote him within your sphere.
A year ago, I’d posted for your perusal about a new ministry. Chris Powers is an animator who is committed to Jesus Christ, visual theology, and beauty. He creates wonderful animations with study guides, as well as Christ-honoring gorgeous art and doctrinally solid tracts. Chris has taken the faith-leap and he and his wife left all behind to devote themselves full-time to this ministry he named Full of Eyes. Full of Eyes is part of the verse from Ezekiel 1:18 describing the strange creatures that have wheels within wheels which were full of eyes all around.
Here is one of Chris’ latest drawings, which I love.
The verse to go with the drawing is: John 3:19, “Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil“
Chris and his wife Courtney took a two-week trip to California. Here is part of his summary report about the trip.
Well, after about 14 days on the road, Courtney and I are now back in Washington Court House, Ohio. Let me take some time to fill you in on the second half of our CA trip and then share with you a bit about what I anticipate the coming weeks will hold…
California Recap The second half of our trip to CA involved driving from San Francisco down to LA via the coast on Highway 1 (a wonderful trip filled with some of the most awe-inspiring natural beauty I’ve yet seen….Courtney and I really enjoyed this).
Once down south I went to The Master’s College on Wednesday and Thursday evening to interact with students regarding art, culture and the gospel (and how these things manifest in my own life via FOE). However, Thursday evening was the real highlight for me. I was graciously given the chance to teach a 2 hour class on the topic of Beauty and the Cross…it was really a joy to unfold these topics with the students and then to look at how I’m trying to herald these things visually through FOE.
I heard from a number of students (and the professor who invited me) that this was a helpful and impactful time…..I know for me this class alone was worth the entire trip! Praise God for His faithfulness and mercy to fold us into His purposes in the world. So, when all is said and done, I’m trusting that God has answered the prayer that carried this entire trip for me and Courtney, namely, that hearts would be more in love with and conformed to Christ as a result of our time in CA….
It is a very big deal to have been invited to teach a class at The Master’s College. I pray Chris’ work continues to grow in grace and continues to find appropriate outlets that give this Christ-honoring ministry wider exposure.
Here are links to the lessons Chris taught at TMC. They are explorations of beauty based on the theological writings of Jonathan Edwards.
Chris Powers is doing magnificent work. I’ve written about him before, here
Chris explains that his website, Full of Eyes, exists,
to see, savor, and sing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, using pixel, ink, and word. I hope to do this through Christ-exalting, Biblically-submitted, heart-haunting videos about the glory of Jesus Christ, the Son and Image of God. With the continued help of various song artists, and the support of the Body of Christ, my plan is to make these videos and resources available for free to the global Church.
Chris does a fantastic job of bringing visual theology to life. In addition to wonderful videos, tract cards, and other artistic representations, Chris has been hard at work developing curricula to supplement each of his videos.
For his startling video “It’s Not Enough“, about sin and idolatry, Chris developed a study guide for small groups. It is available in Spanish as well. The study guide is free, as all his work is free to use for the glory of Christ. More study guides will be coming along as h transitions to working on his animations full time.
Here is his caption for the piece below.
Christ alone gives us unshakable peace because HE HIMSELF is our peace (Eph. 2:14). In this picture you can see all the world’s promises of peace shattering like teetering towers of stone in the face of a tidal wave…and even though the Christian is certainly buffeted by troubles (John 16:33), in the face-to-face fellowship we have with Christ, there is untouchable peace… we all grow in the knowledge of Christ, our Peace!”
Below is his sketch
Please visit Chris’s website, order his tract cards (I did and they’re wonderful), listen to the music & animated videos, and if you feel led, support him monetarily through Patreon or Gaius.
We definitely want to support and encourage the next generation coming up, and Chris is one of the good guys, doing Kingdom work in faith and humility.
the-end-time.org 
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