Religion and History: How it all connects: 3D Gallery

Give me Back My Land!

While Rome was falling into corruption due to problems like inflation, a decline of agriculture, high demanding taxes, and poverty, the one thing that kept Rome from falling too hard was Christianity.It played a big role of trying to save Rome because Christianity kept the people of Rome unified, while preserving the culture, and the traditions they practiced. This painting above shows two angels dressed in human forms, guiding 2 men by showing them the pathway to hope, and building an empire.

The Extravagant lives of Priests

During the period of Renaissance: the time of Rebirth, people began to lose their faith in the church and began to put more focus on their daily independent life. People began to broaden their perspective on the world and found deeper interests in areas such as art, and philosophy. During the renaissance, religious leaders had a great deal of influence in the government, and in other aspects of private, and public life. Many of the Catholic churches began to collect tithes, and priests started living extravagantly. It was a burden for normal citizens because tithes were now given as offerings along with taxes. Churches were competitive against each other becoming more dominant, and citizens were required to obey.

A priest dressed like a King?

Under the powerful reign of Louis XIV, France became the leading power of Europe. Louis was a strong believer in the Roman Catholic Church, and saw it as a tool of maintaining the control over people. When it came to political decisions, he also used the Church’s technique of picking nobles from the Noblesse de Robe. As a result, they financially back him up when clashing with the Pope of Rome. Some say he went so far to the point where people started to recognize him as a King, and a priest. The church was a way of gaining power, and maintaining control ,obedience, and respect amongst the people.

The portrait above is an oil painting of the extravagant King Louis XIV.

Broaden your Perspective

Prior to the enlightenment, the answer to everything in life was told that it is in the Bible, and found by God. Their minds were consequently very narrow minded, and everything was done according to God’s plan. For some people, the world was a peaceful place, but for some it was a mysterious, frightening place. People started to realize that religion and traditions were limiting people’s creativity and did not expand their knowledge fully. They started to accept free minds of observation, reasoning, and ideas. It made them wonder if the Christian lifestyle was really the best choice out of the others that life could offer. They also came up with a theory called Natural Laws, which explains the universal principles that govern the world, and the people had the freedom of speech and religion.

This is a painting on a hand-stretched canvas of a man testing his thoughts, and seeking answers of life outside the box of christianity.

Machines Taking Over Me

The industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century sounds very secular, with inventions, and innovations that were occurring, but besides the physical changes that were invented, there were also spiritual changes. In some ways, religion in comparison to nationalism, was an irrelevant topic in the nineteenth century. Factories were being made, and more job opportunities opened to many so people naturally started to drift away from the Church so people focused heavily on their jobs. Soon afterwards, nationalism and Christianity became unison among each other, as they shared similar morals such as tradition, history, and the idea of God Given national missions, which priests often used as a way to start war or fights. The protestants also created Methodism, which was a movement that broke away from the Church of England, and gave women real status and acceptance in society.

This illustration/painting is expressing how the Industrial Revolution has changed the people's mind of thinking, and abandoning their old past to find something new.

"Every Hour, I Need Thee"

The World War 1 was a war that created the first communist state, and destroyed the western civilization and left people filled with nothing but destruction, emptiness, sorrow, and hunger. This horrible time of their lives made them rethink their faith in God, and the heated relationship between the Christian Church and the soldiers led to priests even painting soldiers as demons, or satan expressing their hate towards them. Religion is a brief part of history when it comes to WWI because of all the violence that carried away the tiny details, but Jonathan Ebel, a professor at University of Ebel, researched at studied the poems, literature, and letters the troops,and nurses wrote during the time of war. Many soldiers turned to God, as a source of enlightenment, salvation, and used Christianity to lives of “Christian Action”, to become warriors of God, and fight against evil.

This painting illustrates the hardships the soldiers had during the great war, and soldiers and generals devoting their lives to God as a warrior to fight against their enemy.

Goodbye Church

During the interwar, Stalin came up with a phase of anti-religious persecutions in the USSR. The main cause of this campaign was because of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was the most populated for believers. All of the priests and believers were soon captured and were sent to labor camps, or shot. By 1941, 29,584 orthodox churches were cut down to less than 500, and about 85,000 priests were shot dead in 1937 alone. This was a way of banishing religious views, and eliminating different sides of beliefs.

The photograph above shows the brutal treatment towards the believers, and the priests who attended the Orthodox Church. Most were shot and sent to concentration camps.

Our Father Who Art in Heaven

Religion played a small role during the WW2. During the reign of Hitler, Jews were not murdered because of their religion, but simply because of his opinion on racist motives. Rather, it played a huge role in everyday life for soldiers, and people in the battlefield whose lives were on the borderline between life and death. Soldiers often found strength through religion, whether if its fighting for his own beliefs, or viewing the war as an honor to fight for God. Mussolini unlike Hitler, did not attempt to destroy the Church. Japan’s state religion, Shintoism, was a cultural complex that led to their militarism.

This is a rare photograph of soldiers after the war, gathering amongst the dead and praying for them. Many lives were lost, and most did not receive a formal funeral.

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Religion and History: How it all connects

Give me Back My Land!

The Extravagant lives of Priests

A priest dressed like a King?

Broaden your Perspective

Machines Taking Over Me

"Every Hour, I Need Thee"

Goodbye Church

Our Father Who Art in Heaven

United we stand, Divided we fall

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