Answering the $64,000 question with Fra Angelico’s Sacred art

St Mary’s Cathedral hall was transformed into a classroom in the evening on 18 July, as Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP led the audience through a reflection on the person of Jesus Christ in the latest Grace and Truth lecture series hosted by the Dominicans.

Answering what he called the “$64,000 question” — a reference to the 1950s American quiz show— Archbishop Fisher posed the same question Jesus asked his disciples at Caesarea Philippi: “Who do you say I am?”

“There have been many answers,” he said. “The most famous was that of Simon Peter: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’.”

Rather than merely explaining doctrinal developments, the archbishop divided his talk into seven parts showing how Christian art — particularly Fra Angelico’s — can serve as a profound expression of Catholic faith in Jesus as fully God and fully man.

“Only the fully divine one could stand in the middle of the celestial history,” Archbishop Fisher said, quoting John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Among Fra Angelico’s most famous works are his depictions of the Annunciation, the Madonna and Child, the Crucifixion, and the Last Judgment – each a visual catechesis in Christology.

“The Christ child is God incarnate, yet little for us. Priest and King, yet sacrifice also,” the archbishop said.

“Angelico and all Orthodox Christians insist this really is God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity.”

Sr Susanna Edmunds OP also spoke on the night, offering a practical guide to deepening one’s understanding of Christ through the Scriptures. Drawing from St Thomas Aquinas, she outlined the four senses of Scripture — literal, allegorical, moral, and anagogical — as tools for encountering Christ in the Gospels.

Speaking to The Catholic Weekly afterwards, both addressed how Catholics can keep their Christology correct in their personal prayer life.

Archbishop Fisher answered, “It’s about balance. We avoid extremes. If you think of Christ as so godly that you forget he’s human, or so human that you forget he’s God — both extremes — you actually don’t know Christ anymore. You’ve got something else in your head, but it’s not Christ.

“So I’d say in your prayer, in your devotions, try to keep the Catholic balance.”

Sr Susanna added, “Something that comes to mind is just staying close to the Gospels and reading them with an open mind.

“There are some things that we sometimes skim over, because it’s uncomfortable to think of Jesus being angry or Jesus speaking harshly or Jesus being compassionate.

“But to have a close reading of the Gospels, and with an open heart, see how Jesus is revealing himself to us.”

So why is it important we as Christians know Christ and defend who he is?

As Archbishop Fisher said, it comes down to truth. “The debates of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus and Chalcedon were not just theological meetings — not some grand theological quiz show — but unpacking, clarifying, and defending a universe-defining truth.”

“And through the union of God and man in Jesus Christ, we are invited to intercommunicate with God himself.”

“He is the bread come down from heaven, that you might eat and live.”