MISSIO DEI

ANTHONY RICHARD MARTIN : MISSIO. DEI 

17/11/2025 

This is an essay which accompanied the digial painting which was used by Marion as part of her talk on 'Modern Art' at the Salvation Army Church in Penzance. 

 

This picture is an artists impression of various concepts around the message of the Cross. This is not bible teaching or evangelism but art! The picture uses signs, symbols, and a visual poetic language to communicate. Christian art in the European tradition is burdened by a history of image making that is brilliant, but at the same time stifling to original thinking. 

 

My intention is to generate a conversation to Christians, those of other faiths and those with no faith at all. I’m not a subscriber to the view that all Christian art needs to be beautiful in order to be relevant to our culture. A third of the world’s population is now Christian. Yet Christian art is very under represented at a national and international level. There are many Christian artists who don’t know, or are unwilling to incorporate their faith into their art. This is perpetuated by an art establishment and curatorial leadership who have been unwilling to see Christian religious belief as a basis for contemporary art. Why that is so is an interesting question which I have not yet heard anyone answer. If the cosmic Christ is in everything why is he not better represented in contemporary art? 

 

 

Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on a donkey. The donkey was, and still is a well-documented symbol of humility. Kings usually ride on horses, but Jesus, ever the jarring disrupter to the religious: and as the fulfilment of prophecy, is triumphant by riding on a donkey as a picture of servanthood and humility. 

Donkeys sometimes have a black cross running down their spine and over their shoulders. (Such as at Paradise Park, Hayle). It’s very clear on a Donkey and clearly a cross. Even as Jesus was riding into Jerusalem as king he was already bloodied and crucified in the most personal and painful way possible. I have tried to communicate something of the price Jesus paid by the shocking notion of a donkey dripping blood. 

I appreciate we don’t wallow in the blood sacrifice but his pain is our pain and our pain is very much his pain. I think the Cross is central to Christianity and you can never get very far from it’s raw, visceral message. 

 

 

Mission Dei is a 20th century theological concept about the nature of global evangelism. Is it down to us individually? the church? or is it the move of God through the church and his people? 

David Bosche one of the prime theologians who defined ‘Missio Dei’ as a mainstream theological concept writes: 

‘Mission is thereby seen as a movement from God to the world; the church is viewed as an instrument for that mission. There is church because there is mission, not vice versa. To participate in mission is to participate in the movement of God's love toward people, since God is a fountain of sending love’. 

 

 

Alpha and Omega is a well understood phrase from Revelation meaning Jesus is the beginning and the end of everything. 

Within the brutality of human existence, though we do not always understand why there is so much suffering on the earth, we can be assured Christ will bring closure to all the suffering, cruelty and waste of human life. 

Curiously I did this rather odd and distasteful image shortly before the murder of Christian Charlie Kirk debating students on a College campus. The symbol of the democratic party in the US is a donkey and the colour blue. While I make no claims to be a prophet my work leans towards the prophetic, visionary or futurist.. 

 

 

Jürgen Moltmann: ‘The Crucified God’. 

David J Bosch: ‘Transforming Missions’. 

Revelation 22:13-15 

Hebrews 10 

Zechariah 9:9 

Film: ‘The Passion of Christ’ Director: Mel Gibson