Rock Me Sexy, Jesus

Il Sodoma- Flaggalation of Christ- 15th Century

Between the 15th and 17th centuries, Jesus Christ was often depicted in an erotic manner. Images of Jesus from this period convey his intense religious passion in a sensual way, relying on his body positioning and facial expressions to convey a sense of religious passion and ecstasy.

Passion and ecstacy are two terms that are generally used in regards to sexuality, but also have roots in religious termonology. Passion is any intense emotion ranging from anger and happiness to sexual desire, coming from the latin 'passus', which means to happen and is used in the passive. The Passion of Christ describes the events of his trial leaving up to his crucifixtion. The general definition of ecstacy describes intense elation or rapture in a trance like state. Religions ecstacy describes the same experience, but in a spiritual way characterized by visions and an expanded mental state. Due to the various range of meanings within both terms, although the images of Jesus during this meaning are pointed to convey religious passion and ecstacy, the intense emotion of both terms lead to a sensual depiction.

Prior to the 15th century, Jesus was often depicted draped in cloth, and stoic. There was a huge disconnection between the body and the soul in religion. The body was not something to be displayed proudly, but was merely a vessel to contain the soul. The body was also seen as a distraction from spiritual matters, which should be the main focus of existence. Below is an image of Jesus from the Byzantine Empire. Note the stiffness of his form, lack of emotion, and his covered form.



During the Renaissance, artists rediscovered the techniques and styles used by Greek and Roman artists in regards to perspective, proportion, and the beauty of the human form. Rediscovering the human form revealed the sensual side of the body, and Jesus was not omitted from this. The combination of Greek and Roman inspired forms along with the need to express the passion of Jesus developed provocative, sensual images of Jesus that delve into the realm of sexuality and are sometimes considered as homoerotic.

Below are images of Jesus between the 15th and 17th centuries depicting the events during and after The Passion. They starkly contrast with the Byzantine image of Jesus which was stiff, and clothed. The Renaissance Jesus was sexy, and used his body, expression, and posing to express his intense passion. Another thing I noticed in the three images of the sexy Jesus I posted is that no one else in the images exude the sensuality that Jesus does, showing a connection between elevated spirituality and a correlating heightening of sensuality. Religion has generally attempted to seperate the body and sensuality with spirituality. After examining the definitions of passion and ecstacy, and looking at religious images during the Renissance, it can be noted that sensuality and passion can be unsperable aspects of the religion and are intergral parts of the religious experience. Rock me sexy, Jesus.