The Visual Commentary on Scripture
@thevcs.bsky.social
http://TheVCS.org is a free, online resource that provides material for teaching, preaching, researching, and reflecting on the Bible, Art, and Theology based @kcltrs.bsky.social
The offensive mingling of the grotesque and the sacred, not unlike the original crucifixion of Christ, belies a profound message of faith in Damien Hirst's 'God Alone Knows'.
Read about it in our exhibition on Ephesians 1:
thevcs.org/gods-holy-pe...
Read about it in our exhibition on Ephesians 1:
thevcs.org/gods-holy-pe...
December 31, 2025 at 9:35 AM
The offensive mingling of the grotesque and the sacred, not unlike the original crucifixion of Christ, belies a profound message of faith in Damien Hirst's 'God Alone Knows'.
Read about it in our exhibition on Ephesians 1:
thevcs.org/gods-holy-pe...
Read about it in our exhibition on Ephesians 1:
thevcs.org/gods-holy-pe...
We continue our weekly exhibitions with a closer look at #Ephesians 1.
Gao Lei’s painting 'Devonian Christmas' presents a horseshoe crab flanked by a murex snail and a trilobite.
Curious? Find out more by clicking here:
thevcs.org/gods-holy-pe...
Gao Lei’s painting 'Devonian Christmas' presents a horseshoe crab flanked by a murex snail and a trilobite.
Curious? Find out more by clicking here:
thevcs.org/gods-holy-pe...
December 29, 2025 at 11:30 AM
We continue our weekly exhibitions with a closer look at #Ephesians 1.
Gao Lei’s painting 'Devonian Christmas' presents a horseshoe crab flanked by a murex snail and a trilobite.
Curious? Find out more by clicking here:
thevcs.org/gods-holy-pe...
Gao Lei’s painting 'Devonian Christmas' presents a horseshoe crab flanked by a murex snail and a trilobite.
Curious? Find out more by clicking here:
thevcs.org/gods-holy-pe...
December 25, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Looking for Christmas-themed works of art and commentaries?
Look no further than the VCS:
thevcs.org/themes/chris...
Look no further than the VCS:
thevcs.org/themes/chris...
December 23, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Looking for Christmas-themed works of art and commentaries?
Look no further than the VCS:
thevcs.org/themes/chris...
Look no further than the VCS:
thevcs.org/themes/chris...
Have you seen our film series about Jesus and the Virgin Mary, produced in partnership with the National Museums in Berlin?
Take a look at our video channel to find out more:
thevcs.org/video-channel
Take a look at our video channel to find out more:
thevcs.org/video-channel
December 21, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Have you seen our film series about Jesus and the Virgin Mary, produced in partnership with the National Museums in Berlin?
Take a look at our video channel to find out more:
thevcs.org/video-channel
Take a look at our video channel to find out more:
thevcs.org/video-channel
Chloë Reddaway writes about 'the faithful and joyful fertility of the Virgin' and 'the new covenant of grace in Christ', beautifully depicted in Pontormo's fresco of the #Visitation.
A look at today's joyful #Advent commentary:
thevcs.org/quickening-c...
A look at today's joyful #Advent commentary:
thevcs.org/quickening-c...
December 19, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Chloë Reddaway writes about 'the faithful and joyful fertility of the Virgin' and 'the new covenant of grace in Christ', beautifully depicted in Pontormo's fresco of the #Visitation.
A look at today's joyful #Advent commentary:
thevcs.org/quickening-c...
A look at today's joyful #Advent commentary:
thevcs.org/quickening-c...
Psalm 139 is a perfect companion to Agnes Martin's humble, joyful work:
'Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.'
In the third week of #Advent, we explore joy:
thevcs.org/darkness-ill...
'Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.'
In the third week of #Advent, we explore joy:
thevcs.org/darkness-ill...
December 17, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Psalm 139 is a perfect companion to Agnes Martin's humble, joyful work:
'Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.'
In the third week of #Advent, we explore joy:
thevcs.org/darkness-ill...
'Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.'
In the third week of #Advent, we explore joy:
thevcs.org/darkness-ill...
David is the "poster boy" for this year's #Advent campaign, epitomising joy (this week's theme) as the Ark of the Covenant is carried to Jerusalem.
Read 'Spreading the Joy' and find out more:
thevcs.org/david-dances...
Read 'Spreading the Joy' and find out more:
thevcs.org/david-dances...
December 15, 2025 at 2:27 PM
David is the "poster boy" for this year's #Advent campaign, epitomising joy (this week's theme) as the Ark of the Covenant is carried to Jerusalem.
Read 'Spreading the Joy' and find out more:
thevcs.org/david-dances...
Read 'Spreading the Joy' and find out more:
thevcs.org/david-dances...
If you are signed up to our #Advent campaign, you will have already seen an exciting variety of artworks and commentaries.
Curious about what's next?
Click here to sign up to our Exhibition of the Week, and receive our third Advent email on Monday:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
Curious about what's next?
Click here to sign up to our Exhibition of the Week, and receive our third Advent email on Monday:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
December 12, 2025 at 6:14 PM
If you are signed up to our #Advent campaign, you will have already seen an exciting variety of artworks and commentaries.
Curious about what's next?
Click here to sign up to our Exhibition of the Week, and receive our third Advent email on Monday:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
Curious about what's next?
Click here to sign up to our Exhibition of the Week, and receive our third Advent email on Monday:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
'The Peaceable Kingdom' is a title Edward Hicks (1780–1849) gave to over sixty painted renderings of #Isaiah 11, a text he would contemplate for more than thirty years.
Peace is our theme for the second week of #Advent.
Read Peter S. Hawkins' commentary:
thevcs.org/war-and-peac...
Peace is our theme for the second week of #Advent.
Read Peter S. Hawkins' commentary:
thevcs.org/war-and-peac...
December 11, 2025 at 12:43 PM
'The Peaceable Kingdom' is a title Edward Hicks (1780–1849) gave to over sixty painted renderings of #Isaiah 11, a text he would contemplate for more than thirty years.
Peace is our theme for the second week of #Advent.
Read Peter S. Hawkins' commentary:
thevcs.org/war-and-peac...
Peace is our theme for the second week of #Advent.
Read Peter S. Hawkins' commentary:
thevcs.org/war-and-peac...
This week's #Advent theme is peace, and this French manuscript illumination depicts the meetings of reconciled virtues in a scene allegorised from #Psalm 85, ‘Mercy and Truth are met together, Justice and Peace have kissed’.
thevcs.org/restoring-pe...
thevcs.org/restoring-pe...
December 9, 2025 at 12:09 PM
This week's #Advent theme is peace, and this French manuscript illumination depicts the meetings of reconciled virtues in a scene allegorised from #Psalm 85, ‘Mercy and Truth are met together, Justice and Peace have kissed’.
thevcs.org/restoring-pe...
thevcs.org/restoring-pe...
Those of you signed up to our annual #Advent campaign will have encountered an exciting range of artworks this week.
Curious about what's next? Click here to sign up to our Exhibition of the Week, and receive our second Advent email on Monday:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
Curious about what's next? Click here to sign up to our Exhibition of the Week, and receive our second Advent email on Monday:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
December 5, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Those of you signed up to our annual #Advent campaign will have encountered an exciting range of artworks this week.
Curious about what's next? Click here to sign up to our Exhibition of the Week, and receive our second Advent email on Monday:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
Curious about what's next? Click here to sign up to our Exhibition of the Week, and receive our second Advent email on Monday:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
Our annual Advent campaign starts today, and this week's theme is #Hope.
Do you want to receive weekly #Advent emails directly to your inbox? Click here, and sign up to our Exhibition of the Week:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
Do you want to receive weekly #Advent emails directly to your inbox? Click here, and sign up to our Exhibition of the Week:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
December 1, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Our annual Advent campaign starts today, and this week's theme is #Hope.
Do you want to receive weekly #Advent emails directly to your inbox? Click here, and sign up to our Exhibition of the Week:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
Do you want to receive weekly #Advent emails directly to your inbox? Click here, and sign up to our Exhibition of the Week:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
Our annual #Advent campaign starts on Monday.
Do you want to receive weekly Advent emails directly to your inbox? Click here, and sign up to our Exhibition of the Week:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
Do you want to receive weekly Advent emails directly to your inbox? Click here, and sign up to our Exhibition of the Week:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
November 29, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Our annual #Advent campaign starts on Monday.
Do you want to receive weekly Advent emails directly to your inbox? Click here, and sign up to our Exhibition of the Week:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
Do you want to receive weekly Advent emails directly to your inbox? Click here, and sign up to our Exhibition of the Week:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
'The Moment', like many of Agnes Martin’s works, comprises repetitive ruled lines. Unique to this drawing is the fact that the ruled lines form an egg shape.
Curious about its connection to Isaiah 40? Find out more in this week's exhibition:
thevcs.org/behold-your-...
Curious about its connection to Isaiah 40? Find out more in this week's exhibition:
thevcs.org/behold-your-...
November 28, 2025 at 4:17 PM
'The Moment', like many of Agnes Martin’s works, comprises repetitive ruled lines. Unique to this drawing is the fact that the ruled lines form an egg shape.
Curious about its connection to Isaiah 40? Find out more in this week's exhibition:
thevcs.org/behold-your-...
Curious about its connection to Isaiah 40? Find out more in this week's exhibition:
thevcs.org/behold-your-...
Alma Thomas asserts that 'Colour is life … for a world without colour appears to us as dead. Colours are the children of light…. Light, the first phenomenon of the world, reveals to us the spirit and living soul of the world, through colours.'
Take a closer look here:
thevcs.org/behold-your-...
Take a closer look here:
thevcs.org/behold-your-...
November 26, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Alma Thomas asserts that 'Colour is life … for a world without colour appears to us as dead. Colours are the children of light…. Light, the first phenomenon of the world, reveals to us the spirit and living soul of the world, through colours.'
Take a closer look here:
thevcs.org/behold-your-...
Take a closer look here:
thevcs.org/behold-your-...
The graphic artist M.C. Escher developed his own distinctive strategies for depicting the infinite by way of the finite, a theme central to #Isaiah 40, the subject of this week's exhibition.
Click here to take a closer look:
thevcs.org/behold-your-...
Click here to take a closer look:
thevcs.org/behold-your-...
November 24, 2025 at 2:06 PM
The graphic artist M.C. Escher developed his own distinctive strategies for depicting the infinite by way of the finite, a theme central to #Isaiah 40, the subject of this week's exhibition.
Click here to take a closer look:
thevcs.org/behold-your-...
Click here to take a closer look:
thevcs.org/behold-your-...
The opening verses of Revelation take us to Patmos to behold, with John, the Jesus who will come with clouds.
This week's exhibition considers Revelation 1:1–11:
thevcs.org/john-patmos
This week's exhibition considers Revelation 1:1–11:
thevcs.org/john-patmos
John on Patmos
Exhibition: John on Patmos (Revelation 1:1–11). Featuring works of art by Titian, Unknown Anglo-Norman illuminator and Diego Velázquez. Commentaries by Harry O. Maier.
thevcs.org
November 22, 2025 at 3:25 PM
The opening verses of Revelation take us to Patmos to behold, with John, the Jesus who will come with clouds.
This week's exhibition considers Revelation 1:1–11:
thevcs.org/john-patmos
This week's exhibition considers Revelation 1:1–11:
thevcs.org/john-patmos
Velázquez paints John experiencing a vision of the woman of Revelation 12:1–4, with the moon and the stars and the dragon waiting to devour her child.
Take a closer look in our exhibition of the week:
thevcs.org/john-patmos#...
Take a closer look in our exhibition of the week:
thevcs.org/john-patmos#...
November 21, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Velázquez paints John experiencing a vision of the woman of Revelation 12:1–4, with the moon and the stars and the dragon waiting to devour her child.
Take a closer look in our exhibition of the week:
thevcs.org/john-patmos#...
Take a closer look in our exhibition of the week:
thevcs.org/john-patmos#...
Reposted by The Visual Commentary on Scripture
Exhibition of the Week subscribers will receive weekly #Advent emails starting on Monday the 1st of December.
The four weeks will have a different themes: Hope, Peace, followed by Joy, and ending with Love in the week of #Christmas.
Click on the link to subscribe:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
The four weeks will have a different themes: Hope, Peace, followed by Joy, and ending with Love in the week of #Christmas.
Click on the link to subscribe:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
November 20, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Exhibition of the Week subscribers will receive weekly #Advent emails starting on Monday the 1st of December.
The four weeks will have a different themes: Hope, Peace, followed by Joy, and ending with Love in the week of #Christmas.
Click on the link to subscribe:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
The four weeks will have a different themes: Hope, Peace, followed by Joy, and ending with Love in the week of #Christmas.
Click on the link to subscribe:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
Exhibition of the Week subscribers will receive weekly #Advent emails starting on Monday the 1st of December.
The four weeks will have a different themes: Hope, Peace, followed by Joy, and ending with Love in the week of #Christmas.
Click on the link to subscribe:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
The four weeks will have a different themes: Hope, Peace, followed by Joy, and ending with Love in the week of #Christmas.
Click on the link to subscribe:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
November 20, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Exhibition of the Week subscribers will receive weekly #Advent emails starting on Monday the 1st of December.
The four weeks will have a different themes: Hope, Peace, followed by Joy, and ending with Love in the week of #Christmas.
Click on the link to subscribe:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
The four weeks will have a different themes: Hope, Peace, followed by Joy, and ending with Love in the week of #Christmas.
Click on the link to subscribe:
thevcs.org/sign-vcs-ema...
At top left of this page from the 'Trinity Apocalypse', John sleeps on Patmos. Above him, an angel stands holding a banderole inscribed with the words ‘What you see, write to seven churches’. To the right of this episode, we see architectural representations of the seven churches.
November 19, 2025 at 1:45 PM
At top left of this page from the 'Trinity Apocalypse', John sleeps on Patmos. Above him, an angel stands holding a banderole inscribed with the words ‘What you see, write to seven churches’. To the right of this episode, we see architectural representations of the seven churches.
In Titian's painting, we behold the instant when John ‘in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day heard a loud voice like a trumpet’ behind him.
Find out more in this week's exhibition on #Revelation 1:
thevcs.org/john-patmos#...
Find out more in this week's exhibition on #Revelation 1:
thevcs.org/john-patmos#...
November 17, 2025 at 2:02 PM
In Titian's painting, we behold the instant when John ‘in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day heard a loud voice like a trumpet’ behind him.
Find out more in this week's exhibition on #Revelation 1:
thevcs.org/john-patmos#...
Find out more in this week's exhibition on #Revelation 1:
thevcs.org/john-patmos#...
The author of Hebrews is particularly concerned to explain how faith in Jesus as saviour fits together with God’s self-revelation to Israel in the past.
Read the comparative commentary for this week's exhibition:
thevcs.org/faithful-all...
Read the comparative commentary for this week's exhibition:
thevcs.org/faithful-all...
November 15, 2025 at 2:47 PM
The author of Hebrews is particularly concerned to explain how faith in Jesus as saviour fits together with God’s self-revelation to Israel in the past.
Read the comparative commentary for this week's exhibition:
thevcs.org/faithful-all...
Read the comparative commentary for this week's exhibition:
thevcs.org/faithful-all...
The theme of Sabbath rest is central to the argument of #Hebrews 4, and is beautifully illustrated in this painting by the early twentieth century Polish Jewish artist Jankel Adler.
Take a closer look in this week's exhibition:
thevcs.org/faithful-all...
Take a closer look in this week's exhibition:
thevcs.org/faithful-all...
November 14, 2025 at 2:32 PM
The theme of Sabbath rest is central to the argument of #Hebrews 4, and is beautifully illustrated in this painting by the early twentieth century Polish Jewish artist Jankel Adler.
Take a closer look in this week's exhibition:
thevcs.org/faithful-all...
Take a closer look in this week's exhibition:
thevcs.org/faithful-all...