{"id":6688,"date":"2006-07-27T12:03:07","date_gmt":"2006-07-27T12:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2006\/07\/a-query-from-ted.html"},"modified":"2006-07-27T12:03:07","modified_gmt":"2006-07-27T12:03:07","slug":"a-query-from-ted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2006\/07\/a-query-from-ted.html","title":{"rendered":"A query from Ted"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Ted Olsen, of Christianity Today Weblog:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

I was looking at this New York Times photo:<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

http:\/\/graphics8.nytimes.com\/images\/2006\/07\/27\/world\/27lebanon_600x370.jpg<\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
My first, cynical, thought was that it was posed. That’s because it’s so iconic. So iconic, in fact, that my second thought was, "Dude, it’s the Lebanon Pieta."<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

Then I Google Image searched pieta (http:\/\/images.google.com\/images?q=pieta<\/span><\/a> ) and noticed that almost every single Pieta image has Jesus laying left to right. Very, very few have Jesus laying right to left.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n

So I guess my question for an art historian is: Am I right? If so, is there a reason for this? Most importantly: Is there a theological message in it? Or is it just because (as one art historian I asked this question of suggested this morning) we tend to be right-handed?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Ted Olsen
News Director \/ Online Managing Editor
Christianity Today
http:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/ctmag\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Ted Olsen, of Christianity Today Weblog: I was looking at this New York Times photo: http:\/\/graphics8.nytimes.com\/images\/2006\/07\/27\/world\/27lebanon_600x370.jpg My first, cynical, thought was that it was posed. That’s because it’s so iconic. So iconic, in fact, that my second thought was, "Dude, it’s the Lebanon Pieta." Then I Google Image searched pieta (http:\/\/images.google.com\/images?q=pieta ) and noticed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nA query from Ted - Via Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2006\/07\/a-query-from-ted.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A query from Ted - Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From Ted Olsen, of Christianity Today Weblog: I was looking at this New York Times photo: http:\/\/graphics8.nytimes.com\/images\/2006\/07\/27\/world\/27lebanon_600x370.jpg My first, cynical, thought was that it was posed. That’s because it’s so iconic. So iconic, in fact, that my second thought was, "Dude, it’s the Lebanon Pieta." 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The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. 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