Early Christian art is composed of all visual works produced to tangibly illustrate and portray the principles of Christianity. It is the visual narrative of the burgeoning religion. In R. Jensen’s “Understanding Early Christian Art,” the author divides this period into two chronological phases: the pre-Constantinian art (3rd to 4th centuries) and the early Byzantine period (mid-4th to early 6th century). In Chapter 5, “Images of the Suffering Redeemer,” Jensen points out that depictions of crucifixion and the suffering Christ come late in Christian art.
Graphic representation of a suffering Christ is missing in early Christian iconography. The period is also marked by a dearth of images of Jesus’ death. The popular notion is that early Christians were in too close a time to the actual event of the hanging on the cross that they abhorred reminders of the heinous act. The realistic portrayal of Jesus hanging on the cross would have offended early Christians since hanging is a barbaric practice deemed associated with pagans who exercise idolatry, or that which the Christian religion is precisely fighting against.
Also, many early Christians admired more the Jesus that was a humanitarian worker. They remembered more the human being who was a teacher, champion of the poor, and healer of the sick. They were less concerned with the doctrinal and theological concepts of Jesus Christ as a reborn deity, crucified savior of mankind, and a ruler who will come again on judgment day. The early Christians saw Jesus more as a person, not as the PR image of Jesus as the Son of God.
Incidentally, in the later religion of Islam, the Qur’an or the basic scriptures of the Islam religion states that Christ is not a deity but a human being, a messenger of God born of a human mother. For Islam, there is only one God, Allah, and even the Prophet Muhammad, their main prophet, was also as human as Christ. A logical sequence of development seems to happen from the representation of Jesus as a human being and the Islam religion that regards him as that.
