Caravaggio's Doubt

Our artist this week was Caravaggio and the works we focused on were The Incredulity of Thomas and The Taking of Christ. The question we were asked to consider is the interrelation of belief, doubt and disbelief. We started out with some questions designed to develop concrete, usable examples that would be personal and specific. Something I believed in but now I disbelieve is... Something I could not believe at first but found to be true is... Something I would like to believe in but still have reservations about is... We came up with some good examples, both from secular lives and our faith lives that laid a foundation for discussion..

The paintings we looked at were commissioned by the Catholic church, to teach the people about Bible stories. Most paintings of the time are very different, idealized, mystical. Caravaggio mastered chiaroscuro (literally light-dark) and used it to emphasize the stark reality and desperate intensity of each of the scenes he painted. He used the common people with whom he lived as his models rather than his wealthy patrons. The lighting draws your attention to Jesus and the faces of the others in the paintings. Everything about the way these scenes were painted says that Caravaggio believed that they were real, gritty happenings and that the people involved were earthy and robust, not the angelic wisps we see in other works. That would speak to the masses who couldn't read and depended on the paintings for their learning, but I'm not so sure how they would be received by those who commissioned them.

And yet, the real people, the tax collectors, peasants, women at the well travelers on the road, those are the people with whom Jesus spent the majority of his time on Earth. That is also the company Caravaggio kept, and for the most part they were his target audience. So what is his interpretation of the event depicted in The Incredulity of Thomas? What does Caravaggio say about the doubt of Thomas?

I think we struggled a little with the printed copies, they were too dark to make out some of the vital details. Our discussion included some great points, especially that Thomas was only asking for what had already been granted to all the other Disciples. They had all seen the risen Christ, Thomas was the only one left out. Have you ever felt like that? I know I have, and doggone it, be fair! Right?! Well, Jesus was fair. He guides Thomas' finger to the wound on his side with an intimate, inviting, accepting visage. Thomas appears to be somewhat horrified and almost regretful that he had insisted on seeing Jesus and feeling the wound. His eyes looking straight ahead, not at the action, not at his hand being guided into Christ's side. Others crowd around, wanting to see what is happening. It is a very intimate encounter that clearly says Jesus accepts and welcomes the doubt.

That leads us back to the original question - what is the relationship between belief, disbelief and doubt? No one wants to admit to having doubts at church, that makes you a bad Christian. We must have felt that because we skirted that conversation and quoted verses that would prove we are good Christians. One of the verses was Hebrews 11:1 (CEV) "Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see." While that may be true, it is hollow and empty for those of us who do not feel that. Words alone are not going to help those of us who doubt.

In the painting Jesus uses Thomas' doubt in a real-life, concrete experience to lead him (and us) to belief. Therein lies the relationship that we came to in our discussion. Doubt is the bridge between disbelief and belief, and between belief and disbelief. Without doubt there is no agent to move you from one to the other. So the question for me becomes, why are we so uncomfortable with doubt, avoiding it at all cost?

We didn't have a whole lot of time to look at the scripture because the discussion was so lively, but I have gone back to look at the recommended passages from John: 1:3-9; 3:16-21; 5:31-40; 8:12-18. They all deal with God bringing/sending light into a dark world. The difference between the light(belief) and the dark(disbelief) is the action of God and acceptance and participation of the people(doubt). I'm left wondering if maybe we shouldn't be embracing and encouraging doubt as a process that explores and deepens faith, rather than seeing it as weakness and a sign of infidelity?