Suffering

The ancient Greek claim that philosophy begins in wonder has a counterpart in the perennial question of why there is suffering in the world. The world’s religions and other systems of thought cannot bypass this question. Suffering cannot be eliminated from human experience. The Bible’s texts are alert to the manifold forms that suffering can take, and are often unflinching in giving voice to it—as these exhibitions show. They do not explain it away. But they also, usually, retain their capacity for wonderment—and sometimes for hope in the face of affliction.

Baby with Umbilical Cord by Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix

Illustration from Moralia in Iob (Job) by Saint Gregory the Great by Unknown artist

Wall paintings from St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster Palace by Unknown artist

Job 1–3 A Man in the Land of Uz

What Our Lord Saw from the Cross (Ce que voyait Notre-Seigneur sur la Croix) by James Tissot

The Isenheim Altarpiece; Closed altarpiece: Saint Sebastian, the Crucifixion; Saint Anthony the Great; Predella, the Lamentation on the Body of Christ by Matthias Grünewald

Crucifixion by Charlie Mackesy

Psalm 22 A Great Cry

Kristus (Christ); Did not Christ Appear to You ('Ist euch Kristus nicht erschienen') by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff

Copper Sulphate Chartres & Copper Sulphate Notre-Dame by Roger Hiorns

Christ as the Man of Sorrows by Lucas Cranach the Younger [?]

Psalm 88 The Psalter’s Darkest Hour

Reflecting Absence by Michael Arad and Peter Walker

Dance Marathon by Philip Evergood

The Prodigal Son among the Swine by Rembrandt van Rijn

Psalm 130 Out of the Depths

Psalm 136 (Psalm 137) from St Albans Psalter by Unknown English artist

Three paintings in the Abu Ghraib prison series as displayed at the Parque Fundidora in Monterrey City, Mexico, January 2008 by Fernando Botero

The Western Wall ('By the rivers of Babylon we sit down and weep...') by Marc Chagall

Psalm 137 By the Rivers of Babylon

Crucified Tree Form—The Agony by Theyre Lee-Elliott

Untitled (The Healing of Saint Thomas) by Anish Kapoor

Christ d'Assy I by Germaine Richier

Isaiah 53 Stricken, Smitten, Bruised, and Afflicted

Christ in the Winepress (The Mystical Winepress) in Breviarium Romanum by Jakob Wolff (Basel c.1493), print pasted in front mirror by Caspar (?)

La Bouche du Roi by Romuald Hazoumé

Christ in the Winepress by Nicolas Pinaigrier

Isaiah 63:1–14 The Winepress

Imagen de Yagul, from the series Silueta Works in Mexico 1973–1977, by Ana Mendieta

April 4 by Sam Gilliam

Blood/Sweat/Tears by Alison Saar

Lamentations 1 Surviving Weeping

Massacre of the Innocents, mosaic on the triumphal arch of the nave by Unknown artist

Relief panel with scenes from the life of Christ (Massacre of the Innocents; Baptism of Christ; Marriage at Cana) by Unknown Byzantine artist [Rome or Milan]

The Massacre of the Innocents by Nicolas Poussin

Matthew 2:16–18 The Massacre of the Innocents

The Crowning with Thorns by Anthony van Dyck

Crown of Thorns by Marcos del Carpio [attrib.]

Christ Bound and Crowned with Thorns by Andrea Solario

Matthew 27:27–31; Mark 15:16–20; John 19:1–3 The Crowning and Robing

More Exhibitions

General Resurrection from the Bamberg-Eichstätt Psalter by unknown German artist

Sarcophagus of Theodore by Unknown Italian artist

The Resurrection, Cookham by Stanley Spencer

1 Corinthians 15:35–58 Bodily Resurrection

Yellow Crucifixion by Marc Chagall

Christ appearing to Saint Peter on the Appian Way (Domine, Quo Vadis?) by Annibale Carracci

The Last Judgement by The Last Judgement

1 Peter 4:12–19 Finding Meaning in Suffering

The War in Heaven (pane 7g), part of The Great East Window of York Minster

Saint Michael and the Devil by Unknown Spanish Artist

The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Revelation 12:7–12 War in Heaven