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Module 1: The infancy narratives
of the Gospel of Luke in terms of The Isenheim Altar (in association with Michael Schubert’s Isenheim Altarpiece workshop)
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Participants in module 1
The Isenheim Altarpiece of Mathias Grünewald
review by Anne Gillham of a weekend workshop 1st – 3rd March 2019
I attended a lecture cycle given to us by Michael Schubert, which was also incorporated into Module 1/2019 of the Africa Seminary.
(Please also refer to Michael Schubert’s book “The Isenheim Altarpiece, History - Interpretation – Background”)
On first viewing of the Altarpiece as a young man more than 40 years ago, Michael Schubert’s immediate impression was: “This is a true account”. Mathias Grünewald, together with Abbot Guido Guersi, created Altarpieces (ca.1500’s) which “conveyed their esoteric knowledge far beyond their own deaths to anyone who looks for it.” Every gesture, every detail, every scroll is laden with meaning.
The order of St Anthony was triggered by the illness Ergotism (long-term ergot poisoning from fungi in cereals), known then as St Anthony’s fire. To treat and heal this disease, for which no remedy was known, altars were erected in hospitals, and monks urged the sick to contemplate these paintings and carvings. The Isenheim Altar was painted out of this impulse and installed in the Convent church of the Isenheim Antonites. It is now placed in the Unterlinden Convent in Colmar, Alsace, in France.
I attended a lecture cycle given to us by Michael Schubert, which was also incorporated into Module 1/2019 of the Africa Seminary.
(Please also refer to Michael Schubert’s book “The Isenheim Altarpiece, History - Interpretation – Background”)
On first viewing of the Altarpiece as a young man more than 40 years ago, Michael Schubert’s immediate impression was: “This is a true account”. Mathias Grünewald, together with Abbot Guido Guersi, created Altarpieces (ca.1500’s) which “conveyed their esoteric knowledge far beyond their own deaths to anyone who looks for it.” Every gesture, every detail, every scroll is laden with meaning.
The order of St Anthony was triggered by the illness Ergotism (long-term ergot poisoning from fungi in cereals), known then as St Anthony’s fire. To treat and heal this disease, for which no remedy was known, altars were erected in hospitals, and monks urged the sick to contemplate these paintings and carvings. The Isenheim Altar was painted out of this impulse and installed in the Convent church of the Isenheim Antonites. It is now placed in the Unterlinden Convent in Colmar, Alsace, in France.
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Whilst studying the altarpieces we had the following questions in mind: In our age of fake news, addiction, psychoses, and much more, how relevant are these pictures for healing in our time?
In contemplation of every detail, the pictures guided us in our search for truth. What are the secrets behind the physical? What does it mean? What heals us? What is the purpose of the human journey?
The altarpieces tell us the true story about life in the heavens and on earth. Ahead of their time, these secret messages were meant for the future, for us. The future is Now. They are most relevant for our time and our consciousness. We are able and can choose to see and work out the truth. This is our task. We were amazed at how the insights unfolded so clearly as we journeyed through the altar pieces.
In our time we are faced with three major falsehoods: Karl Marx manipulating mankind, Freud urging us to ‘do as we like no matter the consequences’ as ‘we only live once’ and Darwin stating that we are evolved from animals. These three streams affect the development and evolution of our ego, our thinking, our feeling and our willing. The truths represented in the altarpiece stand as a foil to these falsehoods.
In contemplation of every detail, the pictures guided us in our search for truth. What are the secrets behind the physical? What does it mean? What heals us? What is the purpose of the human journey?
The altarpieces tell us the true story about life in the heavens and on earth. Ahead of their time, these secret messages were meant for the future, for us. The future is Now. They are most relevant for our time and our consciousness. We are able and can choose to see and work out the truth. This is our task. We were amazed at how the insights unfolded so clearly as we journeyed through the altar pieces.
In our time we are faced with three major falsehoods: Karl Marx manipulating mankind, Freud urging us to ‘do as we like no matter the consequences’ as ‘we only live once’ and Darwin stating that we are evolved from animals. These three streams affect the development and evolution of our ego, our thinking, our feeling and our willing. The truths represented in the altarpiece stand as a foil to these falsehoods.
The altarpieces hold numerous examples of Polarities and the overcoming of the polarities. The Crucifixion with the Lamentation of Christ below, is flanked by panels showing St. Sebastian and St. Anthony. These two saints represent polarities. Ploarities that need to be recognised and overcome. “St Sebastian, the representative of unbounded life forces, dies at a young age, penetrated by arrows”, a martyr, choosing death over denying Christ, and in death he attained five-fold salvation, and was initiated into the mystery of the death of Christ. “St Anthony relentlessly pursues the development of his consciousness”, he lived a Christian life and had many teachings, but he “finds it hard to resist his bodily nature which stands in the way of his initiation into higher secrets and reached the age of 105 before death released him”. As described in ‘the Torture of St Anthony’ he is attacked by many demons, but he remains unscathed, saved by his deep faith. The picture is clear for humanity, we all battle demons, but we need to “trust in the existence of the Christ-infused powers of the Individuality to overcome”. So, all health problems, mental and physical can only become balanced by this truth.
Another example is the dialogue between St Anthony and St. Paul. St Paul is a healer, living a simple life, not wanting for anything. St Anthony still has areas of striving for self-knowledge, wisdom and truth. To take the last step he must ‘know thyself’' – only when he has cleared himself of all vanity can he cross the threshold. Once these two saw themselves as equals, they could share the bread out of “insight and love”.
If we learn to listen to each other, we understand each other and see the polarities, we will feel secure in all points of view. So far humankind has not been able to live with the polarities, we have been unable to appreciate views seen from a different standpoint, hence from the time Cain killed Able, through the religious wars up to the present, there is conflict, there is ill health, there is deformity of mind and body. We are left with much to contemplate, for a long time. Michael Schubert gave us a guideline from a letter by R.M. Rilke:
“You have to be patient with the unsolved in your heart
And try to love the question
As they are questions like locked books written in a very foreign language
It’s about living everything
If you love the questions-
You may start to live into the answers one unknown day without realising it.”
If we learn to listen to each other, we understand each other and see the polarities, we will feel secure in all points of view. So far humankind has not been able to live with the polarities, we have been unable to appreciate views seen from a different standpoint, hence from the time Cain killed Able, through the religious wars up to the present, there is conflict, there is ill health, there is deformity of mind and body. We are left with much to contemplate, for a long time. Michael Schubert gave us a guideline from a letter by R.M. Rilke:
“You have to be patient with the unsolved in your heart
And try to love the question
As they are questions like locked books written in a very foreign language
It’s about living everything
If you love the questions-
You may start to live into the answers one unknown day without realising it.”
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