It is interesting to see how the meanings of certain art styles and symbols evolve over time. The idea of light in art, and how it began with the flat gold halos of the Middle Ages to the Renaissance portrayals of light sources shining in a particular direction, creating shadows and depth, is fascinating. Similarly with the symbols the Christians adopted from the society around them, creating their own meaning from letters and symbols and acronyms. This reminded me of the notion that nothing is created in a vacuum, and nothing is entirely new. Everything that humans create is influenced by what they’ve seen in the past and what surrounds them. Images of the Good Shepard, or the fish and dove and other symbols were chosen by early Christians to represent their minority cult because those were the images that they recognized and could affix meaning to.
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