By Tim Townsend
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| Images courtesy of Riverfront Times Blog |
Monday, 17 September 2012
Episcopal Priest's Nude Photos Being Investigated by the Church
Posted on 04:30 by john mical
SAINT LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
By Tim Townsend
MISSOURI---A surprising victim of the Counter-Reformation was Michelangelo, whose depiction of the "Last Judgment" in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel was altered as a result of the Council's [1564 AD] dictate that "all lasciviousness be avoided; in such wise that figures shall not be painted or adorned with a beauty exciting to lust." It will be difficult for critics to compare Michelangelo's nudes with the Rev. John Blair's. Just after the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri launched an investigation of the St. Louis priest Tuesday evening, many of his photos of nude models were removed from the Internet. And yet the diocese's disciplinary board, whose members will decide if Blair's photography constitutes sexual misconduct, will try to answer the same question as Trent's participants 450 years ago: How does the church recognize the beauty of art that depicts God's creation — the human form — without seeming to condone, in the council's phrasing, "a beauty exciting to lust"? [link]
By Tim Townsend
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