Interesting discussion of how the lactating breast disappeared as a symbol
of God's love in the Christian church.

 

 


God's love, mother's milk


An image of salvation

 

 

http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=4272

 

Partial quote:

 

"Consider, however, another visual expression and presentation of God's love
for humanity. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of late medieval and Renaissance
paintings and sculptures depict the Virgin Mary with one breast exposed as
she is nursing or preparing to nurse the infant Christ. The origins of the
image are disputed, but whatever its origins, depictions of the lactating
Virgin acquired new meaning and new urgency in mid-14th-century Tuscany. In
communities under siege from plague, wars and malnutrition, the Virgin's
breast was a symbol of God's loving provision of life, the nourishment and
care that sustain life, and the salvation that promises eternal life."

 

(see link for full article, and for title of the book on which it is based)

 

Janice Reynolds

 


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