No words can describe my heartache over the story (November, "'Rabbi Jesus' controversial?")
of the paintings of Clara Maria Goldstein being removed from Gundersen
Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse, Wis. I took the time to find all
10 of these paintings so I could see what the controversy was about.
Whoever saw these as controversial hasn’t read their Gospels, nor do
they understand what the Incarnation was about. As a Lutheran, I’m
deeply embarrassed by the actions of a medical facility that bears the
Lutheran title and cannot affirm the human and historical Jesus.
Jan Otto
Olympia, Wash.
Jesus is still JewishThe only
thing I find controversial about Goldstein’s artwork depicting Jesus as
a Jew is the fact that an organization using the word Lutheran in its
corporate name would find it a problem. As far as I know, Jesus is
still Jewish.
Bill Spaulding
Louisville, Ky.
A good signFor a piece of
artwork to be considered controversial is a pretty good sign that it
speaks to people and that it will continue to have meaning for years to
come. It’s unfortunate that some Christians seem to be in denial about
the family and community into which Jesus was born and raised. My
reading of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians seems to be saying: Good
news! You (Ephesian Gentiles) can now be children of God (i.e., the
children of Israel, part of the Jewish family), and you don’t even have
to be circumcised!
Joan Karnuth
Sparta, Ill.
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