Blessed Are the Freaks

The history of the church is full of weirdos and outcasts. In fact, the early church by its nature was almost entirely composed of such freaks, until it was forcibly mainstreamed by Constantine, but that's a whole different topic. Freak Spotlights are where I talk about some of my favorite notable weirdos in the church, and what better place to start than the weirdest of them all, Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch? Bosch is a well known artist whose work is noted for its busy and extremely surreal imagery. He predated the surrealist movement by a few centuries, but his work clearly demonstrates many of the traits embraced by the noteworthy likes of Dali and Ernst. The coolest thing about Bosch for me is how he embraced both dark and twisted subject matter as well as Christian tropes. Perhaps his best-known piece, the Garden of Earthly Delights, illustrates this juxtaposition: There's a lot going on here, but as you look closer you start to see the absurdity and depravity....