Context

My great-great grandfather, George H. Lewis,
who died in 1863 in Washington, D.C.

Context. That’s what I’m always looking for. Growing up in Connecticut, where parts of my family have been since 1634, I had a profound sense of context. It was all around me. In downtown Meriden was the high school (in my time a middle school, now demolished) where my father graduated from high school in 1940. Across the street is the big brownstone Meriden High School building, a late Victorian pile, where my grandparents went to school. My great-great grandfather’s name is on the Civil War memorial in front of City Hall, again, across the street.

Every Memorial Day we went to the East Main Street Cemetery to decorate graves. There, my great-great grandfather is buried. He died of dysentery during the Civil War. My great-great grandmother is there next to him, along with her second husband and their infant children. In the same plot is a memorial to my great-great-great grandfather who lost his shirt in 1830’s by speculating in real estate. He went out to Iowa to start over, hoping to bring his family out. He died out there. One of my life’s ambitions is to find his grave and find out what happened to him.

I grew up with a deep sense of context, that I was part of a continuity. I always had a sense of my ancestors surrounding me. I have a glimmer of what many peoples around the world have, of seeing their ancestors with them, not just dead and buried. Now that my mother has died (6 years ago) and my father is in memory care, I have many family treasures--a photograph of my great-great grandfather, presumably taken before he left for the war, never to come back alive; a print of Abraham Lincoln reading the Bible to his wife and son (which turns out was based on a photograph of Lincoln leafing through a photo album with his son, and Mrs. Lincoln pasted in); several keepsakes of my mother’s which she saved from her childhood, such as a  metal German candy canister given to her by a German boarder who stayed with her family for awhile; a little incense burner in the shape of a birdhouse on top of a tree stump, and other reminders of her.

For me at least, it seemed natural to study history. As a pastor I’m not a professional historian, but history is very much a part of what I do. I preach from a text that is thousands of years old, and help my congregation understand what the text meant to the people who wrote it and first heard it, and what it can mean to them.

Reproduction of a Novgorod chess set, ca. 1300

On my own, I seek out the past. Anyone who has read previous posts knows that I enjoy making reproductions of chess sets from the past. Once in awhile I enjoy buying an antique set online, but the sets I reproduce exist only in fragmentary form and must be reconstructed. That’s the fun part. As I play a game with a medieval Russian set I have a sense of the people who would have used such a set in Novgorod 700 years ago. I also enjoy painting copies of medieval and Renaissance devotional art. Same thing as the chess sets. I enjoy seeing such art in museums, and I often pause and pray silently before them, as their original owners would have. It’s easier to spend a long time with a piece of art at home, however.

All of this helps me to understand myself in context. I’m not just an isolated individual. Each of us is a part of that great cloud of witnesses.

Don't Blame God for Las Vegas

“Well, my book is written--let it go. But if it were only to write over again there wouldn't be so many things left out. They burn in me; and they keep multiplying; but now they can't ever be said. And besides, they would require a library--and a pen warmed up in hell.”
Letter to W. D. Howells, 22 Sept 1889 (referring to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court)

I came across this quote from Mark Twain years ago and it is one of my favorite quotes from him. This is how I feel today after the shooting in Las Vegas. To say that I am angry would be to trivialize anger. I am burning inside. I am burning with rage that the shooter was able to buy such armaments legally. I am burning with rage that our government has done nothing, nothing to prevent this from happening. This was avoidable.  The automatic weapons that he used fired hundreds of rounds, and he came to the scene loaded for bear. It looks as though he emptied several weapons before taking his own life.

As a pastor I am often asked why God allows bad things to happen. If it is truly one of those happenings that have no explanation, I’ll say that I don’t know. But this, this has an explanation and it is an ugly one. Our Congress has been flooded with hundreds of thousands of dollars by the NRA to pay off mostly Republican senators and House members so that they will vote against legislation curbing access to guns in this country.

Statistics show that even with our uneven, state-by-state laws concerning the sale and possession of automatic weapons, our society is awash in automatic weapons. People who have absolutely no need to own such weapons have them. To be sure, probably many of these people also lock up and handle these weapons responsibly. But the mere availability of them makes it possible for people who intend harm to buy them. Frankly, I am willing to sacrifice the right of law-abiding citizens to access these weapons if it means that dangerous people won’t be able to get them.

Our country suffers under a deep-seated illness, an illness of violence. Violence against other people has become legitimized for various reasons. The entertainment industries thrive on images of violence. Video games desensitize children to the real-time consequences of violence. Violence against people of color and LGBTQ people has become legitimized in the minds of some. Until this epidemic of violence can be dealt with there will be no solution. We need to start with ourselves and work outward to include all people. Violence against innocent people is never, never legitimate, yet every time people are slaughtered in these numbers and nothing is done to curb the violence our government makes a statement that these losses are acceptable. One friend posted on Facebook today that the debate over gun control ended with the Sandy Hook shootings because it became acceptable for children to be slaughtered.

I get angry when after these shootings I hear politicians saying that their “thoughts and prayers” were with the victims and their families. Nonsense. This is just code language for the NRA to hear, that the senators and house members who are under their control are obeying their pay masters. Thoughts and prayers are worthless, less than worthless, when they are not followed by action.

The culture of violence that has our country in its thrall is only getting worse. Police continue to be let off the hook for shooting unarmed black motorists. Toddlers access guns that are not locked up properly and shoot other toddlers. It is far more likely that a handgun in a home will be used against a member of that family than against an intruder, yet people snap them up because it makes them feel safe.

Friends, we are not safe. Our society is filled with guns of all sorts. I have no quarrel with a person who follows all the rules and hunts for sport. I have no quarrel with someone who enjoys skeet shooting with a friend. I have no quarrel with someone who goes target shooting on the weekend.

My father worked for a bank all his career, and was responsible for the buildings themselves. If anything happened with one of the buildings he got a call, even if it was in the middle of the night. When I was around 13 he was called out several nights because there had been a bomb threat in one of the bank branches. He went in the building along with the police, pistol drawn. He had all the permits needed, and regularly went target shooting. He kept the pistols he owned locked up, with the ammunition locked up separately. After he retired he sold his guns. He said he didn’t need them any more and he didn’t want the responsibility. Unfortunately, not all gun owners are that responsible.

Friends, we need to create a culture of peace. I realize that may sound too idealistic for some, but that is what I feel we need. It won’t happen tomorrow, but it will never happen unless we work toward it. We need to make it much more difficult for someone to pick up a gun because they are angry with a former employer, an estranged spouse, or with the world in general. We need to model conflict resolution that isn't based in squeezing a trigger. Until this becomes the norm, God help us.

My Chess Genealogy

A significant part of chess for me has been the pieces themselves. This goes back to my childhood. Growing up, we had four chess sets. One was a Lardy Staunton set, which I now have, and I treasure it.

We also had a plastic set that was fairly common at the time, and can still be found on eBay for a fair price. This set was modeled after French medieval sculpture, featuring figural pieces--the king was a king, the queen a queen, etc. The rook always entranced me--a literal figure of a castle tower. I remember thinking how wonderful it would be to live in such a tower, in safety.

The third set we had was a travel set, which again, I have now. The pieces were tiny and had pegs that went into holes on each square on the board. The fourth set was a French Regency set made in the early 20th century. I remember my father telling me that his mother had given it to him, and she recalled someone giving it to her. He learned how to play chess during World War II, at a time when long periods of boredom were punctuated with periods of crisis. He came home and told her that he was going to continue learning about chess. She gave him the Regency set but suggested that it might be beyond him

My father was active in a local chess club for a number of years before he married my mother in 1955. I am not sure if he was active in the club after he was married, but it is possible.

Getting back to the chess sets themselves, I now have my father’s Staunton set that he bought in the early 1950’s so that he would have a set to bring to the chess club in Meriden. The Regency set is long gone, not surprisingly. I think that and the Lowe’s figural set went into a yard sale. I have similar sets that I bought on eBay, and although they are not the actual sets they are exactly the same as those that I remember.

Moving the pieces around has always been a great appeal to me. I have never been a strong player although I continue to work on my game. The aesthetics of the game are very important to me. I enjoy studying the different styles of chess pieces. I have a number of sets from the 19th century, and the early 20th century. I have also made reproductions of a wide variety of sets dating from the Middle Ages up to the early 20th centuries. My wood turning skills continue to improve with practice.

Enjoying the actual pieces as miniature sculptures is a pleasure to me. I enjoy examining chess pieces and thinking about how they were made. I enjoy moving pieces around on a board and looking at how they interact with one another.

The reasons I enjoy making reproduction sets are several. For one thing, I often can't afford the originals. Also, I like making a complete set from pictures of a set that has not survived complete, to have an idea how the first owner would have seen it and used it. It's nice to be able to play a game with a set in the style of one made centuries ago and to think about the people who would have used it.

Great Aunt Anne

Today I’m sitting in my study reading for work while a blizzard howls outside. Across the room hangs my copy of a portrait of Anne Boleyn, the original being in the National Portrait Gallery in London. This in turn is a copy of a lost original. When Henry VIII ordered that all portraits of Anne should be destroyed, he did it well, although obviously not everyone complied.

Most everyone knows the story of Anne. She was one of three children of Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard. Her birthdate is not know but is generally thought to be in 1501. Anne had the misfortune to grow up in an era in which women of wealthy families were traded like baseball cards. Marriage was not generally for love, but was for social position, and her parents knew that well. Her father was a unrepentant social climber, although everyone in his class was as well.

Anne spent some of her early years in the Netherlands and France where she gained a good education. Her sister Mary spent time in France as well, and was widely believed to have been a mistress of King Francis I. Mary eventually was the mistress of Henry himself, and is widely believed to have borne two children of his. This happened during her first marriage to William Carey, a marriage that Henry arranged for cover for himself. William had the decency to die young and Mary remarried in secret.

But, there’s Anne. We’ll get back to Mary in a minute.

The basics of Anne’s life are well-known. She was a lady-in-waiting for Catherine of Aragon, Henry’s first wife, who had ha several children with Henry, although one was stillborn and three (I think) only survived for a short time. Only one, Mary, survive to adulthood, later to become Queen Mary I. Henry also had a natural (illegitimate) son whom he recognized. Henry Fitzroy became the Duke of Richmond, the title his father had held. Catherine was not happy about this, especially since Henry came very close to naming him as heir. However, the young Henry died at the age of ninteen and it never became an issue. As Henry and Catherine grew older, he worried that he would not have a male heir. He was a Tudor, and like his father, he needed to prove that he was the legitimate heir. His father, Henry VII, had a claim to the throne but it wasn’t nearly as good as the claim others had. Henry VII worked overtime to prove his legitimacy, spending a number of years fighting off the infamous Perkin Warbeck, a pretender claiming to be Richard, the son of Edward IV and one of the two princes in the tower believed to have been killed by Richard III.

So, Anne provided a fresh distraction for Henry, who had already fathered an illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, whom he recognized and nearly legitimized as an heir to the throne. When Anne appeared in court in 1526 Henry pursued her, seeking  another conquest. Anne enjoyed the attention but wouldn’t let Henry have his way.

Fast forward to 1533. Henry had broken from the Roman Catholic Church because the Pope wouldn’t give him the annulment from Catherine that he wanted. His formation of the Church of England, on the surface, was to give Henry the power to provide his own annulment, but it was more than that. There had been tensions between London and Rome for years over questions of sovereignty.

Anne was queen for less than three years. She and Henry quarreled a lot, and when she gave birth to her daughter, Elizabeth (who later became Queen Elizabeth I) he began to find comfort elsewhere. After a couple of miscarriages he became convinced that Anne had seduced him with witchcraft, and asked his advisors to come up with a conspiracy against her. They dished up as much as they could manufacture, accusing her of sleeping with hundreds of courtiers, including her own brother George. After a kangaroo court she was condemned to death and was beheaded by a swordsman on May 19, 1536, aged somewhere between 28 and 35.

Anne was very intelligent, and by the standards of the time, not very beautiful. She had auburn hair (not black as often assumed) and black eyes, and a large nose. She was slightly built, and men interested in busty women commented on her deficit in that area.

Historians look back at Anne’s downfall and find little or no basis in the charges leveled against her. Probably the one thing she was guilty of, something women at the time had to be careful of, was that she had a quick wit.

So, after all this, why my interest in Anne? Because I am descended from her sister Mary, who is my 12 great grandmother. Henry had an affair with Mary before he married Anne, and many historians feel there is compelling evidence that Mary's daughter Katherine was actually the illegitimate aughter of Henry. Henry might have acknowledged her in different circumstances, but he never did In all likelihood he didn't do so because it would make him look bad if he had an affair with one woman and then married her sister. Since Mary is an ancestor, that makes Anne my 12 great aunt. My mother was delighted to discover this in her genealogical research a number of years ago.

So, I have my portrait of Anne to remind me of my connection to her, but to remind me of the frailty of human existence. As a pastor, lots of things remind me of that, but Anne in particular does because of her quick fall from grace. Women at that time lived a precarious existence, and her story, although played out on an international stage, was far from unique. For her, the stakes were higher.

Phillipa Gregory, the author of The Other Boleyn Girl, speculates that Anne in fact slept with her brother in the hope that a pregnancy would result in a male heir, whose parentage could be kept from Henry. There’s no question that once things started to go downhill for Anne, she tried as hard as any other sane person to save her own neck, literally. I doubt that she would have gone to that extreme, and it is a theory that hasn’t gotten a lot of traction.

So, on this snowy day I lift a glass to my great aunt Anne in the wish that she could have lived to see her daughter grow up to become the legendary Queen Elizabeth I.

The Archaeology of Faith

The Archaeology of Faith

I’ve long been interested in the iconography of the Orthodox world, as well as the iconography of the Medieval West and the Renaissance. I find great satisfaction in painting copies of images from these periods.

One of the areas of iconography that fascinates me is from the first millennium of the Christian church. This was a time of transition, with the church developing underground before the time of Constantine, only to be legalized in the early fourth century and to experience tremendous growth, to the development of the Greek and Latin traditions that eventually led to the split between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox worlds in the eleventh century.

Mary and the baby Jesus, ca. 500-650 AD.
Copy of an original at the Monastery of St. Catherine at Mt. Sinai.

For iconography, a great deal of transition happened as well. The earliest icons date from the early sixth century, and many are found at the Monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai. This remote monastery is the oldest continually occupied monastery in the world, dating back to the fourth century. It was patronized in the sixth century by the Roman emperor Justinian, who built the main church (which is still standing) and who also built the original walls around the monastery for protection. It is believed by some that Justinian also donated three of the monastery’s oldest icons, which date from the time of his reign.

For two periods during the eighth and ninth centuries the Byzantine emperors at the time banned religious images, and ordered their destruction. Relatively few have survived, and those that have survived display a range of styles very distinct from Byzantine icons as we know them today. Mt. Sinai has a wonderful collection of icons from before the periods of iconoclasm, and since the monastery was outside of the bounds of the Byzantine empire during that time, it is widely believed that icon painting continued there uninterrupted.

Protestants have had a difficult time with religious imagery, especially that of Mary. For us, Mary is trotted out at Christmas and she is put away until the next December. Obviously, that isn’t true for a significant part of the Christian church. For much of the church Mary is in the background of the Christian faith.

Copy of an icon of Mary and the baby Jesus,
ca. 550 AD. Original at the Monastery of St. Catherine at Mt. Sinai.

When I look at a photograph of an ancient icon that has seen the wear and tear, I want to see what it looked like to the people who first used it. With the exception of a few large icons, most of the icons from this period are fairly small, suggesting that they were used for private devotion.

Obviously, a museum (or monastery, in the case of Mt. Sinai) is not going to repaint an ancient icon to look like it did when it was new, so in order to see an image as it was when new, I need to make a copy. This is a fascinating process for me. I start with a digital image, make a panel the size that I need, make a grid on the panel and transfer the image by hand, then paint the copy. Often a portion of the original icon is missing and I have to reconstruct that, which sometimes involves a bit of conjecture.

Icon of Christ blessing, ca 550 AD.
Original at the Monastery of St. Catherine
at Mt. Sinai

With the finished product, I can contemplate it and learn about how the original owner(s) understood the subject. An image can say a great deal about the beliefs of the people who first viewed the image.

It is important with these images to remember that they were not painted just for decoration. For those Christians who use icons liturgically or for private devotion an icon is a window into the reality portrayed by the image. It functions in a similar manner to icons on a computer screen on a phone. By selecting the icon you enter into the world of that image.

I love to learn from artists from the past about what they did and how they did it. This is the archaeology of the Christian faith. We do not just live in the present, but the saints of the past are still with us, and the images they used in worship are still with us. We owe it to them to understand who they were and what they believed, even if we do not share all of those beliefs with them. Their witness to their own faith is the foundation of our own.

Advent: a Season of Peace?

John the Baptist, one of my favorite Biblical figures, appears in the Revised Common Lectionary at the beginning of Advent and Lent. It's not an accident. John is a guidepost, a messenger, sent to call us back to faithful discipleship. The reason for John's appearance is not to comfort us, but to get our attention. There's a lot we need to pay attention to this Advent.

With Advent soon approaching I’m troubled by recent developments across the country. The contrast between a peaceful season of anticipation and joy and blatant hatred is jarring. At this writing our country is experiencing an upsurge in racist and hateful rhetoric. It can be found online on many websites and on social media. It is impossible to avoid unless we completely shut ourselves off from the world. As Christians we believe that in the Incarnation, which we celebrate at Christmas, we celebrate the coming of one who can bring peace and reconciliation to all peoples. Peace and reconciliation doesn’t appear to be high on the agendas of some Christians. Division has invaded this season of peace.

This rhetoric we are hearing falls into the category of “White Supremacy,” often now called “Christian Identity.” In this world view, white people are the only true heirs of the nation of Israel, descended from the so-called ten lost tribes of Israel. In this line of thinking Jews are not the real heirs of Israel and should be eliminated. This is the origin of the idea of “Christian identity,” the notion that the only true Christians are white.

These hate-filled views extend to other races and religious faiths. All other races are seen as sub-human, survivors of a previous creation, and should be forced out of the United States, which is the white homeland. In this particular view, white Americans are superior in breeding. The idea of eugenics, a pseudo-science that evolved in the United States and was picked up by Adolph Hitler in the 1920’s, called for the elimination of inferior races to benefit white Americans. The eugenics movement here and in Europe resulted in mass-sterilization of people of color in prison and in institutions.

There has been a resurgence in violence and hate targeting Muslim Americans as well. This increased dramatically after 9/11 but it has increased even more. Muslims in the United States are being labelled as terrorists even though the vast majority are not. Negative rhetoric against women, LGBT people, and anyone else who isn’t white and male is becoming more prevalent.

At the beginning of Advent, why should I trouble anyone with this trend? Shouldn’t we be thinking about the peace of Christmas, celebrating the gifts that God has given us? Of course. We should also consider “the things that make for peace,” as the prophet Jeremiah puts it. One of those things that make for peace is the affirmation of all people. We can easily get caught up in feelings of goodwill and harmony during this season and forget that it is not a season of peace and happiness for everyone. Our response? Call it for what it is. The Gospel calls for us to be active, not passive.

There is no place for racism and hatred in our Christian faith, despite the efforts of some to characterize the Christian faith as for whites only. At the time of year when we celebrate the gift of peace through Christ we should also work toward bringing that gift of peace to all. The message of reconciliation found in our faith is not just for some, but for everyone.

With an increase in hatred, or perhaps more accurately, an increase in the public expression of hatred, our task as Christians is to examine our own thoughts and attitudes, and to speak out when we hear hateful attitudes expressed, whether that hatred is expressed toward LGBT people, people of color, Muslims, or anyone else.

Our society hears enough words of division on a daily basis. Can we work toward reconciliation, lifting up the good and denouncing hatred wherever it is found? I hope so. Let’s continue to think about what we can do as individuals and as a church to put forth the affirmation that in Christmas we find the affirmation of the sacredness of all life, made known to us in the Incarnation of Christ.

Dr. Stiles' Library

Recently my wife and I were at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven and saw a portrait of Dr. Ezra Stiles, who was the President of Yale University from 1778 to 1795. The minute I saw the portrait I knew I had to copy it. The copy is now done, and I thought it would be interesting to unpack the symbolism found in the portrait. The original is 34 inches high, but I opted for a smaller 24 inch height. The portrait was painted in 1771 by a Samuel King when Stiles was 44. At the time he was the pastor of Second Congregational Church in Newport, Rhode Island.  And, much to my disappointment, it turns out that Stiles was a slave owner. Damn. Here he is sitting in his wonderful study, surrounded by books, and he had two slaves.

Stiles was quite interested in biblical languages, and by the time he became President of Yale he was fluent in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic, and even delivered a commencement address in those three languages. As President he was also the first professor of Semitic Languages.

Typically for the time, Stiles had his portrait painted with a bookshelf with the titles clearly marked. This was not intended to be an actual depiction of a bookshelf, just a representation of books he undoubtedly owned. Eighteenth century portraits of clergy often featured such bookshelves, just as portraits of wealthy merchants would sometimes include a stack of ledgers and documents. This portrait has a collection of books that Stiles undoubtedly selected carefully to indicate what the well-educated minister should be reading at that time. From left to right, top to bottom here are the books:

Newton Prin. Isaac Newton, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Latin for "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy"), first published in 1686 and revised in 1713 and 1726. Newton's major work revolutionized science and still is a major influence today. His theories concerning gravity still form the basis for physics.

Plato.  The Greek philosopher needs no introduction. A student of Socrates, Plato developed a form of idealism in which the real world that we know is but a shadow of the ideal world above. His work was very popular in the early history of the Christian Church until the rediscovery of Aristotle's work in the early Middle Ages. Platonic thought even makes its way into the New Testament, in which the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews uses Platonic idealism.

Watts.  Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was a British non-conformist (non-Anglican) minister and is best remembered as the author of many hymns, a number of which are still sung today, such as "Joy to the World," "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," and "O God, Our Help In Ages Past." Watts also wrote poetry. On the spine of this volume appear the names "Hooker" and "Mather," referring to Thomas Hooker (1586-1647), a Congregational minister and the founder of Hartford, Connecticut. "Mather" refers to the three generation line of Boston clergy, including Richard Mather (1596-1669), Increase Mather (1639-1723), and Cotton Mather (1663-1728) who dominated the Boston religious scene for nearly a century.

Dodderidge. Philip Doddridge (1702-1751) was a British non-conformist (non-Anglican) minister, the author of many hymns and books including The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul and the Family Expositor, a 6 volume commentary on the Bible. The spine of this volume also has two names, "Chauncy" and "Cotton."  "Chauncy" is Charles Chauncy (1705-1787), a prominent Boston minister and a leader of the "Old Light" faction that arose during the Great Awakening in opposition to the "New Light" theology of Jonathan Edwards and others. Chauncy and the "Old Lights" emphasized a rational theology that was not based in emotion, in contrast to New Light theology that focused on the need for conversion. "Cotton" refers to John Cotton (1584-1652), yet another prominent Boston minister who was caught up in the Antinomian Controversy of 1636-38 that led to the banishment of Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams, among others. This controversy focused on the idea of an indwelling God, an idea contrary to the rationalistic theology of the time.

Cudworth Intel. System. Ralph Cudworth (1617-1688) published his The True Intellectual System of the Universe in 1678. Cudworth was a vigorous opponent of materialism and atheism, and saw both in the writings of Thomas Hobbes, author of Leviathan. 

Eusebiu. Hist. Eccl. Eusebius of Caesarea, a bishop in Caesarea in the late third and early fourth century, wrote a number of works including his Ecclesiastical History, which covers the first three centuries of the Christian Church. He also wrote a biography of the emperor Constantine.

Livy  (Titus Livius) wrote a long history of the Roman people beginning with the foundation of Rome through the reign of Augustus. He was often seen as a model historian.

Du Halde’s Hist. of China. Jean-Baptiste Du Halde (1674-1743) was a French Jesuit historian. He published his General History of China in 1735, and it was quickly translated into English and published in 1738. It offered a comprehensive overview of the geography of China along with its history, culture and religion. Du Halde never travelled to China himself, but based his work on the eye witness accounts of a number of Jesuit missionaries.

Rashi’s Commentary on the Talmud. Rabbi Shlomo Itzhaki (known by the acronym “Rashi” (RAbbi SHlomo Itzhaki) lived in France from 1040-1105. His commentaries on the Talmud and the Torah have been influential in the development of Jewish thought since his time.

After looking at this shelf of books, several things become clear. Stiles saw Christian theology and faith in a rational manner. It is telling that the works of Jonathan Edwards do not appear on his shelf, while the name of Charles Chauncy appears on one of the books. Stiles was also very interested in science, hence the presence of Newton’s famous work on his shelf. This brings us to the mysterious symbols to the left of Stiles.

First, the strange design in black on the column to Stiles’ right. This is the pattern of the orbit of a comet. The circle represents the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. The long elliptical orbit is of a comet, which travels far away from the earth before returning. Without a doubt, this is a picture of the orbit of Halley’s Comet, which was first identified by William Halley in 1758. Undoubtedly Dr. Stiles knew about the comet and was interested in the science, again as demonstrated by his interest in Newton.

In the upper left corner of the painting is a turquoise blue disk with the name of God (YHWH) in Hebrew letters at the center. Above the Tetragrammaton, as it is called, are the words “All Happy in God.”  Around the center are three concentric rings of what appear to be meteors or comets rushing away from the center. A cross is at the bottom of the disk with two smaller circles of meteors. One can only assume that the movement of the meteors symbolizes the radiance of God’s name.

This painting is a fascinating look into the mind of one of Connecticut’s most prominent clergy during the 18th century.