The Theologians' Plea

Here is an excerpt from Wolfgang Lettl's speech at the opening of his Retrospective at the Tuscan Columned Hall in Augsburg, on March 17, 2000:

In my painting, "The Theologians' Plea", I painted four men who resemble black cones with pale heads, indistinct faces, and black top hats. They are standing sideways in a perfectly straight, unstructured urban canyon.

I was searching for a suitable contrast and don't know how I came up with Michelangelo's God the Father in the Sistine Chapel, shown crawling to the rear of space as he creates the heavenly bodies.

No, this is no blasphemy; it's just that this image of God can no longer meet our expectations. What image of God? We don't have one. "Thou shalt not make any image of God!"

I am not blaming Michelangelo. My limited theological layman’s mind is thinking: "Thou shalt not make any image of God!" amounts to good advice rather than a prohibiton: "Thou shalt not try, because thou can´t not succeed."

"God is clearing out", is what the painting says disrespectfully; in our affluent society he is "persona non grata". He has become superfluous. We are so terribly embarrassed, but he has always been a mistake.

Have we come that far?