How did Christians come to depict their God? How did they visualize the deity described in Scripture as well as such theological subtleties as the Incarnation and the Trinity? And what purposes did pictures of God serve? Paying particular attention to the rapidly-growing body of recent scholarship on these questions, the seminar will consider a variety of issues concerning the sources and evolution of medieval Christian images of God, in both Byzantium and Western Europe, and the problems these images often generated. Among other specific topics, the course will investigate the impact of imperial cult and images of the dead on the earliest portraits of Christ, theological debates about the nature of spiritual vs. corporeal vision and their relationship to image-making practice, the function of sacred images in public ritual vs. private devotion, and the pictorial exploration of the sexuality of Christ. Evaluation will be based on research papers, oral presentations, and class participation. Enrollment limit: 15.