Medieval Lions and Heavenly Imaginings

Submitted by Alan Marsden on Tue, 14/03/2017 - 17:44

This medieval stained glass at the church in Guestwick, Norfolk, depicts a lion. It seems to me that this medieval artist had heard lions described but had never actually seen one. The colour and features are correct, but it just doesn't look like a lion. It has the face of a naughty school boy who has just pranked a favourite teacher rather than a ferocious African carnivore.

Let's be fair to this artist. There were no lions in Norfolk and he's unlikely to have travelled to places in which lions lived. He's produced a fair likeness based on the available evidence.

In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul writes 'For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.' Our current understanding of heavenly and spiritual matters is partial and clouded. Although we have that lamp unto our feet which is the scriptures, we have huge gaps in our knowledge. One day we shall look upon our hopes and expectations of heaven and contrast them with the reality we shall experience. I suspect that the Guestwick lion will be rather accurate in comparison.