A fascinating story (here), and one that’s entirely plausible. The work of Michelangelo has captivated me for more than two decades — ever since standing at foot of the magnificent David, craning my neck for hours staring at the Sistine ceiling and reading multiple volumes about his life and works. He was a tortured genius, a man whose peerless talent was matched only by his otherwise joyless existence. Given his choice, the 3.5 years he spent painting the Sistine ceiling he gladly would’ve spent carving marble — the greatest passion of his artistic life before he was 30. But he had no choice. The tyrannical Pope Julius II made the artist a virtual indentured slave in demanding he paint the Sistine ceiling. Michelangelo’s early panels on the ceiling farthest from the altar wall are actually mediocre — the figures too small, the scenes too crowded. He never truly enjoyed fresco painting, but he soon mastered the extraordinarily difficult medium to produce one of the greatest works of art of all time.

“So often we Christians try to re-shape Jesus into our image, like the Medieval artists who fashioned the famous artwork that makes Jesus and His disciples look like Venice merchant,” Moore writes, “in Medieval attire, complete with Medieval hairstyles, Medieval clothing, and so forth. American Christian leaders from both the left and the right have become adept at this same slight of hand. Each wants to re-make Jesus to match his or her own personal political preference.