7 Quotes & Sayings By Johann Baptist Metz

Johann Baptist Metz (German: Johann Baptist Metzger) (1778 - 1851) was a German painter, sculptor, and printmaker of the Romantic period, often grouped with the Nazarenes. He was born in Halle an der Saale, where his father, Adam Friedrich Metzger, held the title of court architect. Metzger initially studied architecture at the local academy in Halle, but later left for Italy to study art. He continued his studies at Munich where he met Goethe and Schiller Read more

His first independent work was a painting of Salome, which had some success. With the help of his uncle, he was able to become a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin in 1804. He won several awards at the Academy's annual exhibitions including one for his painting of The Murder of Abel.

His work attracted wide attention and he became known as "The Berlin Raphael". Many of his paintings were inspired by Biblical subjects and executed with great skill and precision. His painting of The Resurrection of Lazarus was exhibited at both the Royal Academy and London's National Gallery in 1840.

Other major works include The Last Supper (1827), The Last Judgment (1835), The Crucifixion (1837), The Tomb of Christ (1855), and The Crucifixion (1857).

1
No mi kršćani upućeni smo po središtu našega Creda - 'mučen pod Poncijem Pilatom' - u povijest u kojoj je bilo razapinjanja i mučenja, u kojoj se plakalo i tako rijetko ljubilo. I nikakav od povijesti udaljeni mit, nikakav Platonovi idejni Bog, nikakva gnostička soteriologija i nikakav apstraktni govor o povijesnosti naše egzistencije ne mogu nam vratiti onu nedužnost koju smo u toj povijesti izgubili. Johann Baptist Metz
2
Tko npr. formulira govor o Bogu Abrahamovu, Izakovu i Jakovljevu tako da se u njemu više ne čuje Jobov uzdisaj i tužaljka 'Ta dokle još?', taj se ne bavi teologijom nego mitologijom. Johann Baptist Metz
We must learn to accept ourselves in the painful experiment...
3
We must learn to accept ourselves in the painful experiment of living. We must embrace the spiritual adventure of becoming human, moving through the many stages that lie between birth and death. Johann Baptist Metz
4
Molitveni jezik jedini je jezik u kojem nema jezičnih zabrana. Kako je već rečeno, on je obuhvatniji od jezika vjere koja je sigurna u samu sebe. U jeziku molitve može se naime reći i to da se ne može vjerovati. Johann Baptist Metz
[N]one of us drinks the chalice of our existence to...
5
[N]one of us drinks the chalice of our existence to the last drop. None of us is fully obedient. Each of us falls short of the human nature entrusted to us. Johann Baptist Metz
6
Towards the end of the Second World War, when I was sixteen years old, I was taken out of school and forced into the army. After a brief period of training at a base in Wüzburg, I arrived at the front, which by that time had already crossed the Rhine into Germany. There were well over a hundred in my company, all of whom were very young. One evening the company commander sent me with a message to battalion headquarters. I wandered all night long through destroyed, burning villages and farms, and when in the morning I returned to my company I found only the dead, nothing but dead, overrun by a combined bomber and tank assault. I could see only dead and empty faces, where the day before I had shared childhood fears and youthful laughter. I remember nothing but a wordless cry. Thus I see myself to this very day, and behind this memory all my childhood dreams crumble away. Johann Baptist Metz