by Rev. Rune Marie Nielsen
What do you see when you imagine Jesus? I’m guessing you don’t picture Jesus in the style of big-eyed, highly emotional Japanese comics called manga. Now I ask you: Why not? Just as European renaissance painters depicted biblical scenes in the art styles of their era, we too can bring the creativity of our modern art into conversation with our spiritual understanding. In this article, I share how you can lead manga-inspired activities that engage fans of modern media, thereby shedding new light on how scripture resonates with us personally.
The interactive activities below can be used during worship in front of the congregation. When I led Manga Sundays at my church in Shatin, Hong Kong, a large number of adults were interested. Comics aren’t just for kids, but are of interest to those of all ages making these exercises also fitting for Sunday School or youth group.
Exercises
1. Discuss: How do we tell stories?
To get your congregation warmed up to the topic, ask some questions. Where do we engage with stories? Stories are all around us: movies, plays, novels, comic books, video games, and even songs.
What kind of stories do you like best? What are your favorite stories from pop culture? What kinds of characters are the protagonists?
Even liturgy is a story! It tells the journey of our repentance and forgiveness, our wonder at the divine presence of God within us, and our devotion to Jesus who gave his life for us. The images below show bulletins that I designed to look like manga pages.
2. Drawing Jesus and other biblical figures
The first step is to ask a couple of volunteers to draw an image of what they think someone with a common name looks like. For my congregation in Hong Kong, I asked them to draw what they imagine what someone with the female name Mei Ling looks like, as well as draw what someone with the male name Chen looks like. You can adjust these names for the cultural context of your congregation.
The drawings will likely show modern, average people in modern, average clothes. The facial features and skin tone will probably reflect a race and gender the volunteer associates with the name.
Next, ask each volunteer to draw an image of Jesus. Their drawings will likely look very different from the ones they drew for the two imaginary people with common names. Many of us would draw Jesus a Middle Eastern man, likely with long, dark hair, and possibly with beams of light, a dove, or other heavenly symbols around him. There is nothing wrong with this version of Jesus. However, the next question opens up other possibilities: Can Jesus look the same as Carly and Joe? Why not have Jesus wear Javier’s baseball cap or Marinette’s necklace?
The point is that God is in all of us. We are children of God, made in God’s image. God is every race, every gender, every age, every body.
For the Manga Sundays, I drew manga-style versions of Jesus, Paul, and other biblical figures. You wouldn’t recognize them if I didn’t tell you who they were! However, that is part of the appeal of creative storytelling—our spiritual imaginations are unique. By drawing or even just thinking about the vibe we get from people in the Bible, we form mental images that show how we relate to them personally.
We read about their actions and personalities, and put them together into something that holds special meaning to us individually. Do you think of Paul as a loudmouth whose bravado breaks the gossipy whispers in the room? Or maybe you see Paul as a pensive and sensitive soul who tries hard to convey his convictions strongly. Or a million other personality traits!
3. Put yourself in the action
Ask a volunteer or two to fill in the expressions (or even text) on a blank comic page of a Bible segment.
When your group sees the blank faces, ask them: What do you think these biblical people are thinking about? How are they responding to the action around them?
For more manga Bible pages (both blank and filled-in), you contact me at spirituallifeenrichment@gmail.com.
My manga pages for Manga Sundays aren’t the only examples of comics inspired by the Bible. The graphic novel Marked by Steve Ross creatively portrays the Gospel of Mark in a violent dystopia plagued by corrupt governments, physical demons running rampant, and widespread poverty. Another favorite religious-inspired comic of mine is the manga series Saint Young Men by Hikaru Nakamura, which presents a very different setting and tone. The manga tells a light-hearted slice of life story about young adults Jesus and the Buddha living as friends in modern-day Japan.
I would like to note that some cultures have different relationships with cartoon media. In Hong Kong, the terms manga and anime (the animated form of manga) are well known across all demographics. Manga is widely accepted as a ‘legitimate’ art style that can even be displayed in art galleries. Comics have been a part of Hong Kong pop culture since the 1960s, and many adults grew up with exposure to a wide variety of manga genres. Reading manga is not considered a niche pastime in Hong Kong, rather a mainstream hobby. However, I realize that some cultures do not have the same knowledge or fondness of cartoons and this topic may require some extra education about what manga is and how it uses creative expression.
The point of biblical-inspired comic book art isn’t to claim that the Bible is fiction, because it is not. By comparing concepts in fictional stories to the people and stories in the Bible, we draw closer to how God made those real stories happen. While we should avoid putting our entire view of Jesus in an archetypal box, storytelling is a universal human experience. God and the authors of the Bible use storytelling to encourage and teach us. Many Bible stories are structured to appeal to our human drive for meaning, inspiration, and empathy.
God’s story doesn’t stop at the last page of Revelation. Our lives are real stories of a spiritual journey. Each one of us is a hero in our quest to live as children of God in God’s image. Reimagining Bible stories manga-style is one way to lift up the universality of Jesus to all people and to affirm the image of God in each one of us.
Rune Marie Nielsen is a pastor, writer, and illustrator who seeks to show ‘a glimpse of divine eternity’ in her work. Educated in Hong Kong, Rune finds creativity in both the complex and simple aspects of life, from meditation and theology to the bowl of noodles she ate for lunch.
Visit runepainter.com to view more art by Pastor Rune.
