This is a reeeeally early version of the Gospel of Mark. It is an interesting coincidence that two of the classes I'm taking right now are Greek and Medieval/Reformation Church History, and today at the Getty there happened to be an exhibit on medieval Gospel preservation which included old manuscripts in Greek. I couldn't read squat.
Anyway, walking around looking at beautiful artifacts made to honor Christ struck me as odd-what would it have been like to live in a time where Christianity was at the forefront of creativity and the arts? Will we ever see a time like that again? Most likely not, since the seat of power and influence Christianity held for ages in Western society has all but evaporated and now it is marginal at best. But what would it look like? Have Christians totally lost the power to promote the Gospel in an original and artistic way?