Looking back over fifteen hundred years of Christian art it appears the crucifixion of Jesus holds the highest place. We havent looked back far enough. Go back to the first three centuries after Jesus walked among us. Walk the dark corridors of those subterranean burial chambers of the persecuted Christians. There we find a much different theology at work: a theology with resurrection hope and power at the center. If catacomb art were all we had of Christian theology and practice from the first three centuries ADno Scriptureswe would have no choice but to conclude that the first message of the Christian faith was the Easter Gospel.