Ed Blackburn’s bible paintings place us in a quandary because of their seeming straightforwardness. Few modes of discourse are as instantly suspect. Politicians, evangelists, and advertisers have hopelessly compromised their earnestness in public address. Since these works look at first glance like blowups of the simple illustrations in Sunday-school workbooks, it is possible that the artist is somehow serious about all this. This instantly makes the viewer—this viewer, anyway—suspicious.

Blackburn does not tackle major theological mysteries in these paintings. He forgoes the nativity, crucifixion,