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Early in her art studies, California artist Nancy Snooks learned from one of her teachers, Sister Corita Kent, to create drawings without looking down at the paper. What happens in such drawings, says Snooks, is that some elements become exaggerated and others curiously diminished. “Adam and Eve in Paradise” is from her 1969 series of biblically based images. Reflecting on the work, she said she sees in it a couple asking questions: Why am I here? What does God want from me? Why is there suffering? “And also knowing God walks with us—all those insights from Genesis 2.”

This carving of Jeremiah is situated in the doorway of St. Peter Church in Moissac, France. The 12th-century church is on one of the pilgrimage roads to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. Jeremiah is positioned below an image of Christ as apocalyptic judge. Several lions in the sculpture link Jeremiah with courageous kings. The prophet’s form is elongated, and he seems to struggle to free himself from the stone. His cross-legged position echoes the crisscrossing of the lions. His long hair and beard are customary in representations of the prophet.

In his exploration of the story of David and Goliath (1 Sam. 17), Michigan-based painter Jonathan Quist shows a religious leader with stones and a sling in hand. But the giant he faces is the Goliath of racism and segregation in the church. The church watches from a distance as David prepares five stones taken from the rivery railroad tracks.