ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the doctrine of the ascension and the way it has been appropriated across Christian history, particularly through the visual arts but also to a limited degree in some other media, including poetry, music and more literary sermons. It then discusses two major types of focus, first Christ's exchange with Mary Magdalene in the garden and then the departure as such. The latter in particular will enable one to draw on poetry and music as well as art. The advantage of the former is that it reminds us that the biblical material is in any case far wider than the two familiar references in Luke-Acts. The chapter highlights the way in which artists draw on that wider material, as well as note some of the tensions in moving from one medium to another.
