Which of the Following Does Not Conform to a Biblical Worldview of Aesthetics and Art?

How should Christians glorify God in the ways we interact with the arts and express our artistic bent?

 This article is also available in Spanish.

Is there a legitimate place for the appreciation of fine art and beauty in our lives? What is the relationship of civilization to our spiritual life? Are non art and the development of artful tastes actually a waste of time in the calorie-free of eternity? These are questions Christians often inquire well-nigh the fine arts.

Unfortunately, the answers nosotros frequently hear to such questions imply that Christianity can function quite nicely without an aesthetic dimension. At the heart of this mentality is Tertullian's (160-220 A.D.) classic argument, "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? The University with the Church? We have no need for curiosity since Jesus Christ, nor enquiry since the evangel."

This bold exclamation has led many to argue that the spiritual life is essential, only the cultural inconsequential. And today much of the Christian community seems inclined to arroyo aesthetics in the aforementioned hurried and superficial manner with which we live near of our lives. This attitude was vividly expressed recently in a cartoon portraying an American rushing into the Louvre in Paris. The caption read, "Where'southward the Mona Lisa? I'k double parked!"

Art and Aesthetics

What is aesthetics? Let us begin with a definition. Aesthetics is "The philosophy of beauty and art. It studies the nature of beauty and laws governing its expression, as in the fine arts, as well equally principles of art criticism"{ane}. Formally, aesthetics is thus included in the study of philosophy. Upstanding considerations to decide "good" and "bad" include the aesthetic dimension.

Thus, beauty tin exist contemplated, defined, and understood for itself. This disquisitional process results in explaining why some artists, authors, and composers are great, some simply good, and others not worthwhile. Aesthetics therefore

". . .aims to solve the problem of beauty on a universal basis. If successful, it would presently furnish us with an caption of the quality common to Greek temples, Gothic cathedrals, Renaissance paintings, and all practiced art from whatever identify or time."{ii}

At the heart of aesthetics, and so, is human inventiveness and its diverse cultural expressions. H. Richard Neibuhr has defined it every bit "the piece of work of men's minds and hands." While nature (equally God'south gift) provides the raw materials for human expression, culture is that which man produces in his earthly setting. Information technology . . . "includes the totality and the life pattern–linguistic communication, religion, literature (if whatever), machines and inventions, arts and crafts, architecture and decor, dress, laws, customs, marriage and family structures, regime and institutions, plus the peculiar and characteristic ways of thinking and interim."{iii}

Aesthetic gustatory modality is interwoven all through the cultural fabric of a society and thus cannot be ignored. Information technology is therefore inescapable—for lodge and for the individual. Human creativity volition inevitably express itself and the results (works of art) will tell united states something most its creators and the order from which they came. "Through art, we can know another's view of the universe."{4}

"Every bit such, works of fine art are ofttimes more than accurate than any other indication well-nigh the state of affairs at some remote simply crucial juncture in the progress of humanity. . . . By studying the visual arts from whatever lodge, we can normally tell what the people lived for and for what they might be willing to dice."{5}

The term art can mean many dissimilar things. In the broadest sense, everything created by man is art and everything else is nature, created past God. Even so, art usually denotes skillful and beautiful things created by mankind (Annotation: A major point of contend in the field of aesthetics centers effectually the definition of these two terms). Fifty-fifty crafts and skills, such as carpentry or metal working have been considered by many as arts.

While the works of artisans of earlier eras take come to be viewed like fine fine art, the term the arts, however, has a narrower focus in this outline. We are here particularly concerned with those activities of flesh which are motivated past the creative urge, which get beyond firsthand material usefulness in their purpose, and which express the uniqueness of being human. This more limited use of the term art includes music, dance, painting, sculpture, architecture, drama and literature. The fine arts is the study of those human activities and acts which produce and are considered works of art.

Aesthetics then is the report of human being responses to things considered beautiful and meaningful. The arts is the written report of human being actions which attempt to agitate an artful experience in others. A sunset over the mountains may evoke aesthetic response, but it is not considered a slice of art, because it is nature. A row of telephone poles with connecting power lines may have a cute advent, simply they are not fine art because they were not created with an creative purpose in mind. It must be noted, yet, that even those things originally made for non-artistic purposes can and take after come to be viewed equally art objects (i.e., antiques).

While art may have the secondary result of earning a living for the artist, it ever has the principal purpose of creative expression for describably and indescribably human experiences and urges. The creative person'due south purpose is to create a special kind of honesty and openness which springs from the soul and is hopefully understood by others in their inner being.

Aesthetics and the Bible

What does the Bible take to say about the arts? Happily, the Bible does not call upon Christians to stultify or wait down upon the arts. In fact, the arts are imperative when considered from the biblical perspective. At the heart of this is the general mandate that whatever nosotros do should be done to the glory of God. Nosotros are to offer Him the all-time that we have–intellectually, artistically, and spiritually.

Farther, at the very center of Christianity stands the Incarnation ("the Word made flesh"), an event which identified God with the physical world and gave dignity to it. A existent human being died on a real cantankerous and was laid in a real, rock-hard tomb. The Greek ideas of "other-worldly-ness" that fostered a tainted and debased view of nature (and hence aesthetics) find no place in biblical Christianity. The dichotomy between sacred and secular is thus an alien i to biblical organized religion. Paul's statement, "Unto the pure, all things are pure," (Tit. 1:fifteen) includes the arts. While we may recognize that human inventiveness, like all other gifts bestowed upon us by god, may be misused, there is goose egg inherently or more than sinful most the arts than other areas of human being activity.

The Old Testament

The Erstwhile Testament is rich with examples which confirm the artful dimension. In Exodus 20:iv-five and Leviticus 26:one, God makes it clear that He does not prevent the making of art, only the worshipping of fine art. Consider the use of these vehicles of artistic expression found throughout:

Compages. God is concerned with architecture. In fact, Exodus 25 shows that God allowable cute architecture, along with other forms of art (metalwork, clothing pattern, tapestry, etc.) in the building of the Tabernacle. Similar instructions were given for the temple later constructed by King Solomon. Here we find something unique in history–art works designed and conceived by the space God, then transmitted to and executed by His man apprentices!

Apparently He delights in color, texture, and form. (We also see this vividly displayed in nature). The point is that God did not instruct men to build a purely utilitarian identify where His chosen people could worship Him. As Francis Schaeffer said, "God simply wanted beauty in the Temple. God is interested in beauty."{vi} And in Exodus 31, God even names the artists He wants to create this beauty, commissioning them to their craft for His glory.

Verse is another evidence of God's love for beauty. A large portion of the Old Testament is poetry, and since God inspired the very words of Scripture, it logically follows that He inspired the poetical grade in such passages. David, the homo after God's ain centre, composed many poems of praise to God, while under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Amongst the most prominent poetical books are: Psalms. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Vocal of Solomon. Verse is also a significant element in the prophets and Task.

The genre of poetry varies with each writer's intent. For example, the Vocal of Solomon is commencement and foremost a honey poem picturing the beauty and glory of romantic, human love betwixt a man and his mate. It is written in the course of lyric idyll, a pop literary device in the Ancient Near East. The fact that this story is often interpreted symbolically to reverberate the love between Christ and His Church building, or Jehovah and State of israel, does non weaken the celebration of physical love recorded in the poem, nor destroy its literary form.

Drama was likewise used in Scripture at God's command. The Lord told Ezekiel to get a brick and draw a representation of Jerusalem on information technology. The Ezekiel "acted out" a siege of the city equally a alarm to the people. He had to prophesy against the house of State of israel while lying on his left side. This went on for 390 days. Then he had to lie on his correct side, and he carried out this drama by the express command of God to teach the people a lesson (Ezek. 4:1-vi). The dramatic element is vivid in much of Christ's ministry as well. Cursing the fig tree, writing in the clay with His finger, washing the feet of the disciples are dramatic deportment which enhanced His spoken word.

Music and Dance are often found in the Bible in the context of rejoicing before God. In Exodus xv, the children of Israel celebrated God's Crimson Sea victory over the Egyptians with singing, dancing, and the playing of instruments. In 1 Chronicles 23:5, we detect musicians in the temple, their instruments specifically made by King David for praising God. 2 Chronicles 29:25-26 says that David'south command to accept music in the temple was from God, "for the command was from the Lord through His prophets." And we must not forget that all of the lyrical poesy of the Psalms was first intended to exist sung.

The New Testament

The New Testament abounds besides with evidence underscoring artistic imperatives. The most obvious is the instance of Jesus Himself. First of all, He was by trade a carpenter, a skilled craftsman (Mark six:3). Secondly, we encounter in Jesus a person who loved to be outdoors and i who was extremely circumspect to His environs. His teachings are total of examples which reveal His sensitivity to the dazzler all around: the fox, the bird nest, the lily, the sparrow and dove, the glowering skies, a bruised reed, a vine, a mustard seed. Jesus was too a master storyteller. He readily fabricated use of his own culture setting to impart his message, and sometimes quite dramatically. Many of the parables were fictional stories abut they were nevertheless used as vehicles of communication to teach spiritual truths. And certainly the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 includes the artistic gifts.

The apostle Paul also alludes to aesthetics in Philippians iv:8 when he exhorts believers to meditate and reflect upon pure, honest, lovely, good, virtuous and praiseworthy things. We are further told in Revelation 15:ii-3 that art forms will even be present in heaven. Then the arts have a place in both the earthly and heavenly spheres!

We should besides call up that the entire Bible is not only revelation, it also is itself a work of art. In fact, information technology is many works of fine art–a veritable library of cracking literature. Nosotros have already mentioned verse, but the Bible includes other literary forms as well. For case, large portions of information technology are narrative in style. Most of the Erstwhile Testament is either historical narrative or prophetic narrative. And the Gospels, (which recount the birth, life, teachings, death and resurrection of Christ), are biographical narrative. Even the personal messages of Paul and the other New Testament authors can quite properly be considered epistolary literature.

Aesthetics and Nature

The Bible makes it very clear that a companion book, the book of Nature, has a distinct aesthetic dimension. Torrential waterfalls, purple mountains, and blazing sunsets routinely evoke human aesthetic response every bit hands as can a vibrant symphony or a dazzling painting. The very textile of the universe expresses God's presence with majestic beauty and grandeur. Psalm nineteen:1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows forth his handiwork." In fact, nature has been called the "aesthetics of the Infinite."

The vivid photography of the twentieth century has revealed the limitless depths of beauty in nature. Through telescope or microscope, one can devote a lifetime to the study of some function of the universe–the skin, the centre, the body of water, the flora and fauna, the stars, the climate.

And since God's creation is multi-dimensional, an apple, for instance, can exist viewed in dissimilar means. It can exist considered economically (how much information technology costs), nutritionally (its food value), chemically (what it's fabricated of), or physically (its shape). But it may also be examined aesthetically: its taste, color, texture, smell, size, and shape. All of nature can be appreciated for its aesthetic qualities which find their source in God, their Creator.

Man Inventiveness

Wherever homo civilization is constitute, artistic expression of some form is besides constitute. The painting on the wall of an aboriginal cavern, or a medieval cathedral, or a modern dramatic production are all expressions of human creativity, given by God, the Creator.

Man in God'southward Prototype

In Genesis 1:26-27, for instance, we read: "Then God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness; and permit them rule over . . . all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' And God created human in His ain image, in the image of God He created him male and female He created them" (Italics mine).

After creating man, God told man to subdue the globe and to rule over it. Adam was to cultivate and go on the garden (Gen. 2:fifteen) which was described by God every bit "very good" (Gen. 1:31). The implication of this is very of import. God, the Creator, a lover of the beauty in His created world, invited Adam, ane of His creatures, to share in the process of "creation" with Him. He has permitted humans to have the elements of His cosmos and create new arrangements with them. Peradventure this explains the reason why creating anything is so fulfilling to us. We can express a drive within which allows united states of america to practice something all humans uniquely share with their Creator.

God has thus placed earlier the human being race a banquet table rich with aesthetic delicacies. He has supplied the basic ingredients, inviting those fabricated in His image to exercise their creative capacities to the fullest extent possible. We are privileged as no other creature to brand and enjoy art.

It should be farther noted that fine art of all kinds is restricted to a distinctively human practise. No animal practices art. It is true that instinctively or accidentally beautiful patterns are formed and observed throughout nature. Only the spider'south web, the honeycomb, the coral reef are not witting attempts of animals to express their aesthetic inclinations. To the Christian, yet, they surely represent God'southward efforts to limited. Different the animals, man consciously creates. Francis Schaeffer has said of man:

"[A]north art work has value equally a creation because man is fabricated in the prototype of God, and therefore homo not but tin can dear and retrieve and feel emotion, but also has the capacity to create. Being in the image of the Creator, we are called upon to have inventiveness. We never find an animal, not-man, making a piece of work of art. On the other hand, nosotros never find men anywhere in the earth or in any culture in the globe who practice not produce art. Creativity is a part of the distinction between human and non-man. All people are to some degree creative. Creativity is intrinsic to our mannishness."{7}

The Autumn of Human

In that location is a nighttime side to this, however, because sin entered and affected all of human life. A bent and twisted nature has emerged, tainting every field of man endeavor or expression and consistently marring all results. The unfortunate truth is that divinely endowed creativity will always exist accompanied in earthly life by the reality and presence of sin expressed through a fallen race. Man is Jekyl and Hyde: noble image-bearer and morally crippled animal. His works of art are therefore bittersweet. Calvin acknowledged this tension when he said:

"The human mind, however much fallen and perverted from its original integrity, is still adorned and invested with beauteous gifts from its creator. If we reflect that the Spirit of God is the just foundation of truth, we will be careful, as we would avert offering insult to Him, non to reject or condemn truth wherever it appears. In despising the gifts, we insult the Giver."{8}

Understanding this dichotomy allows Christians genuinely to appreciate something of the contribution of every artist, composer, or writer. God is sovereign and dispenses artistic talents upon whom He will. While Scripture keeps us from emulating certain lifestyles of artists or condoning some of their ideological perspectives, nosotros can nevertheless admire and appreciate their talent, which ultimately finds its source in God. This should and tin exist done without compromise and without hesitation.

The fact is that if God can speak through a burning bush-league or Baalam'south donkey, He can speak it through a hedonistic artist! The question tin never exist how worthy is the vessel, just rather, Has truth been expressed? God'south truth is still sounding along today–from the Bible, from nature, and even from a fallen humanity.

Because of the Fall, accented dazzler in the world is gone. Simply participation in the aesthetic dimension reminds usa of the dazzler that one time was, and anticipates its future luster. With such beauty present today that can take one's breath away, fifty-fifty in this unredeemed globe, 1 tin can by speculate near what likes ahead for those who love Him!

Characteristics of Good Art

Nosotros now plow to the question of the important ingredients of various fine art forms.

First, artistic truth includes not only the tangible, but as well the realm of the imaginative, the intangible. Art therefore may or may non include the cognitive, the objective. Someone asked a Russian ballerina who had merely finished an interpretive trip the light fantastic, "What did it hateful? What were you trying to say?" The ballerina replied, "If I could have said it, I wouldn't have danced it!" There is and so a communication of truth in art which is existent, but may non be able to be reduced to and put neatly into words.

Not bad art is also always coupled with the hard subject of continual practice. Great artist are the ones who, when observed in the practise of their fine art appear to be doing something simple and effortless. What is not visible are the bone weary hours of committed practise that preceding such artistic spontaneity and deftness.

All fine art has intrinsic value. It doesn't have to exercise anything to have value. In one case created, it has already "done" something. It does not take to be a means to an end, nor have any utilitarian do good any. Even bad art has some value considering as a creative work, information technology is still linked to God Himself, the Fountain of all creativity. The artistic procedure, however expressed, is skillful because it is linked to the Imago Dei and shows that man, unique among God's creatures, has this gift. This is true even when the results of the artistic gift (specific works of art) may be aesthetically poor or present the observer with unwholesome content and compromising situations.

But we would exercise well to remind ourselves at this bespeak that God does not censor out all of the things in the Bible which are wrong or immoral. He "tells it similar it is," including some pretty detailed and sordid affairs! The discriminating Christian should therefore develop the capacity to distinguish poor aesthetics and immoral artistic statements from true inventiveness and craftsmanship¾dismissing and repudiating the former while fully appreciating and enjoying the latter. Christians, beyond all others, posses the proper framework to understand and capeesh all art in the right perspective. It is a compassion that many have deprived themselves of the arts and so severely from much that they could enjoy under the blessing and grace of God.

Artistic expression always makes a statement. It may exist either explicitly or implicitly stated. Some artists explicitly admit their intent is to say something, to convey a bulletin. Other artists resist, or even deny they are making a statement. But consciously or non, a argument is ever being made, because each artist is subjectively involved and greatly influenced by his/her cultural experience. Consciously or unconsciously, the cultural setting permeates every artistic contribution and each work tells u.s.a. something about the artist and his era.

An unfortunate tendency in recent years has been the increase in the number of artists who acknowledge their main want is to say something. Art is not best served by an extreme focus on making a statement. The huge murals prominent in former communist lands were no doubt helpful politically, but they probably did not contribute much aesthetically. Even some Christian fine art falls into this trap. Long on argument, morality, and piety, it frequently falls brusk artistically (though sincerely offered and theologically audio), because information technology is cheaply and poorly done. Poetry and propaganda are not the same, from communist or Christian zealot.

Another characterization of modernistic statements is the obsession of self. Since the world has little meaning to many moderns, the narcissistic retreat into self is all that remains to be expressed. Thus the public is confronted today with many artists who simply portray their ain personal psychological and spiritual wanderings. In fine art of this type, extreme subjectivism is considered virtue rather than vice. The argument (personal to the extreme) overwhelms the art. Many of these statements seem to imply a desperate cry for help, for significance, for honey. In such art feelings overwhelm for; confessional outpourings bring personal relief, but little effort is put forth or the thought necessary for the rigid mastery of technique and form. Perhaps that is why there is such a glut of mediocre art today! Information technology just doesn't take equally much or as long to produce information technology.

But consider artists of before centuries, those who never even signed their names to their work. This was not because they were embarrassed past information technology. They simply lived in a culture where the fine art was more than important than the creative person. Today we are awed more by the creative person or the virtuoso performer than we are past the art expressed. Much of the before piece of work was defended to God; ours is by and large dedicated to the commemoration of the artist. Critic Chad Walsh alludes to a modern exception in the writings of C. Due south. Lewis when he says that Mere Christianity "transcends itself and its author . . . information technology is equally though all the brilliant writing is designed to create clear windows of perception, so that the reader will expect through the language and not at it."{9} Groovy fine art possesses this transcendent durability.

Art forms and styles are constantly changing through cultural influences. The mutual mistake of many Christians today is to consider ane class "godly" and another "ungodly." Many would dismiss the cubism of Duchamp or the surrealism of Dali as worthless, while holding everything from the castor of Rembrandt to be inspired. This attitude reveals nothing more the personal artful tastes of the one doing the evaluating.

Grade and manner must be considered in their historical and cultural contexts. A westerner would exist hard pressed, if totally unfamiliar with the music of Japan, to distinguish between a devout Buddhist hymn, a sensual dearest song, and a patriotic melody, even if he heard them in rapid sequence. But every Japanese could practise so immediately considering of familiarity with their own culture.

Aesthetic sense is therefore profoundly conditioned by personal cultural feel. Simply as a each child is born with the chapters to acquire language, and so each of us is built-in with an aesthetic sensibility which is influenced by the civilization which surrounds us. To guess the art or music of Japan as inferior to American art or music is as senseless equally suggesting the Japanese language is junior to the English language language. Divergence or remoteness practise non imply inferiority!

Truth can be expressed by non-believers, and error may be expressed past believers. When Paul delivered his famous Mars Hill accost in Athens, he quoted from a pagan poet (Acts 17:28) to communicate a biblical truth. In this example, Paul used a secular source to communicate biblical truth because the argument affirmed the truth of revelation. On the other hand, error can be communicated in a biblical context. For case, in Exodus 32:2-4 we from Aaron fashioning a gilded calf for the children of Israel to worship. This was a wrong utilise of art because it directly disobeyed God'due south command not to worship any paradigm.

Evaluating Fine art

How should a Christian arroyo art in guild to evaluate it? Is beauty but "in the eye of the beholder?" Or are at that place guidelines from Scripture which will provide a framework for the evaluation and enjoyment of art?

Earlier, we mentioned a statement by Paul from Philippians iv. While the biblical context of this passage looks beyond aesthetics, in a chiselled way we are given in the passage (by way of application) some criteria necessary for artistic analysis. Each concept Paul mentions in verse eight can be used as sort of a "key" to unlock the significance of the art we meet and to genuinely appreciate information technology.

Truth. It is probably not by accident that Paul begins with truth. Apparently not every work of art contains a truth statement. Merely wherever and to what extent such a statement is being made, the Christian is compelled to ask, "Is this actually true?" Does life genuinely operate in this fashion in the lite of God's revelation? And Christians must remember that truth is honestly facing the negatives also as the positives of reality. Negative content has its identify, fifty-fifty in a Christian approach to art. But Christian hope allows united states to view these works in a different light. We sorrow, but not like those who have no hope. Ours is a sorrow of expectancy and ultimate triumph; at that place is ane of full pessimism and despair.

Laurels. A second aesthetic central has to do with the concept of honor and nobility. This can be tied back to what was said before most the nature of man created in God's epitome. This gives a basis, for example, to turn down the statement being made in the total life work of Francis Salary (d. 1993). In many of his paintings this contemporary British creative person presents us with solitary, decaying humans on large, depressing canvasses. Deterioration and hopeless despair are the hallmarks of his artistic expression. Only if Christianity is truthful, these are inaccurate portrayals of man. They are half-truths. They leave out completely a dimension which is really true of him. Created in God's image, he has laurels and dignity–even though admittedly he is in the process of dying, aging, wasting away. The Christian is the only 1 capable of truly comprehending what is missing in Bacon'southward work. Without a Christian base, we would have to look at the paintings and admit man'due south "true" destiny, i.e., extinction, along with the rest of the cosmos. But as Christians nosotros can and must resist this message, because it is a lie. The gospel gives real hope–to individuals and to history. These are missing from Bacon's piece of work and are the direct result of his distorted worldview.

Just. The third cardinal to aesthetic comprehension has to practice with the moral dimension. Not all fine art makes a moral statement. A Haydn symphony does non, nor does a portrait by Renoir. Only where such a argument is being made, Christians must deal with it, non ignore information technology. We will also do well to call up that moral statements can often exist stated powerfully in negative ways, too. Picasso'due south Guernica comes to mind. He was protesting the bombing by the Germans of a town by that name simply prior to World War II. Protesting injustice is a cry for justice. But the Christian is enlightened and sure of where information technology can ultimately exist found.

Pure. This fourth fundamental also touches on the moral–by contrasting that which is innocent, chaste, and pure from that which is sordid, impure, and worldly. An accurate application of the principle will help distinguish the i from the other. For instance, one need non be a professional drama critic to identify and appreciate the fresh, innocent love of Romeo and Juliet, nor to distinguish it from the erotic escapades of a Tom Jones. The same dynamic is at piece of work when comparison Greek nudes and Playboy centerfolds. 1 is lofty, the other cheap. The difference is this concept of purity. It allows the Christian to look at ii nudes and quite properly designate one "art" and the other "pornography." Possessing the mind of Christ, we have the equipment for identifying purity and impurity to a high degree.

Lovely. While the starting time four concepts have dealt with facets of artistic statements, the fifth focuses on sheer aesthetic beauty. "Any things are lovely," Paul says. A landscape makes no moral argument, but it can exhibit great beauty. The geometric designs of Mondrian may say nothing about justice, but they can definitely engage us aesthetically. The immensity and grandeur of a Gothic cathedral will inspire creative awe in whatever sensitive breast, merely they may do little else. Again, the Christian is equipped to capeesh a wide range of artistic mediums and expressions. If there is little to evaluate morally and rationally, nosotros are all the same gratis to appreciate what is beautiful in the fine art.

Good Report. In this concept, we have the opportunity to evaluate the life and character of the creative person. What kind of a person is he? If a statement is being made, does the artist, composer, or writer believe in that statement? Or was it to please a patron, a colleague, or a critic? Is there a discontinuity between the statement of the work and the statement existence made through the personal life of its creator? For case, Handel'due south Messiah is a musical masterpiece, but he was no saint! Filippo Lippi used his own mistress as a model for Mary in this Madonna paintings. The "less than exemplary" lifestyle of a artistic person may somewhat tarnish his creative contribution, but it does non necessarily or totally obliterate it. Something of God's paradigm always shines through in the artistic process. The Christian can always give glory to God for that, fifty-fifty if a piece of work of are has little else going for it. The greatest art is true, skillfully expressed, imaginative, and unencumbered by the personal and emotional hang-ups of its originators.

Excellence. This is a comparative term. Information technology speaks of degrees, bold that something else is not excellent. The focus is on quality. Quality tin hateful many things in the realm of art, but ane sure sign of it is craftsmanship. Technical mastery is one of the essential ingredients which separates the great artist from the rank amateur. Evidently, the more i knows about technique and artistic skill, the improve ane is able to capeesh whether an individual creative person, author, composer, or performer has what is necessary to produce great art. Many Christians take fabricated unfortunate value judgments most art of all kinds. Through ignorance and naivete, superficial understanding of technique has been followed by smug rejection. This has erected barriers instead of bridges built to the artistic customs, thus hindering a vital witness. Nosotros demand to know what is great art and why it is considered such.

Excellence is also establish in the durability of fine art. Great art lasts. If information technology has been around several hundred years, it probably has something going for it. It has "staying power." Christians should realize that some of the fine art of this century volition non be around in the adjacent. Much of it will laissez passer off the scene. This is a proficient indication that it does not possess neat aesthetic value; it is not first-class.

Praise. Here we are concerned with the impact or the upshot of the art. Is anything praiseworthy? The crayola scribblings of a toddler are praiseworthy to some extent, only information technology does not elicit a strong artful response. We are not gripped or overpowered by it. But peachy art has ability and is therefore a forceful tool of communication. Francis Schaeffer has mentioned that the greater the art, the greater the bear upon. Does it please or displease? Inspire or depress? Does it influence thinking and behavior? Would it change a person? Would information technology change you. Herein lies the "two-edged-swordness" of art. It can elevate a culture to lofty heights and it tin help bring a society to ruin. It is the result of culture, but it tin can also influence culture.

Determination

Paul undergirds this meaty poetry with the final command, remember on these things. Two very important propositions come along with which we tin conclude this section. First, he reminds united states of america that Christianity thrives on intelligence, non ignorance—even in the aesthetic realm. Christians demand their minds when confronting the creative expressions of a civilization. To the existentialist and the nihilist, the mind is an enemy, but to the Christian, it is a friend. 2d, information technology is noteworthy that Paul has suggested such a positive approach to life and, by application, to art. He doesn't tell us that whatsoever things are false, dishonorable, unjust impure, ugly, of bad report, poorly crafted, and mediocre are to take the focus of our attention. Hither again the promise of the Christian's approach to life in full general rings clearly through. Our lives are not to be lived in the minor key. We observe the despair, only we can see something more. God has fabricated usa more than than conquerors!

Arts, Civilisation and the Christian

We now turn to 2 final areas of consideration in the style of suggested applications of what has been discussed.

Christ and Civilization

At the starting time, we mentioned that aesthetics is related to culture, because in civilization we find the expressions of man creativity. In his very fine volume, A Render to Christian Civilization, Richard Taylor points out that each of the states is related to civilisation in 2 ways: we find ourselves inside a cultural setting and we each possess a civilisation personally. That is, gild has certain adequate patterns to which individuals are expected to conform. When one does so, one is considered "cultured."

In the light of Romans 12:ii and other biblical passages, the claiming for the Christian is to resist being "poured into the mold of the world" without too throwing out legitimate aesthetic interests. At the individual level, a Christian should seek to bring his maximum efforts toward the ". . .development of the person, intellectually, aesthetically, socially to the full employ of his powers, in compatibility with the recognized standards of excellence of his society."{10}

Culturally speaking, the aforementioned goal could be stated for Christian and non-Christian akin, but the Christian who wants to reflect the best in culture has his/her different motives. And some Christians can display the fruit of the Spirit, merely be largely bereft of cultural and aesthetic sensibilities. D. L. Moody is said to take "butchered the King'due south English," but he was used mightily by God on two continents. This would suggest that cultural sophistication is not absolutely necessary for God to utilise a person for spiritual purposes, only ane could well ponder how many opportunities to minister take been lost considering an private has made a cultural "faux pas." The other side of the money is that a person may have reached the pinnacle of social and aesthetic acceptability but take no spiritual impact on his environs any.

Three words are important to continue in mind while defining Christian responsibility in any civilization. The first is cooperation with culture. The reason for this cooperation is that nosotros might place with our culture so information technology may be influenced for Jesus Christ. Jesus is a model for us here. He was not generally a not-conformist. He attended weddings and funerals, synagogues and feast. He was a practicing Jew. He generally did the culturally acceptable things. When He did non, it was for clear spiritual principles.

A second discussion is persuasion. The Bible portrays Christians as table salt and lite, the penetrating and purifying elements within a civilisation. Christianity is intended to have a sanctify influence on a culture, non be swallowed up by it in i compromise later on some other.

A 3rd concept is confrontation. By carefully using Scripture, Christians can claiming and reject those elements and practices within a culture that are incompatible with biblical truth. There are times when Christians must confront guild. Things such equally polygamy, idolatry, sexual immorality, and racism should be challenged caput-on by Christians.

How tin accomplish this kind of impact? First past the development of high personal, cultural, and aesthetic standards. These include tact, courtesy, apparel, and speech. In doing this, Christians need to avoid two extremes. The beginning is the tendency to try to "keep up with the Joneses." This becomes the "Cult of the Snob." A 2d extreme is to react against the Joneses and join the "Cult of the Slobs."

Second, Christians must employ all of life to proclaim a Christian worldview. In a century dominated by darkness, despair, and dissonance, Christians tin withal offer a message and demeanor of hope. If being a Christian is a superior way of living, its benefits should be credible to all.

Finally, Christians should be encouraged to become involved in the arts. This can be washed outset of all by learning to evaluate and appreciate the arts with greater skill. Generally, Christians can become involved in the arts in one of three ways.

Involvement in the Arts

One of the deep hopes for this paper is that it might instill in the reader a good for you desire to plunge more deeply into the arts and bask what is there with the freedom Christ has given. Information technology might encourage us to remind ourselves that Paul lived in a X-rated civilisation similar to our own. Yet he and almost of the other believers kept their spiritual equilibrium in such a setting and were used mightily by God in their civilisation.

Too frequently today Christians, like the Pharisees of old, are seeking to eliminate the leprous elements which touch their lives. With increasing isolation, they are focused more than on what the diseases of society can practise to them than how they might impact the diseased! Nowhere is this more critically experienced than in the arts. We mostly shy away from those contexts which disturb us. And there is today much in the arts to disturb u.s.–be we creator, spectator (a form of participation) or performer.

Ugliness and decadence grow in every culture and generation. From this nosotros cannot escape. Only Jesus touched the leper. He made contact with the diseased 1 in need. Every bit Christians, our focus should be not on what art brings to us, but rather what we tin bring to the art! Therefore the development of imagination and a wholesome, expanded analysis of even the many negative contemporary works is possible when viewed in the wide themes of humanity, life, and experience of a truly Christian worldview. Great art is more than a smile mural. Beauty and truth include terrible and ominous aspects as well, like a tempest on the ocean, or the torn life of a prostitute.

Christians tin can also feel the arts as participators and performers. If each person is created in the image of God, some creativity is there to be personally expressed in every one of us. Learn what artistic talents you have. Observe how you tin can all-time express your creativity and then exercise and then. Learn an musical instrument, write some poetry. Take part in a stage production. Your Christianity will not mean less, but more to yous if you lot do.

A 3rd area often overlooked must too be mentioned. I refer to those profoundly gifted and talented Christians among us who should be encouraged to consider the arts as a career. A Christian influence in the arts is sorely needed today, and things will non improve every bit long equally Christians are happy to allow the bulk of contemporary artistry to menstruum along from those who have no personal human relationship with the One who gave them their talents. The artistic environment is a tough place to alive out your Christian faith, and the dangers are keen, only to exercise and then successfully will bring rich rewards and lasting fruit.

Gini Andrews, an acclaimed concert pianist and writer, writes of the not bad demand for Christians to excel in all the creative fields and sounds a challenge for them to develop their gifts:

"All the disciplines, music, painting, sculpture, theater, and writing, are in need of pioneers who seek a way to perform in a twentieth century manner; to evidence with quality work that there is an answer to the applesauce of life, to the threat of annihilation, to the mechanization of man, the message being sounded loud and clear by the non-Christian artist. . . . "If we are to present God's message to disillusioned, corybantic twentieth century people, it's going to take His creativity expressed in special ways. I hope that some of you in the creative fields volition be challenged by the Almightiness of our Creator-God and will spend long hours earlier Him, saying, like Jacob, 'I will not get unless you bless me, until you testify me how to speak out your wonder to the contemporary mind.'"{xi}"

Here is expressed the unprecedented challenge and opportunity before the body of Christ today. May God enable us to seize it.

Notes

one. William Bridgewater, ed. The Columbia-Viking Desk Encyclopedia, Vol. I (New York: Viking Press, 1953), p. sixteen.

two. John I. Sewall, A History of Western Art. (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1953), p. 1.

iii. Richard S. Taylor, A Return to Christian Culture. (Minneapolis: Dimension Books, 1975), p. 12.

4. Marcel Proust. Maximus.

5. Sewall, Ibid.

6. Francis Schaeffer, Art & the Bible. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1976), p. 15.

7. Ibid., p. 34.

8. John Calvin. Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 1. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1957), p. 236.

ix. Republic of chad Walsh. "The Literary Stature of C. S. Lewis," Christianity Today, June 8, 1979) p.22.

10. Taylor, p. 33.

11. Gini Andrews, Your Half of the Apple (Yard Rapids, MI:, Zondervan, 1972) pp. 64-65.

©2000 Probe Ministries.

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Jimmy Williams

James F. Williams was the founder and past president of Probe Ministries International. He held degrees from Southern Methodist University (B.A.) and Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.One thousand.). He also pursued inter-disciplinary doctoral studies (a.b.d.) in the humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas. Over a thirty-5 year period, he visited, lectured, and counseled on more 180 university campuses in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the quondam Soviet Spousal relationship. He also served on the faculties of the American, Latin American, and European Institutes of Biblical Studies. Jimmy won his (and his family unit's) 14-year boxing with Alzheimer's when he graduated to heaven in September 2019.

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