Assessing the Arts
Essay by Alexandra Harper with W. Jackson Watts
Walking through an art gallery can be an intimidating experience. It is not due to a distaste for art that this feeling necessarily arises, but because we simply don’t understand it. For one, art education sits so low on our society’s totem pole of educational priorities. When school budgets are cut, art and music are often the first areas eliminated. Yet for Christians today the issue is even more troubling than a lack of formal education: namely, most don’t feel equipped (a) to make sense of the arts, intellectually; or (b) to create art practically.
Few Christians don original paintings on their wall—investing in local artists doesn’t make sense with Apple’s slick, new products. Nevertheless, most homes display mass prints and family portraits. Similarly, most of us listen to some type of music driving down the road. These things, whether we see them as explicit expression of our aesthetic beliefs or not, portray an implicit vision of what is beautiful and excellent. In other words, everyone has some perspective of what constitutes good and bad art. Because of this, as Christians it will benefit us to think theologically and historically about the arts in our world.
Whether it is painting, music, sculpture, or literature—they all touch our lives. All too often, however, we think doctrine and good works are all that animate the church. As Richard Hays says, this is troubling because we can ignore “the ways in which the character of our community is shaped by the imaginative spaces we inhabit” [1]. With that concern in view, we will consider three streams of data to forge a starting point for seeing the arts through a Christian lens.
The Biblical-Theological Data
Consider first the biblical-theological data of the concepts of goodness and beauty in creation and in human affairs.
Genesis is the necessary starting point for thinking about the arts. The question of origins, personal identity, gender-relations, and other matters are informed by what we encounter in Genesis 1-2. Yet the refrain often overlooked is, “and it was good.” Six times this divine commentary is given about God’s labors. On the seventh, He pronounces humanity “very good.” From the beginning, the goodness of creation is trumpeted.
Psalm 19 recounts that the heavens declare God’s glory, and that the firmament shows His handiwork. Creation exhibits beauty and splendor, telling something of its Maker worth heeding and rejoicing in. In Proverbs 8, a voice is given to the attribute of wisdom. It speaks of God’s supreme ownership over and demonstration of it in the works of His hands. Despite sin’s curse, we can still garner a sense of wonder at the wisdom that produced this terrestrial ball.
The concepts of goodness and beauty take shape not only in nature, but also in human affairs. Consider both a positive and negative example. Exodus 31 demonstrates Bezalel, whom God filled with His Spirit, “with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs…” (Ex. 31:1-5). On the other hand, Acts 19 demonstrates that Demetrius the silversmith uses his “know-how” for the construction of shrines to Artemis [2]. The same craftsmanship, or artistic ability, had a godly orientation in one instance, and a demonic one in the next, showing that ethics and aesthetics are related. The point is this: God Himself is interested in man’s engagement with the arts. Furthermore, the ability and desire to cultivate the material resources of the world is a capacity made possible by our being made in God’s image.
Human hands have made other structures and artifacts as well. The temple, the Ark of the Covenant, and other such items bear forms that were seen as excellent. Not only were they beautiful, but they functioned for a specific purpose in the context of human community. In this sense, human beings are co-creators (e.g., Gen. 1:26-28). We do not create ex nihilo as God does, but we do engage in aesthetic ventures that benefit human affairs.
The most important New Testament text that explicitly offers categories related to the arts is Philippians 4:8. Paul exhorts the church to dwell on the true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy. While admittedly the text does not spell out further the aesthetic parameters that this might entailed, it does provide the crucial connection between these concepts and their enactment in a rightly-ordered Christian community.
In sum, Scripture, as well as the theological framework it forms, speaks explicitly and implicitly to the arts. In addition we will survey the historical record to see how the arts have been understood, practiced, and appropriated.
The Historical Data
Historically, the arts have been associated with religious and political purposes—and for very good reason: Art is the prophetic vision of an era’s philosophy. In their own way, the various art forms communicate a worldview. Each civilization is therefore cultivated and reinforced by its artistic messages. A brief historical overview testifies to art’s prominence throughout the centuries as a source of truth about reality.
Defining art is a considerably recent investigation that began in the eighteenth century. Beforehand, artists evaded contemporary pretension by viewing their work as a specialized craft. Artistic expression was executed in architecture, pottery, jewelry, textiles, poetry/prose, and music. Although ancient philosophers did not classify what is now defined as the “fine arts,” they had particular notions about form, content, and aesthetic responsibility.
The earliest structures of the Stone Age demonstrate the value that tribesmen afforded to nature and human life [3]. Next, Egyptian pyramids were riddled with tomb treasures and paintings to emphasize worship of the dead and the soul’s immortality—an idea that shaped several generations. Later, breaking from earlier customs, the Greeks sought truth in idealism. However, the classical Greek ideals were disconnected from true humanity. Figures were proportioned and godlike in perfection. The reality, however, is that individuals are not anatomically perfect. [4].
Conversely, the Romans were realistic, pragmatic thinkers—as shown in their architecture and military busts. The Byzantine era postulated a dichotomy between flesh and spirit, a dualism that influenced Christian thinking for centuries. Creation was no longer good, true, or beautiful, but something to be overcome or abandoned (as demonstrated by the establishment of celibate practices and monasteries) [5].
Later movements of the Renaissance such as Impressionism, Realism, Romanticism, Post-Impressionism, and Expressionism countered one another’s religious and political assertions: These artists were not simply making “pretty” or “ugly” pictures, sculptures or music. In fact, at various points in the last century, it would have even been offensive to suggest that a piece was beautiful. Beauty was incidental.
Myriads of counter-examples of art pieces in museums today reprove the notion that art is best as an imitation. Yet representation would not initially appear absurd since everything observed was imitative to them and the mimetic ideal persisted into the nineteenth century. Nonetheless, this exclusivity struggled to adequately characterize poetry, dance, literature, drama, and music.
Practical Considerations
It is no simple task to understand the arts comprehensively. Admittedly, there is a subjective aspect in discerning the various forms of expression that give rise to symphonies, portraits, waltzes, and other artistic expressions. However, to consign the arts purely to the subjective realm is problematic. Blanket subjectivity ignores implicit statements of meaning and negates the consensus of Scripture and tradition that “artifacts have politics” [6]. The design of the tabernacle was not just arbitrary, but intentionally added utility and beauty in the context of worship. Likewise, the ancients had very clear ideas about humanity that were embedded into the items they fashioned. Understanding the arts means understanding ideas.
The arts have value and meaning “because a work of art is a work of creativity, and creativity has value because God is the Creator” [7]. Hegel noted that the human mind “imbues all the products of its activity with thought” [8]. That being the case, “the Christian critic therefore examines a work of art and hopes to ascertain the ‘thought’ behind the work” [9].
Of course, the arts are sometimes utilized for the purpose of self-expression. Art should be allowed to be fun, emotional, and even therapeutic. Art is meant to say something to and about us, which is a very personal conversation. Some pieces have been used for decorative purposes and amusement. But ultimately every human making, whether it belongs to secular vocation or ministry, can and should be subservient to God.
Art is a fact of life. We encounter artistic expression in the waiting room at the dentist office, and in the foyer of most churches. Christians have historically invested much in creating works of beauty aurally, visually, and otherwise. Unfortunately, today it is commonplace for any manmade item bearing a religious cliché to be considered artistic, when it is actually sentimentality run amuck. However, Christians who immerse themselves in their rich tradition discover that all of life is subject to the risen Lord. We should always think deeply about what constitutes excellence and beauty. Ultimately, all aspects of human culture should honor God, including what we do with paint, design, music, and dance.
_______________________________________
[1] Richard Hays, “Why Should We Care About the Arts?” available at http://www.faithandleadership.com/content/richard-b-hays-why-should-we-care-about-the-arts?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=headline&utm_campaign=FL_feature, accessed on 8 August 2011.
[2] Brian Brock, Christian Ethics in a Technological Age (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 1-2. Brock provides an interesting contrast between the “technological ethic” at work in each instance.
[3] Some examples would include structures like Asbury Circle and Stonehenge, the fertility goddesses, and stories and battles in cave paintings.
[4] Nancy Pearcey, Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, & Meaning (Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2010), 79.
[5] Ibid., 80. Likewise, art featured divine images of Jesus and Mary that were far removed from the original mortal narratives described in the gospel accounts
[6] This phrase is borrowed from the late cultural critic Langdon Winner.
[7] Francis Schaeffer, Art and the Bible (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 51.
[8] Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, “Philosophy of Fine Art,” in On Art, Religion, Philosophy, ed. J. Glenn Gray (New York: Harper and Row, 1970), 35-36.
[9] Darrell Holley, “The Christian Critical Tradition.” Integrity 1 (2001): 153-170.
_______________________________________
About the Author
Alexandra Jean Harper is currently pursuing postgraduate studies at the Institute of Theology, Imagination and the Arts in the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland. She recently worked as a research assistant for the Director of the L. Russ Bush Center of Faith and Culture in Wake Forest, North Carolina. She holds degrees from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div.) and Liberty University (B.S.). The North Carolina nomad’s interests include international community integration and cross-cultural discipleship, art and philosophy, and environmental ethics. Please visit her blog or email her at ajh27@st-andrews.ac.uk.
Recent Comments