Renewing Christian Engagement With the Arts

7/27/2019 Renewing Christian Engagement With the Arts

1/37

Renewing Christian Engagement with the ArtsCopyright 2010 T. M. Moore

Page

1

Renewing Christian EngagementWith the Arts

T. M. MoorePrincipal, The Fellowship of Ailbe

www.ailbe.org
http://www.ailbe.org/http://www.ailbe.org/http://www.ailbe.org/


2/37


Page

2

1 Spartacus All?

Artists in our society are in a very peculiar position. On the one hand they are regarded very highly, almostlike priests of a culture who know the inner secrets of reality. On the other hand they are completelysuperfluous people.1

- H. R. RookmaakerBeloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are

gone out into the world.- 1 John 4.1

The arts: status checkThe situation in the arts today reminds me of nothing so much as that great, anticlimactic scene inthe film, Spartacus, after the defeat of the slave army.

Spartacus and the remnants of his army have been rounded up as the Romans arrive to mete outpunishment to the leaders of the revolt. A particularly arrogant general asks scornfully, Who isSpartacus? and before Kirk Douglas can fess up, Tony Curtis stands to his feet and declares, ImSpartacus! Then another slave beside Douglas does the same, then another, and another, until, bythe hundreds, all the defeated slaves are standing and shouting, Im Spartacus! Im Spartacus! Theresponse of the Roman general is quintessentially pragmatic: Very well, crucify them all.

Contemporary artistsnonChristian and Christianare that rag-tag army, each one claiming to betherepresentative of true art, while the majority of us in the Christian community are the Romangeneral. We could hardly care less about any of them.

For most Americanscertainly most American Christiansthe arts today pose a formidablechallenge. To the extent that were familiar with contemporary art, were not quite sure what to makeof it : all those strange forms, images, and soundscollages, color swipes, weird shapes and weirdcombinations of shapes, drippings and smatterings of paint, everyday objects posing as portraits orsculpture, strange juxtapositions of who-knows-what, installations of all kinds; music that sounds tous cacophonous and spontaneous, lacking anything like a clear motif or discernible shape or pattern;poems without rhyme, reason, or recognizable form; and not-so-subtle undertones of violence,rebellion, decadence, sexual licentiousness, and more.

We dont understand these productions, and we dont much like them, either. For those whofollow the arts at all, the late Andy Wyeth (Americas Painter) comes closer to our view of what artshould be than Andy Warhol; Stravinksy stymies us; and we would choose Frost over free verse just

about any day.

Contemporary art seems strange to us, and maybe a little troubling or frightening. So most of uschoose to ignore or avoid it altogether. The very real danger in this is that we throw out the baby ofthe arts with the bath water of modernism and postmodernism. Finding ourselves unable tounderstand or enjoy contemporary art, and discerning within it precious little of what we expect artto be, we simply give up on the arts, leaving them in the hands of those who have little sympathy

with our worldview.


3/37


Page

3

At the same time, we abandon those from our own camp whose calling from God has taken theminto the arts. With but a few exceptions, we are content to let them twist in the winds of modern andpostmodern thought, and to founder in a marketplace with little taste for their productions, with littlein the way of encouragement or support from their own native community.

Neither wise nor healthy

To the extent that this actually describes thepractice of Christiansvis visthe arts today, it isneither wise nor healthy. Ignorance is bliss does not apply when it becomes an excuse for ignoringthe intellectual currents that are determining the shape of contemporary culture and society, or forneglecting that which God has given for improving the state of His image in us.

We decry the sad state into which our culture has descended and blame our social disarray on thevery lights we refuse to engage and understand, preferring instead to hold ourselves aloof from thatwhich requires us to go beyond our intellectual comfort zone. Crucify them all, we cry, as we turnaside to what we regard as other, more pressing matters.

Granted, getting a handle on contemporary thought, and in particular, contemporary art, can bea daunting, if not disagreeable, task. The term, Modernism, has long been an epithet of

denunciation for most evangelicals. Postmodernism by itself, as a system of thought, is confusingenough. But deciphering the messages of modern or postmodern art, much less learning anythingfrom it, or even enjoying it, is just more than most Christians are willing to take on.

Unaware that modern and postmodern are not all there is to contemporary art, and unconcerned forthose of our brethren in Christ who have taken up a calling in the arts, we simply shrug our shouldersand look for less taxing sources of aesthetic enjoyment.

Gird up your minds!Yet we ignore the arts at our own peril, for the voices of many spirits are calling to us from the arts,and they are powerful, persuasive, and, in some cases, potentially very useful for our growth asChristians and our work in the Kingdom of God. Rather than turn a cold shoulder to the arts, now

would seem to be a good time to gird up our minds for action2 so that we might gain some betterunderstanding of the state of the arts and the implications of art for the life of faith.

Yes, well have toplan for the long haul and take up some new study habits. And yes, well have tosacrifice some of the things which now occupy our time in order to make time for reading, viewing,and listening to the spirits and voices which are speaking to us in the arts.

But we are called to try the spirits of the age, and we cannot trythat which we choose simply toignore. And given the role of the arts in society, and their power to disseminate ideas and changepeoples perspectives, we who hold the truth of God in the earthen vessels of flesh3 do not actresponsibly when we turn away from these disciplines for less demanding occupations.

Its time more Christians began a serious re-engagement with the arts. In this series I hope to provide

some perspective and encouragement in this daunting challenge. Art is a gift from God, which Heintends to use for our benefit and His glory. But we will only realize the promise of the arts as moreof us commit to the hardbut immensely satisfyingwork ofunderstanding the state of the artsand becoming more responsible consumers of Gods gifts to our contemporaries.

For reflection or discussion1. How much do you know about contemporary artpainting, poetry, or music? Do you have

any exposure to the arts on a regular basis?


4/37


Page

4

2. What are some ways that the arts influence the rest of culture? For example, how do the artsof painting, sculpture, and architecture affect such everyday arts as advertizing and film?

3. What do you suppose the role of the arts might be in setting forth the worldview of anygeneration? Can you think of some ways the arts have done this in the past?

4. About which of the arts would you like to know more? Why?

5. How do you think you might benefit personally from being better informed and moreengaged with contemporary art?


5/37


Page

5

2 The Importance of the Arts

Art and Worldview

We should say something more about the importance of the arts in society. The occasional flare-upsof outrage over artistic exhibitionsthink of the Mapplethorpe photographs or the exhibition,Sensation, at the Brooklyn Museum some years agoare useful in reminding us of thepowerfulrole of the arts in expressing and shaping worldviews.

The late Meyer Schapiro, one of the great art critics of the past century, defined worldview as afluctuating concept [that] has been applied to social ideas as well as to philosophies, religions, beliefs,and arts.4He continued, A worldview is an attitude, unarticulated, unformulated, implicit in values,choices, and reactions.5 Schapiro explained that the arts are aprimary place where worldviews canbe seen on display:

The arts rest on the more or less explicit judgments concerning what is significant or valuable to

artists in objects and experiences. The arts thus express a point of view, setting forth an artists ideas,values, and feelings. In representing objects, events, or feelings in art, the artist imposes a certain kindof order; her work takes on more or less coherent style, with definite properties that may be chosenarbitrarily or according to whatever the artist regards as most truly to represent her view of thesubject. Each work of art implies a general aesthetic theory about what makes for the order,completeness, harmony, and, perhaps, beauty of the whole.6

The arts are thus inescapably philosophical and evenpropagandistic in their presentation andpromotion of specific views of life, values, and ultimate truths. It may or may not be true, asMortimer Adler claims, that the nonverbal arts directly affect more human beings and affect themmore powerfully than do the great books,7 but there can be no denying either the ubiquity of thearts or the strong influence they exert over the minds of men.

The ubiquity and power of artIt is no exaggeration to say, as Jeremy S. Begbie does, Scarcely a day passes when a person is notconfronted with or surrounded by objects which are generally agreed to be works of art.8The artsconfront us on the Internet, in our daily papers, via radio and television, on billboards and instorefronts, as well as in the dcor of homes, offices, and public places. We could not escape them if

we tried. Even the most primitive and remote peoples have produced works of art to express theirviews and understanding of ultimate realities, to entertain themselves, and to educate their progeny.Art is everywhere, and everywhere art is, it expresses a worldview.

As to thepower of art, surely Jacques Barzun is correct when he writes, it is clear that if art hasimportance, it is because it can shape the minds and emotions of men. It can enlarge or trivialize theimagination. If it can do so much, it affects the social fabric as well as individual lives for good and

evil.9

Christian ambivalence about the artsAmong the members of the Christian community there is considerable ambivalence about the arts.While we may rejoice to discover that Christian artists are encouraged at signs ofa developingrenaissance in serious art among their peers,10 the vast majority of Christians seem to possess littlein the way of refined taste or cultivated and disciplined thinking where the arts are concerned. Someconsider the arts to be a threat to spiritual and national well being, as witness the many Christianprotests over the years against the public display, and especially, the use of public funds in support


6/37


Page

6

of, certain kinds of art.

Others, like many of their secular counterparts, consider the arts elitist, irrelevant, or otherwisebeyond the reach of average persons.

The great majority of Christians have almost no awareness of the rich artistic heritage belonging to

their own community. This is particularly troublesome, as so much of the Christian art of the past,for example, that which is displayed in modern museums, is there represented as little more than apeculiar step along the way of arts evolutionary progress to its relativistic present.

While it is doubtless true, as Stephen E. Weil observes, that the museum is essentially a neutralmedium that can be used by anybody for anything,11it is equally true that Todays museumscontinue to be valuedand supportedas potent engines of ideology, as Carol Duncan puts it.12

The ideology that dominates the thinking of most modern curators is not that far from what ArnoldL. Lehman revealed in his decision to sponsor Sensation in the Brooklyn Museum of Art anything goes, and every man for himself.

The same could be said concerning the great Christian music of the past as it is performed by

contemporary symphony orchestras, as well as the study and presentation of great works of Christiandrama, poetry, and prose in the universities of the land. By and large the Christian message, havingbeen neglected, and we must confess, largely forgotten, by the contemporary Christian community isroutinely hijacked for secular and relativistic purposes, taken prisoner and held captive, in the greatartistic engines of ideology of our society.

Meanwhile, what the typical Christian recognizes as Christian art is what he can purchase at hislocal Christian bookstorepop music and videos, Scripturalized arts and crafts, posters, placards,and decoupage doodads of all sorts, or the mass-produced works of whoever is the latest hotChristian artist of whatever medium. This is art which may give comfort and delight to theChristian consumer, but which has little to do with appreciating the beauty and glory of God oradvancing the Churchs mission of proclaiming and embodying the Kingdom of God amid therealities of the postmodern world.

Jeremy S. Begbie may have been thinking of just such art when he wrote, To the Churchs shame,much so-called Christian art has degenerated into an inoffensive and superficial Kitschwhich turns ablind eye to the pain of the world.13

Given, as we shall, the Biblical encouragement for using the arts, together with the vast and gloriousheritage of Christians in all the various forms of art, the Christian community today seems hardly tocarrying forward the torch of artistic faithfulnesseither to the Scriptures or our forebears in thefaith.

Perhaps a clearer understanding of the importance of the arts, particularly as presented in the NewTestament, will be the place to begin in reengaging the arts as a community of the faithful.

For reflection or discussion1. Do you agree that the arts express worldviews? Can you think of an example to illustrate

this?

2. Why do you suppose there is so little interest in the arts on the part of the contemporaryChristian community?


7/37


Page

7

3. Here are the names of a few great Christian artists from the past. What do you know aboutany of these? Choose one and see what you can find out about how his or her faithinfluenced their art:

Hildegard of Bingen:

Johann Sebastian Bach:

John Milton:

Gerard Manley Hopkins:

Flannery OConnor:

4. Does your church offer any opportunity to learn more about Christianity and the arts?Should it?

5. How do trends in the arts influence such things as television, film, and pop music? How dothese, in turn, influence people and our culture?


8/37


Page

8

3 The New Testament and the Arts (1)

To [the members of the Christian community] artists seem to be radicals or idle no-gooders. They arebranded as being on the wrong track even from the start.14

- H. R. RookmaakerThen I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven goldenlampstands.

- Revelation 1:12If its so importantIf arts so important, why do we read nothing of it in the New Testament?

This will no doubt be the response of many who hear the call to become more involved in the arts.After all, Christians today are people of The Book, and, lets be honest, for most of us that means theNew Testament. One searches the pages of the New Testament in vain to discover any directteaching, instruction, or exhortation concerning the arts. The burden of the New Testament seems tobe in other directions, chief among these, finding peace with God, furthering the message of theGospel, and hammering out the essential doctrines of the faith.

This may explain why the only art enjoyed by so many of our contemporaries in the faith ispopularartthe serene and secure paintings of Thomas Kinkade, homey crafts celebrating the goodness ofGod and the joys of salvation, and the predictably pietistic lyrics and familiar thread-bare forms ofcontemporary Christian music. If we must have art, the response will come, let it focus only on theprimary concerns of the life of faith and the message of the Gospel, and let it be accessible to us informs we can easily appreciate and readily afford. All other art is probably frivolous, if not dangerous.

Christian popular art is certainly to be appreciated, enjoyed, and used for its contribution to theChristian experience in a postmodern world. But it cannot be the whole story, forwe may besurprised to learnthe New Testament itself can be seen to counsel us to engage in arts that are

varied and sophisticated and that speak to cosmic as well as personal matters.

Typically, when art enthusiasts want to argue for the importance of art as a valid arena of Christianendeavor, they will parade out Bezalel and Oholiab, or point to the exquisite detail involved in theconstruction ofSolomons Temple. While theseand many otherOld Testament examples areimportant as aspects of a Biblical theology of the arts, todays Christians can easily shrug them offbecause of their identification with that covenant which, as many Christians see it, has passed away.

After all, was not the tabernacle replaced? And did not the Lord destroy the Temple after the days ofthe Apostles? Why (the retort will come) should we go back to things that have been replaced by the

simplicity of the Gospel?

Hence the need to argue that the New Testament, at least as much as the Old, presents a strongcase for Christians being involved in the arts. The New Testament begins and ends with seriousartistic creationsthe Gospels, narrating the events of the life of Christ, and the Book of Revelation,

with its many startling and puzzling images. The teachings of Christ hang, in many respects, on Hisparableson stories He artfully conceived and told to engage the imaginations and impress thememories of those who heard Him. The letters of Paul are filled with images and allusions that onlymake sense when they are interpreted as artistic statements rather than literal truth. The New


9/37


Page

9

Testament takes the importance of the arts for granted and employs them freely and often tomake its case for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Indeed, we might go so far as to say that, without atleast some understanding of the artshow they work, how they are to be understood, what use wemust make of them for discipleship, and so forththe New Testament itself is, in its most crucialpoints, almost completely inaccessible.15

In the next installments of this I want to examine four ways in which the New Testament not onlyendorses, but positivelyrequiresof its readers a level of understanding of the arts that, at present, isthe possession of all too few of us in the Christian community. First, we will consider the all thingsnature of the claims of Christ. Then we will examine the New Testaments use of metaphor, aconvention of poetry from its earliest beginnings. Next, we will say a few words about the parables ofChrist, to see how the use of story has such powerful appeal; and, finally, we will visit the Book ofRevelation and examine but one of the artistic images employed there.

We turn first to consider the implications for the arts of Christ having been exalted as Head over allthings.

Christ and all things

The New Testaments encouragement in the arts begins with its teaching that Christ is puttingallthings under His feet.

This is metaphor would have been commonly understood by people in Pauls day. It derives frommilitary usage, where it was the practice of conquering generals to place their feet on the necks oftheir defeated foes.16 This was an important symbolic gesture, signifying the complete vanquishingof the enemy and his being in submission to the victor. By putting his feet on the necks of his foesthe conquering general or king demonstrated that his adversaries had now become his servants,

would live or die at his pleasure, and, if they were allowed to live, would be required to do thevictors bidding.

The image of Christ putting all things under His feet communicates that He is wielding His poweragainst anything and everything that previously warred against Him, taking all things captive andmaking them obedient to His purposes and will. Christ, Who possesses all power in heaven andearth, is wielding that power from His throne at the right hand of God to bring every created thinginto submission to Himself.

In Ephesians 1.22 Paul acknowledges that, in exalting Christ to His right hand, the Father has givenall things into His charge. And, even though we do not at this time see all things being used in amanner consistent with His purposes,17 Christ is busily at work through His Spirit, Word, Kingdom,and people to make that victory increasingly a reality.

Thus, Christ has assumed the role by which He enables His people to resume their task of exercisingdominion over all things, laying hold on every thought or idea, artifact or institution, creature orperson, and bringing the rule of Christthe righteousness, peace, and joy of His Kingdomto bear

on it.18

To clarify this role even further Paul tells us in this same verse that Christ has been made Head overall thingsfor the sake ofHis Church.19 The reason Christ is Head over all things is so that everythingthat exists might be put to work in the Christs grand agenda of building the Church.20 This allthings presumably includes the work of art in all its forms.


10/37


Page

10

Further, in verse 23, Paul describes Christ as filling all things in all things.As Christ fills Hispeople with His Spirit, bringing His Word and the blessings of His love to ever greater fruition intheir lives, so He is filling everything else, so that all things might reflect His grace and truth.

Here is a not-so-subtle hint at what our purpose must be in every area of life, whether in our homesand families, our individual lives, our churches and communities, our workor the arts. Christ will

be made present. He would have His many virtues and His glorious purposes displayed. He intendsthat His greatness should be revealed and His glory manifest to the people of the earth. And, while

we may not expect the field of this world to be completely filled with the fruit of the Lords blessing,yet we labor in the belief that, when He returns, though the world be yet strewn with weeds, it will berecognizably a golden field of wheat, ready for the harvest.21

The burden of contemporary Christian artists to work for a sacramental and integrative art is thusconfirmed and recommended to all of us as our own burden in taking up the arts as part of the allthings Christ is subduing to Himself.

The arts in rebellionThat the arts are at this time indulging a season of rebellion against the will and purposes of Christ

is abundantly clear, as we have seen. In the place of His goodness, themes of lasciviousness, violence,and self-indulgence are celebrated. Instead of His clear and uncompromising truth as the basis, mererelativism is extolled. Rather than glorify Him, the arts today invite people to glorify themselves, orart itself. Apart from the work of contemporary Christian artists, hardly a thought is given as to whatGods purposes for the world might be.

The peasants are running amok throughout the Kingdom of God, spray-painting their rebelliousgraffiti on walls and overpasses, stealing the work of great Christian artists and deploying it for theirown purposes, transgressing and trampling on every convention, standard, and form the King hasgiven to advance His agenda and celebrate His grace. Meanwhile, the loyal subjects, for the mostpart, seem hardly concerned.

Whatever ofthe all things of this world sticks its neck into our purview or environment is fairgame for our feet. None of us can escape the arts. Indeed, every one us makes use of the arts insome way or another; therefore, it is our duty as loyal citizens of the Kingdom of God to make surethat use is according to the purposes of the King of kings.

Are we hesitant and uncertain? Let us bring the all things of the arts to our King in prayer. He haspromised to help us in our time of need.22 Do we fear potential harm or damage from involvement

with the arts? Let us learn to trust the Lord to bring out of this aspect of the all things of our livesHis good and glorious purposes.23 Are we yet reluctant to add the arts to our list of priorities and ourpersonal agenda? Let us rather not refuse anyof the all things that God has given us, with Christ, forfree and beneficial use to His glory.24

The Spirit of God is standing with us, ready to search out all things in the arts in order to equip us

for every good work.25 Filled with Him, and grounded in His Word, we will be able to judge the artsand all things else in a manner consistent with Gods calling and purpose.26 We can learn to use thearts as part of all the things God has given us for mutual edification,27 to express our obedience tothe Lord,28 make new things reflective of the goodness and beauty of Christ,29 and grow up intomaturity in the Lord.30

Like Joshua, our King has overcome all His foes, including those serving in, and all things pertainingto, the arts, and He commands us to come near and place our feet with Him on the neck of thesedisciplines. Given the inescapable nature and the awesome power of the arts, the current state of


11/37


Page

11

these disciplines, and the Lords determination to put all things under His feet for the sake ofbuilding His Church, how can we fail to take up a more responsible and more fruitful use of the artsas part of our calling as the followers of Christ? The New Testament insists that there is much workand great benefit to be gained by making the arts, as part of the all things Christ is subduing toHimself, more self-consciously a part of our individual and communal programs of discipleship.

For reflection or discussion1. Do the arts matter? If yes, how? If no, why not?2. Do you agree that Jesus Christ is Lord of the arts? Do contemporary artists recognize this?

How do you know?

3. Do you think artists would work differently if they acknowledged that Jesus Christ is Lord ofall?

4.

How much do you know about the heritage of Christian art? What kind of impact has thisart had on the shape of culture and society?

5. If Jesus Christ, our Lord and King, is interested in the arts and how they are used, should webe? Explain.


12/37


Page

12


The use of metaphorPerhaps most people will not consider the New Testament a helpful resource for gaining Godsperspective on the arts. But, as weve seen, the New Testaments emphasis on the Lordship of JesusChrist, that all things have been put into His power for the sake of building His Church, makes someconsideration of the arts inescapable.

But beyond this matter of principle, the New Testament offers more to encourage and guide us inthe use of the arts, beginning with its frequent use of metaphor as a medium of divine revelation.

A metaphor is a figure of speech common to literature in every age and culture. Metaphors invite usto make comparisons, to find in something familiar a means of gaining insight into the nature ofsomething less well known or mysterious. A metaphor presents a much stronger image than, say, asimile, which introduces its comparisonwith the words like or as.To say that someone is fierce

asa liona simileis quite suggestive. But to say that someone isa liona metaphoris evenmore urgent and emphatic. Metaphors are thus artistic devices freely employed in all kinds ofliterature to dramatize or emphasize an idea or thing.

Metaphor and the role of the readerWe are so familiar with the use of metaphor that we perhaps take it for granted. But let us not fail torealize that metaphor has its beginnings in art, and that, in order to understand the way a metaphor

works, we must submit to the disciplines of art, mastering those disciplines in order to benefit fromthem in other areas of speech. As Edward Hirsch has written about the use of metaphor inunderstanding poetry,

What especially concerns me here is how the reader actively participates in the making of

meaning through metaphor, in thinking through the relation of unlike things. How do weapprehend these previously unapprehended or forgotten relations: in ironic tension, in exactcorrespondence, in fusion? The meaning emerges as part of a collaboration between writerand reader.31

Now most of us already know how a metaphor works, and understand that we have someresponsibility, whenever we encounter a metaphor in our reading, to get involved with it, make thenecessary associations between the familiar and the unfamiliar, and draw some conclusionsconcerning what the author wants us to understand about the item in view. This was true even in thedays that the New Testament was being written. The writers of the New Testament assumed acertain level of understanding on the part of their audiencesthat they were familiar with the use ofan artistic device like metaphor, and therefore that the writers could expect to use it with profit, bothin their generation and for the generations to come. Which they did, to a considerable extent.

Our ability to appreciate a metaphor, and not to be misled into thinking the writer has some literalmeaning in mind when he says, for example, that Christ is a lamb, is nothing other than a tacitadmission on our parts of a need to be familiar with this disciplines of the arts for the sake ofunderstanding the text of Scripture. If this is true for metaphor, might it not be true in other areas as

well?


13/37


Page

13

There is no need to examine in detail the many metaphors in the New Testament. We are all quitefamiliar with them. There are metaphors for Christ: light, lamb, living water; metaphors for the life offaith: light, salt, leaven, soldier, farmer; metaphors for the Church: body, temple, city, nation, people;and many, many more. The more carefully we scrutinize the everyday objects with which we arefamiliar, or which were familiar to the people in New Testament timeslight, water, nations, and so

forththe better we will be able to appreciate and appropriate what the writers of the NewTestament intended by comparing our Lord, His Church, and the life of faithmysterious andwondrous notionswith such everyday objects.

A broad endorsement of the artsSo, again, we find the New Testament not onlyendorsingthe use of the arts but even requiringsomeunderstanding of them if we are to be able to know and fulfill the Lords will for our lives. Thislegitimizing of metaphor can be applied, by association, to all things that pertain to the arts. Thissuggests that we might also benefit from learning about other literary devicesof which there aremany in the New Testamentas well as other kinds of artistic conventions.

As a matter of fact, as we shall see, the New Testament does not limit itself to literary arts in making

known the revelation of God; it also appeals to music, architecture, drama, and visual arts as well. Dowe know enough about the disciplines of these various genre to gain the benefit God desires for us,even from the study of His Word?

The parables of JesusThe parables of Jesus, in which a great deal of His most important teaching is encoded, are yetanother example of the New Testament endorsing the arts for our work in the Kingdom of God. Itis not my purpose here to investigate any of Jesus many parables; rather, I want to reflect briefly onthe nature of parables, and to examine how they work, as artistic elements, to lead us to deeperunderstanding of the life of faith.32

A parable is a short story, rooted in everyday experience, that serves as an extended metaphorto teachus, through the use of familiar situations, eternal truths relating to life in the Kingdom of God. Jesusfrequently taught in parables. At times He interpreted His parables to the disciples, so that they

would be sure not to miss His intended meaning. He was also content, at other times, to leave peoplebefuddled over His meaning and pondering His words. He trusted God to make the meaning of His

words clear to those to whom He intended to reveal it.33 We may make three observations about aparable before reflecting on what they can teach us about the role of the arts in the life of faith.

1. Appeal to the imagination. First, parables appeal to the imaginationof those who hear them. A parableallows each hearer to picture the situation being described in his or her own terms. When Jesus spokeabout farms, kingdoms, plants, fishing, and so forth in His parables, He invited each person presentto conjure up in his or her imagination some familiar image as a peg for what Jesus wanted to say. Itis unlikely that any two people had exactly the same situation or image in mind as they listened to thestory Jesus related. Thus, whether the individual was rustic or royal, simple or sophisticated, he or she

would have been able to envision the situation Jesus was describing in terms relevant to his or herown experience. The stage would be set for whatever lesson Jesus may have intended.

The parables of Jesus were thus immediately accessible to a wide range of people. He avoided thearcane and obtuse and concentrated on what was real and familiar, thus ensuring that His art wouldappeal and communicate to the widest possible audience.

2. One primary lesson. Second, a parable concentrates on one primary lesson. It is a mistake, in interpretingparables, to make too much of the details of the parable. Given the fact that everyone listening would


14/37


Page

14

have somewhat different details in mind, this only makes sense. It does not matter, for example,whether ones garden is a little backyard plot or a huge agribusiness. The mustard seed sown in thegarden will be the same seed, and will have the same effect, once it is grown, of towering over theother plants and offering refuge to all kinds of creatures from near and far.

The key to learning from the parable is thus to identify the lesson it wants to communicate, and to

avoid becoming bogged down in the details. Making too much of the details, some preachers strayinto the vagaries of allegory, and may lose their audience in the interpretation, or obscure the primarylesson Jesus wants us to understand. In most of His parables Jesus provides a pointer or pointers tohelp us focus on the lesson: The Kingdom of God is like; The field is the world; The sowersows the Word By keeping that pointer in mind as we listen to the rest of the parable, we will beable to make the relevant comparisons to understand what Jesus wants us to know.

Artists very often provide pointers to guide us in understanding their particular work of art: arepetitive motif in music, the placement of an object in a painting, a recurrent theme or phrase, oruse of some poetic device in verse. Jesus understood that good art needs such pointers, and Heseemed to understand that His hearers knew this as well.

3. Realistic, everyday stories. Finally, as in His object lessons (a Roman coin, a sparrow), Jesus based Hisstories on realistic, everyday situations. He did this so that His hearers could readily imagine a context inwhich His lesson might be impressed on them. But Jesus also used realistic situations so that Hishearers would have this lesson reinforced as they went back out into everyday life. What person, afterlistening to the parable of the sower, has not had that parable come to mind again while preparing hisgarden, or seeing some farmer in his field?Thus those who listened to Jesus carefully crafted stories

would be stimulated in their minds to ponder His teaching over and over again, to think more deeplyabout what He intended, and, hopefully, to consider the meaning of His words for their own lives.

Jesus the artist of parablesThis is the way good art works: It sticks with us, haunts our minds and makes our hearts stir everytime we re-visit it or think about it, and goads us to reflect on its meaning for our lives. Like a greatartist Jesus skillfully employed parables, extended metaphors, as works of art, to invade the minds,trouble or excite the hearts, and change the lives of those who heard Him.

Here again the New Testament witnesses to the power of the arts for the purposes of the Kingdomof God.

For reflection or discussion1. What are some of your favorite uses of metaphor in the New Testament? Why do you

especially like these examples?

2. How does the use of metaphor challenge a persons mind? Affections?

3. Why is it important that readers be able to understand how a metaphorespecially a parableworks? Would you be willing to see this as a kind of art interpretation requirement?Explain:

4. Which of the parables of Jesus do you find most challenging to your own walk with theLord? How does this parable affect your thinking about the life of faith? Your feelings andattitudes toward being a Christian? Your sense of what you are called to be or do?


15/37


Page

15

5. Do you think the New Testament would be less interesting if it did not use metaphor?Explain. Do you think your life would be more interesting if you understood more about thearts? Why or why not?


16/37


Page

16


Revelation and the arts

The New Testament ends with a mighty, lavish portrayal of the cosmic redemption of Christ in theBook of Revelation. Without an understanding of the way various artistic elements work, we cannothope to gain the benefit this glorious book holds out for us. Indeed, failure to appreciate the highlyartistic nature of the Revelation may lead to faulty, albeit highly appealing, exegesis.

Every interpreter of Revelation, from every eschatological perspective, recognizes that Revelationcontains images difficult to understand, which bring together aspects of Old and New Testamentrevelation into a powerful, memorable statement of faith and hope. The book begins with a mighty

vision of Christ walking in the midst of His Church, its victorious Lord and Savior.

Saints from all ages of Church history have reported seeing visions. Some of these, we must admit,appear to be rather specious. I find most credible those visions which seem to have been internal

rather than external, more on the order of poetic or artistic inspirations rather than objectiverevelations, like those reported byHildegard of Bingen, the great twelfth-century abbess,theologian, preacher, and musician.

The visions which the Apostle John reports in the Book of Revelation, however, are of a differentorder. He seems actually to have seen, external to his mind, a revelation of Christ in some physicaland real sense. John did not conjure these visions out of his own experience or burden. Rather, theLord Himself carefully determined the elements of those visions, selecting, crafting, and composingthem to make a particular impact and communicate a certain message to the Apostle.

The initial vision, in Revelation 1, draws fromvarious of the arts to convey its peculiar truths;without some appreciation of those arts we cannot hope to understand the vision clearly. We want to

examine Johns initial vision in some detail, with a view to considering the various ways in which theLord made use of the arts to impress His will on the Apostle and the Church.

A gallery of artsMusic.Which of the arts does this vision employ? The first which strikes us is that ofmusic, as Johnhears behind him a loud voice, like the sound of a trumpet(v. 10). Why a trumpet? Why not a flute, withits sweet and tender voice? Or a lute, soothing and comforting?Why a trumpet?

The trumpet is associated with battle, as armies are rallied to the attack; withvictory, as a people issummoned to celebrate the defeat of a foe; and with royal courts, where they are used to announcethe entrance of grand persons. Karl Haas writes of the trumpet, Because it possesses the highestpitch in the brass section, as well as a very positive, prominent brilliance, the trumpet is called uponto cap the orchestral ensemble in passages of great majesty.34He adds, trumpets are as

breathtaking to listen to as they are difficult to play.35

The voice that John hears is one of a mighty King and a glorious Victor who is calling His people tocelebration and His armies to war.

As you read this passage do you hear that trumpet? Do you associate the sound of the trumpet withits use in great works of the classical tradition, like a Handel oratorio, or Tchaikovskys 1812 Overture?Or are you only reading words, and not allowing your aural memory and imagination to engage the

vision John describes?


17/37


Page

17

The allusions to music continue in verse 15, where John reports that the voice of Him who spokeout of the vision was like the sound of many waters.John heard that trumpet-like voice as amighty, crashing, thunderous sound, so overpowering that it caused him to fall on his face like a dead man(v. 17). Here Christ draws on thepercussion sectionof His orchestral palette to paint in greater dramaand power than the trumpet by itself could convey. Imagine an entire percussion section at full tilt

the kettle drums thundering away, bass drums booming, snares rat-a-tat-tatting, cymbals clashing, anda huge metal sheet shaking violently, like the sound of thunderall right in your face! You not onlyhearsuch sounds, youfeelthem. They invade your soul and cause it to tremble; you feel fear andexcitement rising within you; and you grip the arms of your seat more tightly.

A mighty, trumpet-like voice, undergirded by giant wave-crashing percussionwhat a mighty,glorious King and Lord presents Himself to John in this vision! What power is contained in Hisspoken words! And it is the art of music that sets the tone and stage for what the Lord wants Johnto understand.

Theater and visual art. It is difficult to categorize the second artistic discipline that comes into play inthis vision. To John it must have seemed like some kind of theater, but, as it is reported to us, it takes

the form of visual artmore like painting than a staged scene. Either way, the elements employedare many and varied. There is the use oficonographyimages presented as symbols for other reality.Here we observe the description of the Lord, His clothing, hair, face, eyes, mouth, and feet. We aretold that He holds seven stars in His right hand and stands in the midst of seven golden candlesticks.

A sword flashes threateningly out of His mouth.

Next, we are struck by the use ofcolorto describe the vision. Colors of gold, bronze, white, brightorange (like fire, v. 14) are emphasized, and with a brilliance and intensity meant to suggest power(like the sun, v. 16) and the most excellent craftsmanship. There seems to be nothing of darkness inthis vision. Bright, light colors tend to come forward in a painting, while darker colors seem torecede. The colors in this vision are veritably charging upon us, threatening to overpower us, as theyrush forward from the images in this brilliant composition.

Finally, the composition as a wholeimpresses itself upon us. Christ is in the center, obviously the mostimportant element. In the background are seven golden candlesticks; in His hand are seven stars; andout of His mouth comes a two-edged sword. Why are these images placed as they are? How do theyrelate to one another? What is the meaning of the whole? Thesepowerful images, together with theoverwhelming sound of trumpet and percussion, strike terror in the Apostle, who falls on His face.Most of us, on the other hand, simply read this chapter like we do the rest of Scripture, as a simplenarrative from which we hope to pluck some personal nugget.

Interpretation as art criticismImmediately we want to interpret this vision, to try to understand the various elements of which itis composed, and to bring these elements together into some harmonious explanation of the whole.

We want to engage in art criticism, in other words, and the Lord Himself invites us to do so. Indeed,

He helps us on our way, by offering the initial interpretive guidance we will need to make sense ofthe whole.

He explains who He isthe resurrected Lord of life and Keeper of the keys of death and hell. Thestars, He tells us, are the angels (probably the pastors the Greek is simply, messengers, cf. Gal.4.14), of the seven churches, which the candle sticks represent (but why seven, and why not onecandlestick with seven branches?). He has provided the hermeneutical keys for us, and we are leftto make the remaining interpretations, based on our understanding of previous revelation and of theuse that revelation makes of the various artistic devices the vision employs.


18/37


Page

18

Literature or poetry. But the art criticism of the Lord itself employs another artistic discipline, that ofliterature or poetry. What does He mean by saying He holds the keys of death and hell? How shall

we interpret these various similes and metaphors? What kind offoreshadowing is suggested by Hisstatement about things seen, things which are, and things which are yet to come (v. 19)? If John wasterror-stricken by what he saw here, what moods will heand weexperience in the further visions

to come? And the Lord commands John towrite down what he sees, so that it will be preservedfor the seven churches. But what does He intend by having His revelation written in this particularform? And why does He refer to Himself as the first and the last? Clearly were going to have torefresh our understanding of literary imagery and composition if were going to be able to makesense of all this as the Lord intends.

Can there be any doubt that the Book of Revelation requires, at the very least, a rudimentaryunderstanding and appreciation of the arts if we are to be able to interpret its meaning and glory inthe hope it provides? The more we understand and appreciateof the arts, of the various conventionsand elements that comprise and govern them, the better we will be able to interpret this enigmaticbook, and the greater will be our joy at entering more fully into its message. Revelation, the greatCapstone of the New Testament, the Jewel in the Crown of Biblical revelation, insiststhat we prepare

ourselves to lay hold on its message by submitting to the disciplines of the arts.

We who would have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches must be willing to giveourselves to whatever disciplines are necessary to understand His urgent message. And, in the case ofRevelationas with a great deal of the rest of the New Testamentsome knowledge of andfamiliarity with the arts is an inescapable requirement.

For reflection or discussion1. Spend a few minutes doing a cursory read-through of the Book of Revelation. Jot down

every use of the arts included in this mysterious but wonderful book.

2. How do these various arts serve to underscore, emphasize, and heighten the message ofRevelation? Do you think that, if we paid more attention to the way these arts are used, wemight have an even greater appreciation for this book? Why or why not?

3. Read aloud the words of the Lord Jesus from Revelation 1, as John indicates he heard them.What artistic skills are required of you for such a reading?

4. Sketch out the vision that John saw in Revelation 1just a rough sketch or outline. Try toget the various images in proper proportion to one another. How does this exercise help youin experiencing what John must have experienced that day on the Isle of Patmos?

5. Does looking at Revelation through its use of the arts make you want to learn more aboutthe arts and how they work? Why or why not?


19/37


Page

19


An all-pervading assumptionThe New Testament does not arguethe case for the importance of the arts; it simplyassumesit. Wewill miss important insights and rich blessings if, content with merely devotional or rigidly doctrinalinterpretations of the New Testaments message,we fail to grasp and experience the deeper truths ofthe New Testament because we are unwilling to take a more active interest in the arts.

Put another way, our understanding of Gods Word could be greatly enriched by more study andexperience in the various arts it employs.

The New Testament thus presents a threefold challenge to contemporary Christians with respect tothe arts.

Become more familiar with the artsFirst, because it treats the arts as legitimate and necessary fields of Christian endeavor, the New

Testament challenges us to become more familiarwith the art forms it employs in communicating itsmessage. How well do we understand the parable and how it works? Have we thought deeply aboutthe various metaphors of the New Testament, how they would have been received in their own day,and how we should understand them today? How should we interpret the iconography of the Bookof Revelation?

Much sensationalistic popular writing has wrested those images out of their Biblical andcontemporary settings to portray speculative end-times scenarios which probably have little to do

with the message of Revelation. Could a better understanding of how that bookand all the rest ofGods Word employs such things as images, visions, types, symbols, and so forth help us to steer

away from sensationalizing Revelation so that we might gain the benefit God truly intends for usthere?

My own experience in the study of poetry has helped me in reading and understanding Scripture inmore ways than I could count. I was an English major while in college, and I will be forever gratefulthat my instructors taught me how to read poetry, how to isolate phrases, identify structures, relateparts to wholes, and pick out the literary devices employed in a given text. My study of Scripture hasbeen deeper and richer as a result of that training and of the continued reading and study of poetrythat I have engaged in over the years.

I have also benefited in other ways from learning about music and the visual arts, in particular, whenit comes to versifying a psalm for worship, or holding in my mind a vision such as the statue andstone of Daniel 2 and being able to see and interpret the whole as a single visual image.

The more we discipline our minds to think in the categories and concepts of the arts, and themore experience we acquire in those various fields, the sharper and more alert our minds will be

when we turn them to the study of Gods Word. At the very least, we should work to understand thevarious artistic genre employed in the Word of God and gain sufficient exercise and experience inthose genre to be able to interpret Scripture in a responsible manner.


20/37


Page

20

Enriching our experience and vocabularySecond, it is clear that the writers of the New Testament believed that art can be profitably employedto enrich our Christian experience and vocabulary. If that is true in the composition of the New Testament,then it is undoubtedly true for the course of our lives in general. This challenge of the New

Testament is thus twofold.

1. To Christian artists: make your work accessible!First, to Christian artists, it encourages them to be activein the production of awide range of artistic works; at the same time it would seem to caution thattheir works, in order to be of profit, must be accessible. That does not mean they must bepopular,or, merely works of Christian pop art. There is a place for Christian pop art, but I am not herespeaking to that issue. Rather, I want to encourage serious (again, not that pop art is not serious)artists to think about ways of making their art accessible to the Christian community.

It is the glory of postmodern art to revel in obscure images and deconstructive motifs, and in an artthat only the well-heeled or strategically located can enjoy. Can Christian artists take such anapproach to their work? Should we not expect them to speakor paint or sing or actin forms wecan take hold of, and with messages meant to build us up in our faith and honor the Lord who called

them to their craft? Should we not work with Christian artists to find venues for exhibitions,productions, and readings that Christians from many churches and regions can attend? Ways to maketheir art affordable and accessible to a wider audience? Should we not expect the themes of Christianart to have something to do with our common calling as citizens of the Kingdom of God?

Christian artists do not always have to paint or write about Christian themes. But their art shouldclearly, it seems to me, be locatable within the framework of a Christian worldview, and they musthelp the rest of us see how it fits there.

2.And for the rest of us: get involved!The second part of the New Testaments two-fold challenge is tothe rest of us, those members of the Christian community who are not artists. It is the challenge Ihave been urging thus far, to become more involved in the artsas students, observers, facilitators,sponsors, supporters, and so forth. Because I shall have more to say about this later in this series, Illleave it at that for now.

Giving permanence and beauty to hope and faithFinally, the New Testament helps us to see that art can give permanence and beauty to our hope, and eloquentexpression to our faithin Jesus Christ. Art can have both liturgical and evangelistic, as well ascontemplative and educational, purposes. In other words, the New Testament clearly indicates, asdoes the Old, that art is ours both to enjoy and to use, and while Christian artists may cringe(unnecessarily, I hasten to add) at the latter, they, along with all of us, should welcome both purposes

with great anticipation and joy.

Here we can learn a lesson from the enthusiasts ofChristian pop art. For it is clear that those wholisten to contemporary Christian music, read Christian romance novels, fill their homes with

Christian knick-knacks and doodads, and spend their hard-earned dollars on tickets to end-timesfantasies are having a great time, being encouraged in their faith, and hoping to reach some of theirunsaved friends and neighbors. While we may question their taste in some of these areas, we canhardly fault their enthusiasm.36Rookmaaker was surely correct when he wrote, to be a Christianmeans that one has humanity, the freedom to work in Gods creation and to use the talents God hasgiven to each of us, to his glory and to the benefit of our neighbors.37

Art is an essential aspect of the human condition, as we have seen. We can expect the arts to bring usmuch joy and delight, and to help us grow in love for God and our neighbors. We can also expect


21/37


Page

21

them to be useful as ways of pointing others to God. But for either of these to be true we will haveto follow the lead of the New Testament, the cornerstone in the legacy of Christian art, and begin tobecome more familiar with and involved in the arts, what they are, how they work, and how Godintends to use them to bless us His people.

For reflection or discussion1. Imagine that you had no understanding whatsoever of the artsliterature, music, or visual

arts. Where would this leave you when it comes to interpreting large portions of the NewTestament? What dangers inhere in failing to appreciate the use the New Testament makesof the various arts?

2. Consider the parable of the good Samaritan, Luke 10.30-37. Describe in detail the picturethat comes to mind when you read this parable. If you had to cast it for a movie, who

would play which roles? In what ways does this parable draw on our ability to appreciatebeauty? How does Jesus use this little work of art?

3. Consider just the arts we have mentioned thus farliterature (and its various genre,conventions, and devices), music, and visual art. Have you done any study in any of theseareas? Which? What have you gained from your study that can be helpful in understandingthe New Testament? What might you expect to gain should you commit to further studiesin these areas?

4. The New Testament also suggests that we need to develop critical skills in our approach tothe arts. If we are to recognize false spirits and take every thought captive and make itobedient to Christ (1 Jn. 4.1; 2 Cor. 10.3-5), we will need to be able to analyze and interpret

works of art that come into our purview or experience. How prepared are you to do that?What criteria would you depend on to make critical judgments about a work of art? Arethese sufficient? Could you benefit in making judgments by additional study or experience?

5. Do you have any particular artistic inclinations or interests? What effort have you madeeither to discover some for yourself or to develop those you have? How might doing sohelp you to grow in enjoying the Lord and serving Him? In showing His love to others?


22/37


Page

22

7 Postmodern Art

We are considering the importance of the arts in the life of faith in an effort to encourage members

of the Christian community to a more fruitful appreciation and use of the arts as part of ourcommitment to a Christian worldview.

As part of this effort we need to understand something about the landscape of the arts in our society.In the arts todaythree voicesone of them powerful and cacophonous, the other two moresubdued, but equally importantcontend for the title of Representative of True Art.

The next three installments in this series will provide an overview of the state of the arts today bymeans of a brief examination of each of these voices (caution: sweeping generalizations ahead). Eachof these voices represents important insights on the nature of art and the state of the arts today, andeach offers significant challenges and opportunities to the Christian community. By learning to seeas the representatives of these perspectives do, we will be in a better position to begin participating in

the arts according to our calling as the followers of Jesus Christ.

We begin with an overview of postmodern art.

The burden of postmodern artBy far the noisiest voice in contemporary art is that of the postmodernists. Not only have they beenbusyin the pages ofArt Forumand other art journals, as well as in museums, galleries, catalogs,symphony halls, and poetry journalsespousing the virtues of their seemingly endless variety of arts,but their internecine squabbles and vendettas have spilled out of the studio and lecture room into thepublic square on more than one occasion.38

The various scandalous exhibitions which have been forced on the publics attention in recent years

from Mapplethorpe to erotic performance art to the lunacy, and even blasphemy, of what can onlybe described as junk artcreate the impression that postmodern art is a swamp or a cesspool.Similarly, atonal music and confessional poetry simply do not resonate with most of us, and we areoffended by many of their themes and messages. One could get really dirty delving into that sort ofstuff.

Yet for those interested in trying to make sense out of postmodern art, there is help. Arthur C.Danto has written a most clear and useful bookwhich can serve as an introduction, not only tomodern and postmodern art, but also to the history of art as a narrative which had, until just recently,as Danto sees it, a compelling story to tell.Art After the End of Art39 is an apologetic for the manyandto most of us, at leastconfusing forms and genre which have seized the mantle formerly

worn by painting, and which are today posing as art. Though his book focuses exclusively on thevisual arts, his comments might just as well be applied to much of postmodern music, literature, and

poetry. Three factors in particular identify the postmodern burden for the arts.

The end of artThe first is the heralding of a new dayin the arts. In Dantos view art as we have always known ithas come to its end. New forms of art have appeared as expressions of the belief, championed by thepop artists of the sixties, that literally anything can be art and, therefore, probably is. The narrative

which representational art pursued for over 500 years, namely, the effort to find newer and betterways ofexpressing reality, has been superseded by the subjectivism and emotionalism of ourpostmodern era. Art no longer has a story to tell. There is no longer any truth to declare. Whatever


23/37


Page

23

of these exists is to be found in the intentions of the artist and in the individual reactions of theviewers of art, who must make of these strange and confusing new forms what they will.

Dantos book is in many respects a running dialog with famed modernist art critic ClementGreenberg. According to Danto, professor of philosophy at Columbia and art critic for The Nation,Greenbergs very helpful analyses of modern art fail to account for everything after the pop art that

beganwith Andy Warhols generation. Greenbergs contribution was to analyze art during the periodof its ending. He was unable to understand or explain what Danto calls post-historical art, or, artafter the end of art. Danto sees himself as pointing the way for a new kind of art criticism, one thatshakes free from the idea ofart as narrative and pioneers new ways of understanding the artsaccording to their philosophical meaning in the post-historical period.

Such criticism takes each work up on its own terms, in terms of its causes, its meanings, itsreferences, and how these are materially embodied and how they are to be understood.40 Each workof art, in other words, has its own reasons, its own story; it is no longer bound by an overarchingnarrativebeing true to realityas in the past.

Liberation from the burden of truth and history

Second, postmodern art has shaken free from anybonds of truth or history. Danto celebratespostmodern arts liberation from the idea of truth as it existed for the first half-millennium ofWestern art. Whereas in the past, artistsprimarily painters and sculptorswere expected to followthe lead of the masters and to work hard at perfecting the way of representing the real world, todaysartists are free to do and to say what they will. In postmodern art

there is nothing that does not fit...there is in consequence no possibility of a narrativedirectionSo the contemporary is, from one perspective, a period of information disorder,a condition of perfect aesthetic entropy. But it is equally a period of quite perfect freedom.

Today there is no longer any pale of history. Everything is permitted.41

Art today is no longer shackled to previous epochs of art history. This has come to mean thatartists, liberated from the burden of history, are free to make art in whatever way they wished, forany purposes they wished, or for no purposes at all.That is the mark of contemporary art.42

In such an environment the only standard that art acknowledges is toleration: Ours is a moment, atleast (and perhaps only) in art, of deep pluralism and total tolerance. Nothing is ruled out.43

Equally and indifferently artFinally, postmodern art represents a period ofexperimentation in the arts, in terms of media,genre, and themes. The philosophy of relativism in art is actually more important than the quality ofany individual piece of art. Danto sees the present moment in the arts as quintessentially a time forreflecting on the philosophy of art. The question can no longer be, concerning any particular piece ofart, Is it good according to the history and traditions of art? Instead, the question can only be, Whatkind of art is it?As he puts it, the true philosophical discovery, I think, is that there really is no art

more true than any other, and that there is no one way art has to be: all art is equally and indifferentlyart.44 He addsand here we can understand just why it is so important to pay attention to the artsHow wonderful it would be to believe that the pluralistic art world of the historical present is aharbinger of political things to come!45

There is in this emphasis of Dantos an extremely helpful point for understanding postmodern art.That is that any piece of art must be considered against the backdrop of its historical setting. Dantobelieves that works of art from previous generations need not be consider as such today. But he doesnot mean to say by this that the works of Rembrandt have ceased being valid and beautiful as works


24/37


Page

24

of art. He simply means that no one would think of trying to produce art like that today. Thephilosophical moment in which we live demands, and, indeed, has engendered, different forms ofexpression, and Danto merely wants us to understand and appreciate these contemporary works ofart on their own (philosophical) terms, and not on the basis of how we think art shouldbe, accordingto some now-eclipsed historical narrative of the arts. His focus is on the meaningof art in the post-historical period, not whether or not it satisfies the standards or expectations of some previous epoch

of the arts.

The challenge of postmodern artArthur C. Danto has written a very helpful book for understanding postmodern art, and it offersseveral challenges to the members of the Christian community. But in order to take up thosechallenges we shall have to become more familiar with the burden of postmodern art, more capableof talking intelligently about or working meaningfully in forms and genre that our postmoderncontemporaries will be willing to consider.

1. Challenging the narrative of art. In the first place we should be challenged Dantos view of what hecalls the narrative of art. Is his linear and developmental view of artits narrativethe only possible

way of understanding or assessing art? Might it not be possible to show that the view of art history

that Danto propounds is not necessarily the only, or even the best, way of thinking about the historyof art, as Leo Strauss argued not long ago in The Wilson Quarterly?46 It might be possible, for example,to construct a narrative of art history that is cyclical rather than linear, that posits periods of declineand renewal, and ponders the various reasons for this. Thus we might be able to argue for aframework for interpreting the postmodern period not as one to be celebrated but lamented and,depending on our vantage point, escaped. Danto defends postmodernism against the claims ofmodernists who insist that ours is a period ofdecadence (so Greenberg) or decline. Insisting on aprogressive narrative, or, a linear view of art, Danto is able to declare, a laFrancis Fukuyama(following Hegel) the end of art as art and the beginning of the post-historical period of pluralismand tolerance in the arts. Modernist voices object to this, as we shall see, but the Christiancommunity seems to have little constructive to add to the debate.

2. Challenging the moral assumptions of postmodern art. Second, becoming informed about postmodern artand encouraging Christian artists in their dialog with contemporary art might enable us to respond tothe challenge ofthe bold ethical and moral assumptionsof the postmodernists. For example, it seems alittle early in the history of postmodernism to be celebrating the liberation that has been achievedfrom history and the traditions that made up Western society and culture for over 500 years. Evennow Americans seem to be rediscovering many of the traditions and values which postmodernapologists insist must be laid asidesuch as civility, family, and, in the light of September 11, 2001,the notion of evil itself.We have traveled this route of liberation before, only to see that what wethought was liberation was in fact a new form of enslavement. As Roger Kimball argued in an articleon the Beats, the liberation from standards and conventions which that movement flauntedcreated a realm of heedless self-absorption. Modesty, convention, and self-restraint appear as theenemies rather than as the allies of humanity.47 Postmodern art may be headed down this same path,

while many in America are hankering for a return to more stable values and convictions. An

informed Christian voice in this discussion might lead at least some postmodernists to re-thinktheir relativistic ideals in the light of history and the changing moral environment.

3. Challenging the message of postmodern art. Finally, given the state of the arts, an understanding of thepostmodern position might open the door for Christians in the arts to declare their distinctivemessage in new media, and in a way that might be truly effective in reaching postmodern men and

women. Danto writes, for example,

Rembrandts heavy darks and mysterious lights almost certainly contribute to the force of his


25/37


Page

25

message. Still, his style is too closely identified with him, and with his time, to be availablefor us to use.The message indeed transcends its own age and ours. But to transmit thatmessage ourselves, we must find means other than those he used.We can mention him, from across anunclosable historical distance. It is always open to us to find ways of expressing the sort ofmessage we can derive from Rembrandt. But we shall have to find ways of doing so which are for ourtime(emphasis added).48

Christian artists, therefore, might hope to carve out a place in the post-historical frameworkarticulated by Danto, appropriating the forms and genre of postmodern art for the transcendentpurposes of the Gospel. And the rest of us, by understanding the burden of postmodern art, can giveencouragement to our brethren working in the arts as they unfurl the Kingdom banner in distinctlypostmodern colors. Thus we may hope to find Christian artists using the forms of postmodern art,like Paul in Athens, to debunk postmodern claims of the end of art and all it represents.

At the same time, as I have earlier suggested, Dantos book should challenge Christian artists to re-examine what he calls the narrative of art in order to see whether their Christian perspective on thearts might permit them to challenge his macro-perspective with a fresh and perhaps more powerfulnarrative of their own. Might they not, for example, demonstrate that the postmodern world view is,

in fact, a continuation of the grand narrative of art, albeit something of a wrong turn (to use RogerKimballs term)?49 And might not the rest of us in the Christian community render valuableassistance in that effort to re-assert the narrative of art by encouraging our brothers and sisters in thearts and learning how to respond intelligently to the art of the postmodern period?

There is little sense in merely bemoaning or condemning the state of postmodern art. And there is novirtue in ignoring it. Christians must begin to engage the art of the postmodern period in an effort tounderstand it, learn what they can, and speak in the voice of postmodernism the ancient, unchangingtruths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

For reflection or discussion1. In what waysincluding film, television, and pop musichave you noticed the message of

relativism establishing its presence in the arts?

2. Recall Dantos wistful comment about postmodern art being a harbinger of political change.He was writing over a decade ago. Was he a prophet? Has relativism established itself in thepolitical realm since 1997? Do you suppose art contributed to this in any way?

3. What are some lines along which a Christian should respond to the message of the end ofart and the new day of absolute relativism?

4. Suppose we were to encourage Christian artistsmusicians, poets and writers, painterstoengage postmodern art using its own forms and genre. What caveats might we want toremind them of as they take up this challenge?

5. Do you think a pastor or teacher in your church would be in a better position to equip youto live in our postmodern world if he or she had a better understanding of postmodern art?Explain:


26/37


Page

26


27/37


Page

27

8 Modern Art

The burden of modern art

The term, postmodern, has become fashionable as a way if only interimto refer to the periodthat has been inaugurated following the collapse of the modern period. The failure of reason,science, and technology to lead to a more prosperous, just, and safe world occasioned the crisis

which, during the fifties and sixties, erupted in the rise of postmodern thinking. But not allmodernists are ready to strike the colors and stack their arms. Especially is this true in the world ofthe arts.

There is yet today a strong and eloquent voice for modernism in the arts, and it emanatesconsistently from the pages ofThe New Criterion. Under the editorial leadership of Hilton Kramerand Roger Kimball, writers such as Daniel Kunitz and Karen Wilkin have argued for over twentyyears that postmodernism represents an historical, philosophical, and artistic derailment, and that theengineers of the art worldthe artists, curators, collectors, and criticsneed to stop shoveling coal

into that wrecked engine and concentrate on getting the train back on the tracks.

While modern art is the particular focus of the critics ofThe New Criterion, it seems clear that theirprimary concern is not modern artper sebut the continuation of the narrative of art history, with itsroots in the masters of the past. Whereas postmodern art throws the narrative of art historyoverboard, modern art, and the editors ofThe New Criterion, want to salvage and extend the narrative,through modern art, to the next logical stage in artistic development.

A symposium on the arts not too long ago in The New Criterionprovides a helpful overview of theburden of these critics. We may identifythree primary characteristics of the modernist burden inthe arts (keeping in mind, again, that, while we are speaking mainly of the visual arts, these commentsapply as well to the other disciplines).

Contempt for the merely faddish and formulaicThe modernist burden in the arts is, in the first place, one ofreaction to the tsunami ofpostmodernism in the arts, and the flotsam and jetsam it is leaving on the shores of Western culture.

The writers at The New Criterionare unsparing in their criticism of postmodern art. They see it asfaddish self-indulgence, more wedded to relativistic formulas designed to ruin the arts than to theproduction of high-quality, enduring works of art. Daniel Kunitz sees the postmodern era as a timethat has tossed aside artistic earnestness like a suit that has gone out of fashion.50Hilton Kramersregular comments on all things postmodern in his column, Notes & Comments, is filled withsarcasm and argumentae ad absurdumin an effort to expose the emperors clothes of postmodernthinking across the board. Concerning postmodern art Kramer writes, the present is not, after all, aperiod that has produced artists who can be claimed to rank with the masters of modernism.51

Roger Kimball summarizes the modernist view of postmodern art as a wrong turn:

But what began as an elite indulgence with the appearance of Dada, Surrealism, and figureslike Marcel Duchamp became a national pastime in the 1960s. It was then that the wrongturn became a superhighway, when (to alter the metaphor), a rare affliction became anepidemic.52

The modernist critics ofThe New Criterionare all about, on the one hand, exposing the foolishness,inanity, and presumptuousness of postmodern art and its supporters. Roger Kimball supplies a


28/37


Page

28

stream of descriptors which his fellow modernists might well approve in describing the dominant artof the day: pretentious, silly, and inane. Postmodern art is little more than sinister levity, or,in the words of Hilton Kramer, overscale detritus.Their critiques of postmodern exhibitions arethoughtful, fair, and withering as they apply the traditional disciplines ofart criticism to the task of

what they would agree with Danto to be, in fact, no art (in the traditional, historic sense) at all.

Innovation within reason and restraintThe critics ofThe New Criterionand the modernist school of art are not enemies of innovation. Theysimply want the course of innovation to follow the road laid down by previous generations ofartists, and to exercise restraint and reasonas opposed to innovation for its own sake and absoluterelativismto the work of making art.

Karen Wilkins review of the work of modernist sculptor Alberto Giacommetti offers an example ofhow, in her mind, modernism represents the best of this ongoing tradition against the willy-nillyspontaneity and farce of postmodern art.53 She praises Giacommetti for remaining true to theessentiallyrepresentational character of sculpture. While he subjected the art of sculpture to aferocious attack, he never abandoned the essential idea that viewers should be able to discern thesubject of the artwork without difficulty. He evidenced a commitment to modernism with a desire

to remain faithful, to a degree, to appearances.

At the same time, Wilkin applauds Giacommetti for challenging the limits of sculpture by seeinghow little space and volume could be used in the effort, and how much could be made of the spacearound the objects. His great artistry appears in his ability to walk the line between the grandtradition of sculpture and the explorations of modern art and the demands of artistic individuality:The pieces at MOMA [the Museum of Modern Art in New York City] reveal how perilous a courseGiacommetti steered between the cultivation of a personal language of form and the degeneration ofthat language into formula.

The modernist critics ofThe New Criterionare not opposed to building new roads for future artiststo travel. But they want those roads to be connected to and respectful of the direction, techniques,and accomplishments of previous builders. Postmodern art, they would assert, has spurned the roadaltogether, and is headed off into the tall grass on a joy ride that can only end up over a cliffsomewhere, forgotten and scorned by the generations to come.

Insistence on masterly techniqueFinally, the modernist critics ofThe New Criterionapplytraditional standards of art interpretationand criticism in their assessments of modern and postmodern art. They do not simply dismisssomething because they do not like it; rather, they are careful, consistent, and fair in their evaluationsof the art that comes under their scrutiny. They believe passionately in the standards of judgmentthat have served the arts for centuries, and they insist on holding on to these and using them toassess the value of postmodern art. All their reports of exhibitions, assessments of individual artists,and evaluations of individual works are marked bycareful consideration of such standard elementsas drawing ability, expressiveness, use of genre, technique (whether of brush, lens, etc.), style, use of

space, color, composition, subject matter, and even choice of frames.

Indeed, it is by insisting on such standards that the critics at The New Criterionconclude thatpostmodern art is a wrong turn in the narrative of art, since it routinely and consistently fails at mostof these criteria. And they find the criterion ofindividual expressiveness to be inadequate toqualify anything as art. When you abandon or fail the standards of art, the modernist critics insist,

what you have produced is, at best, badart, and ought not be replicated or encouraged.


29/37


Page

29

The challenge of the modernist criticsThe voice of the modernist critics may be a small one in the world of artcompared, at least, to thetorrent of words, products, and exhibitions postmodernists continue to put out. Yet theirs is aperspective to be reckoned with by anyone wishing to establish a place in or gain an understanding ofthe contemporary art scene, as even postmodern critics have observed.54

Christian artists, and Christians seeking to become more involved with the arts, will need to considerwhat is to be learned and how we must respond to the burden of the modernist critics.Threechallenges in particular come to mind.

First is the challenge to keep the narrative of artits storycontinuously in mind. Mostpostmodern art is forgotten shortly after it has been produced. What is viewed by the public is noteasily understood; indeed, it defies any single interpretation and encourages the viewer to make uphis or her own story in response. Postmodern art acknowledges no standards (except that of anythinggoes), declares no uniform message (except that of absolute relativism), and appears to have littlelasting value (except, perhaps, as a mirror of our times). The modernist critics want more for art thanthis. They insist that the narrative of artthat ages-long story of innovation and development in the

areas of genre and message, consistently linked to realityis still alive. Only that art will last which,in the first place, acknowledges its links with the narrative of art and seeks to take root in thattradition and flower, at least in part, from its strength.

This strikes me as sound advice. Christians working in or studying the arts need to give themselvesto understanding the overall narrative of artits history, key developments, great masters, issues andquestionsand to pursue their own involvement with the arts within that framework. We would notthink of trying to start a church without understanding certain things about our denominationaltradition, the character and history of the community, and the times in which we live. Why should weapproach study of or involvement in the arts in any other way?

Second, the burden of the modernist critics encourages us to honorthe standards and criteria forart established by the great masters of the past as we take up the work of art in our own day. We willnot be able to understand the arts unless we take the time to study the various criteria which guidedgreat artists in the past, and we will produce no lasting works of art apart from such study. We canexpect our work and our opinions to be taken seriously by those who understand the arts only to theextent that these are informed by the standards which the narrative of art has recognized and broughtforward to us from the past. Mere personal preference, though it has some validity as a criterion forjudging art, will not suffice for us either to appreciate the beauty and subtlety of a work of art or totalk about it intelligently or build on it in our own labors in the arts.

Despite their small numbers and limited audience, the modernist critics are listened to and respectedprecisely because their criticism honors the approach to such things as technique, genre,composition, and subject matter that previous generations of great artists have employed in their

work.

This will certainly require of Christians in the arts much devoted study, careful observation,thoughtful reading of criticism, and eager discussion with others. But, although this will meanestablishing some new priorities and taking up some new challenges, the rewards of such effort canbe substantial. We lament, for example, the postmodern practice of minimizing the lasting value oflanguage. We find in the deconstructionist philosophies of Jacques Derrida and others not aliberating approach to understanding, but one that threatens to undermine all meaning and to renderall truth and beauty ultimately and only relative. We clamor for the teaching of grammar in publicschools. Those of us who have ever taught frequently find ourselves wincing at the shoddy nature of


30/37


Page

30

Renewing Christian Engagement With the Arts

Documents