ARTA 200 Regent University W5 Forming a Biblical Aesthetic Narrative Essay Forming a Biblical Aesthetic Each week, we will look at various passages of scr

ARTA 200 Regent University W5 Forming a Biblical Aesthetic Narrative Essay Forming a Biblical Aesthetic

Each week, we will look at various passages of scripture or a reading from other sources that address Biblical principles and the arts. You will be asked to read and prayerfully consider the assigned passage(s) and keep a weekly journal of your reflections. This journal will provide a foundation upon which you will begin to develop your own biblically informed aesthetic. You will be required to post your entries every week. Your journal entries will not be shared with the class, to protect your privacy.

– 200-300 Words

Prayerfully consider the assigned reading, an excerpt from the book Art and the Bible, by Francis A. Schaeffer. Submit your response in writing to your journal.

https://learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos.s3.us-… Art and the Bible
FRANCIS A. SCHAEFFER
FOREWORD BY MICHAIL GAXD
Excerpt from
Art and the Bible
by Francis A. Schaeffer
© IVP Books (September 20, 2009)
Page Numbers Source ISBN: B00290Y3FS
ASIN: BOOQAULVZW
(Note: In full disclosure, without permission from the publisher, I changed the references of
“man” and “men” in this excerpt where Mr. Schaeffer’s meaning is mankind, or humankind,
etc., to “man and woman,” “his and her,” etc., in an attempt to align more with today’s
sensitivities. You will notice these changes in brackets [ ].)
Christian art is by no means always religious art, that is, art which deals with religious themes.
Consider God the Creator. Is God’s creation totally involved with religious subjects? What about
the universe? the birds? the trees? the mountains? What about the bird’s song? and the sound of
the wind in the trees? When God created out of nothing by his spoken word, he did not just create
“religious” objects. And in the Bible, as we have seen, God commanded the artist, working within
God’s own creation, to fashion statues of oxen and lions and carvings of almond blossoms for the
tabernacle and the temple.
We should remember that the Bible contains the Song of Solomon, the love song between a man
and a woman, and it contains David’s song to Israel’s national heroes. Neither subject is religious.
But God’s creation—the mountains, the trees, the birds and the birds’ songs—are also non-religious
art. Think about that. If God made the flowers, they are worth painting and writing about. If God
made the birds, they are worth painting. If God made the sky, the sky is worth painting. If God made
the ocean, indeed it’s worth writing poetry about. It is worth man’s while to create works upon the
basis of the great works God has already created.
This whole notion is rooted in the realization that Christianity is not just involved with “salvation”
but with the total [person] in the total world. The Christian message begins with the existence
of God forever and then with creation. It does not begin with salvation. We must be thankful for
salvation, but the Christian message is more than that. Man[kind] has a value because he and
she is made in the image of God and thus man as man [and woman as woman) is an important
subject for Christian art. Man as man [woman as woman) – with [his and her] emotions, [his
and her] feelings, [his and her] body, [his and her] life-this is an important subject matter
for poetry and novels. I’m not talking here about man[kind’s] lostness but about his and her
[humanness]. In God’s world the individual counts [both man and woman]. Therefore, Christian
art should deal with the individual [both man and woman)….
Christian art is the expression of the whole life of the whole person who is a Christian. What a
Christian portrays in his/her art is the totality of life. Art is not to be solely a vehicle for some
sort of self-conscious evangelism.
If, therefore, Christianity has so much to say about the arts and to the artist, why is it that
recently we have produced so little Christian art? I should think the answer would now be
clear. We have not produced Christian art because we have forgotten most of what Christianity
says about the arts.
Christians, for example, ought not to be threatened by fantasy and imagination. Great painting
is not “photographic” in the poor sense of photographic. The Old Testament art commanded by
God was not always “photographic.” There were blue pomegranates on the robes of the priest
when he went into the Holy of Holies. In nature there are no blue pomegranates. Christian
artists do not need to be threatened by fantasy and imagination, for they have a basis for
knowing the difference between them and the real world “out there.” Epistemologically, as |
have pointed out in He Is There and He Is Not Silent, [Christian’s have] a basis for knowing the
difference between subject and object. The Christian is the really free [person]—[s]he is free to
have imagination. This too is our heritage. The Christian is the one whose imagination should
fly beyond the stars.
Moreover, a Christian artist does not need to concentrate on religious subjects. After all,
religious themes may be completely non-Christian. The counter-culture art in the underground
newspaper in which Christ and Krishna are blended: Here is religious art par excellence. But it
is completely anti-Christian. Religious subjects are no guarantee that a work of art is Christian.
On the other hand, the art of an artist who never paints the head of Christ, never once paints
an open tomb, may be magnificent Christian art. For some artists there is a place for religious
themes, but an artist does not need to be conscience stricken if he does not paint in this area.
Some Christian artists will never use religious themes. This is a freedom the artist has in Christ
under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

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