Introduction
In the book Art & the Bible, Schaeffer brings to mind, the position of art in both the life of a Christian and the Bible. There are two essays in the book. The first essay focuses on how scriptures portray art while the second essay explains eleven perspectives from which any Christian can view art.Critical Review
At the beginning of the first essay, Art in the Bible, Schaeffer highlights
four fundamental principles from the scriptures that Christians may rely on
comprehend the role of art in their lives. These concepts are that God created
the whole human being; the whole human being finds redemption in Christ, Christ
remains the Lord of the entire Christian life and the whole human being, and
that when Christ comes back in the future, the body will rise from the dead,
and the whole human being will get a whole redemption (Schaeffer 7-8). In
short, Schaeffer intended to assert that given the fact that God is the Lord
over all creation and human beings, he is, as well, the Lord over creative
arts.
Next,
Schaeffer considers Exodus 20: 4-5, which states “thou shall not make into thee
any graven image.” He explains that this scripture does not restrict creation
of graven images, but only restrict worshiping them. He justifies this argument
by referring to the situation when God gave the Ten Commandments to Prophet Moses.
The Ten Commandments consisted of almost all kinds of representational art that
has ever existed, including blue pomegranates. In this situation, Schaeffer
meant to demonstrate that God enjoys and appreciate art. The art may be
photographic or expand into something ‘real’, but He condemns worshipping them.
On artistic nature of temples, Schaeffer draws reference to the situation when
the Lord’s Spirit presented David with the temple’s design (1 Chronicles 28:
11-12), which demonstrates a whole of non-utilitarian art. Additionally, Schaeffer talks of the “the secular art” as
it was on Solomon’s throne (1st Kings 10: 18-20). It is, however, debatable if
Solomon’s throne depicted ‘secular’ art. It is worth noting that this was a
time when had a theocratic government; hence, making it complicated to
differentiate between ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ art.
Finally, Schaeffer summarizes the first essay by discussion
poetry as a work of art. Basing his argument on the Septuagint of David
singing, Schaeffer explains that art may praise God even if it is not in the
temple. He identifies the Song of Solomon as a quintessential secular art that
God Himself inspired to an extent. Schaeffer goes ahead to explain that just
like poetry, the Bible also uses dance and drama. For instance, prophet Ezekiel
played out a drama to deliver the message of a prophecy. As well, O’Kane (388)
reminds us that King David danced triumphantly in his ephod. Moreover,
Schaeffer is right in nimbly explaining that not everything action that people
in the Bible did is prescriptive. In winding up this essay, Schaeffer reminds
us that God also has an interest in arts in the afterlife, just as the song and
music in Revelation 15: 2-3 depicts. The action of demonstrating how the Bible
depicts the arts is a sure way of countering the attitude that shows contempt
for arts.
In the second essay, Some Perspectives in Art, Schaeffer introduces eleven perspectives
that Christians usually consider when viewing art. Schaeffer’s first assertion
is that there is an intrinsic value attached to any work of art. In accordance
with Schaeffer (34), a work of art is something for enjoyment, and not for just
a mere analysis of its intellectual content. A work of art has value since it
originates from creativity, and work that results from creativity is valuable
as it comes from human beings that God Himself created. However, Schaeffer
seems a little bit myopic in how he comprehends art. Even though it is
irrefutable that one should not just analyze art because of its intellectual
content, this is what most people do with art. Not every work of art is for enjoyments, for instance, prophetic
artworks.
He then narrowly touches on the point that whenever
one expresses any proposition in artistic prose or poetry rather than in bald
and formulaic statement, it is possible to heighten the effect of that
proposition (Schaeffer 38-39). This is a crucial notion for consideration, but
he does not expound further on it. Next, Schaeffer explains that innovation in
a work of art is recommendable, but one could distort some important details in
the artwork when he or she diverges extremely far from the custom, for example,
in total abstract painting. Subsequently, he explains that not everything that
is “art” is sacred. This point is especially true considering that some works
of art may contain falsified propositions. After these four perspectives,
Schaeffer introduces four criteria for judging art.
First, Schaeffer asserts that an art’s technical
execution judges it. In this case, Schaeffer believes that an artist who does a
given work of art in technical excellence deserves praise even if his or her
idea differs from worldview. This is a very challenging point as most
Christians usually reject some piece of artwork when it differs from the view
of the Christian truth. Next, validity of an artwork judges it, even if the
artist had not been honest to herself or himself when creating the art piece. This
point reminds Christians that the validity of “art” to its parameters should be
the only way to determine if an artwork is “valid” or “invalid”. Parameters of
an artwork may imply public interest or wish of a patron. Thirdly, the
consistency of the worldview, that an art espouses, with the scripture judges
it. Schaeffer asserts that non-Christians can actually accomplish this while
Christians can sometimes not accomplish it. The last criterion is the level to
which art agree with its form.
Then Schaeffer says that style of a work of art
changes with every change in language. However, he advises that a Christian
should portray three elements in her or his style. First, the style should
conform to his or her day. Secondly, style needs to be indigenous to the
geographical location of the Christian. Finally, the style should comply with
the Christian worldview. Therefore, Schaeffer is trying to tell Christians that
they need to think deeply before using any style in art. Finally, Schaeffer
vindicates that there is a place for both minor and major themes in Christian
art.
In conclusion, it is irrefutable that Schaeffer’s Art & the Bible is crucial in
answering the questions that Christian artists face. The two essays deeply focus
and analyze the perceptions of the scriptures regarding art. Moreover, the
second essay is particularly dependable as it relies on specific application of
what Christians learn about art from the Bible. Generally, the book is
instrumental in informing evangelicals who may be interested in elementary
Christian perspectives on works of art.
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