'Christianity & the Arts' Email Resource
Sample #2
CHRISTIANITY & THE ARTS - e-resources
JULY 31, 2003
INDEX of all editions
Contents:
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Articles:
+ Some Perspectives on How To Judge Art - Francis Schaeffer
+ The Arts & Spiritual Warfare - Colin Harbinson
Events:
+ MULTICULTURAL PRAISE & WORSHIP CONGRESS - Plaza of Nations, Vancouver
- Aug 23
+ Manifest Arts Festival & Retreat - Aug. (retreat) & Nov. (festival)
Networking:
+ Songs to the Creator
+ Carmen Tome - Photographer
+ Lorna Rande - Photographer
Opportunities:
+ Extraordinary Film Script - actors wanted
+ Actor for Small Role in Pilate Wanted
Resources:
+ The Arts: A Biblical Framework - Colin Harbinson
The Artist: A Spiritual Foundation - Colin Harbinson
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Some Perspectives on Art and on How to Judge Art
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(Editor's Note) - Many believers are not really sure of what to make of art. They may feel that they don't understand it and they may not know what to look for or how to judge art; as a result, it can be rather threatening to them. Therefore, to many, art tends to be given low priority in day to day life and in matters of spirituality and has often been left more to the 'fringe' people of society to develop rather than being embraced in the Church as a vital part of our worship to God through the utilization of His creative giftings in us. Because the Church has largely withdrawn from the realm of art, the art that is produced around us generally continues to degenerate and the Church, not knowing how to judge art or how to respond, often 'throws out the baby with the bathwater' rather than appreciating the good art and rejecting the bad…and rather than developing GOOD art which will also be up-lifting to the world and a witness to Creator God.
In the midst of this confusion about art, God is raising up an increased
awareness in believers around the world of the need for the Church to reconsider
God's perspective of music and the arts as a vital aspect of His character
and of His good gifts to us so that we can vigorously and passionately express
our worship of Him to Him, and be a poignant and provocative witness of our
great and awesome, creative God through the multi-faceted artistic expressions
He has given us! It is our responsibility as the Church to see Christ's Kingdom
come and for His will to be done on the earth as it is in heaven (Matt 6:10),
and one way to begin to do that is through the arts. The excerpts below are
a very helpful attempt to begin to give some ideas on how art can be judged.
- Grace
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Following are some excerpts from Francis A. Schaeffer's excellent book
"ART AND THE BIBLE" (p. 33-63). InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove,
Illinois 60515 copyright 1973
http://www.gospelcom.net/ivpress/title/443.html
"…All of us are engaged daily with works of art, even if we
are neither professional nor amateur artists. We read books, we listen to
music, we look at posters, we admire flower arrangements. Art, as I am using
the word, does not include just 'high art', that is, painting, sculpture,
poetry, classical music, but also the more popular expressions - the novel,
the theater, the cinema, popular music and rock. In fact, there is a very
real sense in which the Christian life itself should be our greatest work
of art. Even for the great artists, the most crucial work of art is his life.
In what follows, I wish to develop a Christian perspective on art in general.
How should we as creators and enjoyers of beauty comprehend and evaluate it?
There are, I believe, at least eleven distinct perspectives from which a Christian
can consider and evaluate works of art…
1. The first is the most important: A WORK OF ART HAS A VALUE IN ITSELF.
For some this principle may seem too obvious to mention, but for many Christians
it is unthinkable. And yet if we miss this point, we miss the very essence
of art. Art is not something we merely analyze or value for its intellectual
content. It is something to be enjoyed. The Bible says that the art work in
the tabernacle and the temple was for beauty…
…As a Christian we know why a work of art has value. Why? First, because
a work of art is a work of creativity, and creativity has value because God
is the Creator…
Second, an art work has value as a creation because man is made in the image
of God and therefore man not only can love and think and feel emotion, but
also has the capacity to create…all people are to some degree creative….
…But we must be careful not to reverse this. Not every creation is great
art. Nor is all that man makes good either intellectually or morally. So,
while creativity is a good thing in itself, it does not mean that everything
that comes out of man's creativity is good. For while man was made in the
image of God, he is fallen. Furthermore, since men have various gifts and
talents, everyone cannot create everything equally well…
…Many modern artists, it seems to me, have forgotten the value that art
has in itself. Much modern art is far too intellectual to be great art…Many
modern artists seem not to see the distinction between man and non-man, and
it is a part of the lostness of modern man that they no longer see value in
the work of art as a work of art.
I am afraid, however, that as evangelicals we have largely made the same mistake.
Too often we think that a work of art has value only if we reduce it to a
tract. This too is to view art solely as a message for the intellect.
There are, I believe, three basic possibilities concerning the nature of a
work of art.
a) the first view is the relatively recent theory of art for art's sake.
b) The second…is that art is only an embodiment of a message, a vehicle
for the propagation of a particular message about the world or the artist
or man or whatever.
c) The third basic notion of the nature of art - the one I think is right,
the one that really produces great art and the possibility of great art -
is that the artist makes a body of work and this body of work shows his world
view…I emphasize the body of an artist's work because it is impossible
for any single painting, for example, to reflect the totality of an artist's
view of reality…
2. Art forms add strength to the world view which shows through, no matter what the world view is or whether the world view is true or false….
3. In all forms of writing, both poetry and prose, it makes a tremendous
difference whether there
is a continuity or a discontinuity with the normal definitions of words in
normal syntax. ..
4. The fact that something is a work of art does not make it sacred….As
Christians, we must see
that just because an artist - even a great artist - portrays a world view
in writing or on canvas,
it does not mean that we should automatically accept that world view. Art
may heighten the
impact of the world view, in fact we can count on this, but it does not make
something true.
The truth of a world view presented by an artist must be judged on separate
grounds than
artistic greatness….
FOUR STANDARDS OF JUDGEMENT
5. What kind of judgment does one apply, then, to a work of art? I believe
there are four basic standards: 1) technical excellence; 2) validity; 3) intellectual
content, the world view which comes through and 4) the integration of content
and vehicle. (italics/bold mine - Grace)
I will discuss TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE in relationship to painting because it
is easy to point out through this medium what I mean. Here one considers the
use of color, form, balance, the texture of the pain, the handling of lines,
the unity of the canvas and so forth. In each of these there can be varying
degrees of technical excellence. By recognizing technical excellence as an
aspect of an art work, we are often able to say that while we do not agree
with such and such an artist's world view, he is nonetheless a great artist.
We are not being true to the artist as a man if we consider his art work junk
simply because we differ with his outlook on life. Christian schools, Christian
parents and Christian pastors often have turned off young people at just this
point. Because the schools, the pastors and the parents did not make a distinction
between technical excellence and content, the whole of much great art has
been rejected by scorn or ridicule. Instead, if the artist's technical excellence
is high, he is to be praised for this, even if we differ with his world view.
Man must be treated fairly as man. Technical excellence is, therefore, an
important criterion.
VALIDITY is the second criterion. By validity I mean whether an artist is
honest to himself and to his world view or whether he makes his art only for
money or for the sake of being accepted. If an artist makes an art work solely
for a patron - …his work does not have validity…
The third criterion for the judgment of a work of art is its CONTENT, that
which reflects the world view of the artist….The artist's world view
is not to be free from the judgment of the Word of God…an artist may
wear a painter's smock and be considered almost a holy man, yet where his
work shows his world view, it must be judged by its relationship to the Christian
world view….If we stand as Christians before a man's canvas and recognize
that he is a great artist in technical excellence and validity - if in fact
he is - if we have been fair with him as a man and as an artist, then we can
say that his world view is wrong. We can judge this view on the same basis
as we judge the views of anybody else - philosopher, common man, labourer,
businessman or whatever…..whether the artist is conscious of the world
view or not, to the extent that it is there it must come under the judgment
of the Word of God.
There is a corollary to this third criterion. We should realize that if something
untrue or immoral is stated in great art it can be far more destructive and
devastating than if it is expressed in poor art or prosaic statement….the
greater the artistic expression, the more important it is to consciously bring
it and its world view under the judgment of Christ and the Bible….the
common reaction among many, however, is just the opposite. Ordinarily, many
seem to feel that the greater the art, the less we ought to be critical of
its world view. This we must reverse.
There is a second corollary related to judging the content of an art work:
It is possible for a non-Christian writer or painter to write and paint according
to a Christian world view even though he himself is not a Christian….
There are, therefore, four kinds of people in the realm of art. The first
is the born-again man who writes or paints within the Christian total world
view. The second is the non-Christian who expresses his own non-Christian
world view. The third is the many who is personally a non-Christian but nevertheless
writes or paints on the basis of the Christian consensus by which he has been
influence…The fourth person is the born-again Christian who does not
understand what the total Christian world view should be and therefore produces
art which embodies a non-Christian world view. In other words, just as it
is possible for a non-Christian to be inconsistent and to paint God's world
in spite of his personal philosophy, it is possible for a Christian to be
inconsistent and embody in his paintings a non-Christian world view. And it
is this latter which is perhaps the most sad.
The fourth criterion for judging a work of art involves how well the artists
has SUITED THE VEHICLE TO THE MESSAGE. For those art works which are truly
great, there is a correlation between the style and the content. The greatest
art fits the vehicle that is being used to the world view that is being presented…
We should ultimately see all art works in the light of their technique, validity,
world view and suiting of form to content.
Art Can Be Used For Any Type of Message….just because something takes the form of a work of art does not mean that it cannot be factual…
Changing Styles
Modern Art Forms and the Christian Message…we must distinguish carefully between style and message…while we must use twentieth-century styles, we must not use them in such a way as to be dominated by the world views out of which they have arisen…therefore, an art form or style that is no longer able to carry content cannot be used to give the Christian message…the form in which a world view is given can either weaken or strengthen the content, even if the viewer or reader does not in every case analyze this completely. In other words, depending upon the vehicle you use, something can come across that an audience does not notice and yet will be moving either in the direction of your world view or away from your world view….and as a Christian adopts and adapts various contemporary techniques, he must wrestle with the whole question, looking to the Holy Spirit for help to know when to invent, when to adopt, when to adapt and when to not use a specific style at all. This is something each artist wrestles with for a lifetime, not something he settles once and for all….often we will use twentieth-century art forms, but we must be careful to keep them from distorting the world view which is distinctively ours as Christians
The Christian World View
The Subject Matter of Christian Art…Christian art is by no means always religious are, 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?…Christian art is the expression of the whole life of the whole person who is a Christian. What a Christian portrays in his 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.
An individual Art Work and the Body of the Artist's Work…no artist can say everything he might want to say or build everything he might want to build into a single work…if you are a Christian artist, therefore, you must not freeze up just because you can't do everything at once.
The Christian Life as a Work of Art…no work of art is more important than the Christian's own life, and every Christian is called upon to be an artists in this sense. He may have no gift of writing, no gift of composing or singing, but each man has the gift of creativity in terms of the way he lives his life. In this sense, the Christian's life is to be an art work. The Christian's life is to be a thing of truth and also a thing of beauty in the midst of a lost and despairing world."
***For discussions about aesthetics and judging the form of art in cultures
worldwide, see the following articles in the journal The World of Music:
Nketia, J.H.K. 1984. 26/1:3-28. The Aesthetic Dimension of Ethnomusicological
Studies.
Stockmann, Doris. 1983. 25/3:26-45. Universals in Aesthetic Valuation of Music?
Supicic, Ivo. 1983. 25/3:16-25. Aesthetics of Music - Particularity and Universality.
(Paul Neeley)
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THE ARTS & SPIRITUAL WARFARE - Colin Harbinson
http://www.colinharbinson.com/teaching/artspirwarfare.html
MULTICULTURAL PRAISE & WORSHIP CONGRESS
REACHING THE LOST through A TIME TO CRY OUT: Music Congress
http://disciplethenations.org/iglesiaevangelicarestauracion.html
August 23, 2003
at: the PLAZA OF NATIONS, Vancouver, BC
On August the 23rd, 2003, our church ( Iglesia Evangelica Restauracion) will be hosting the very first event of this calibur done in Canada, a Praise and Worship Congress at the Plaza of Nations.
A "well known" Christian Spanish singer Jesus Adrian Romero (probably equal to english singer Michael W. Smith....something like that) will be coming from Mexico with his worship team to host this day long event.
********************
MANIFEST ARTS:
The third MANIFEST arts festival is slated for Nov 7-9 at Holy Trinity. Check
www.manifestarts.com They're also holding a retreat Aug 29 - Sep 1. Want details?
Check www.arocha.org
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OPPORTUNITIES:
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FROM: SOUL FOOD
WANTED: EXTRAORDINARY FILM SCRIPT
Ned Vankevich is producing a 35mm feature film shoot scheduled for next summer
and is looking for a great script for a few actors that can be shot in a minimal
number of locations. The genre is open, but the theme,
character, and dialogue need to be extraordinary. For more information, contact?
Ned Vankevich, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communications
Trinity Western University
7600 Glover Road
Langley BC V2Y 1Y1
USA Address:
Box 1409
Blaine, WA 98231-1409
Tel: (604) 888-7511 (#3227)
Fax: (604) 513-2084
----------------------
From: SOUL FOOD
WANTED: ACTOR FOR SMALL ROLE IN PILATE
A great cast has been assembled for Pilate, but they still need one guy-age
not that important-for Caiaphas. It would be a great opportunity for someone,
especially a beginner. Contact: <nady50@shaw.ca> or
firstplayers@hotmail.com.
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NETWORKING:
=============
SONGS TO THE CREATOR - Indigenous Music Program for First Nations People
http://disciplethenations.org/SongstotheCreator.html
Songs to the Creator
180 Rockland Rd., Campbell River, BC V9W 1N6
250-923-0531
miller@naim.ca
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
CARMEN TOME - PHOTOGRAPHER in Langley, BC
http://www.carmentome.com/
GOD HELPED ME GO BEYOND FEAR, THROUGH ART - Carmen Tome -
Canadian Photographer of the Year - 2003
http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/bc.cgi?bc/bccn/0603/beyondfear
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
LORNA RANDE - Photographer in Surrey, BC
www.randephotos.com
============
RESOURCES:
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The Arts: A Biblical Framework - Colin Harbinson - http://www.colinharbinson.com/order/prod_arttape.html
The Artist: A Spiritual Foundation - Colin Harbinson -
http://www.colinharbinson.com/order/prod_artisttape.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a set of 8 cassette tapes. The second set includes 4 tapes & a
booklet with full color diagrams that
follow the tape series. This set sells for $50.00 US plus $4.00 S&H within
the US. Outside the US the S&H varies depending on the weight. Colin's
30+ years in using the arts in ministry and his natural teaching gifts have
enabled him to create extraordinary resources for the Body of Christ, especially
but not exclusively for those interested & called to performance ministry.
To order or request further info: Donna Schmidt , P.O.Box 81, Peninsula, Ohio
44264-0081 USA. Make the checks out to Colin Harbinson Tape Ministry, if you
will please.
You can also contact Colin through his web site: http://www.colinharbinson.com
Some Topics Included:
The Artist and Ego Creation, Commission and Caution
The Reconciliation of All Things The World, the Kingdom and the Arts
Creative Communication The Artist and Spiritual Warfare
==============
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subscribing to this free weekly/bi-weekly "Christianity & The Arts"
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To subscribe, email: GCWAC@DiscipleTheNations.org and put 'FREE Christianity & The Arts' Resources in the subject line. Thank you!
For the Jun 15/03 7 Jun 30/03 editions, please request at same email address.
Please send me relevant information which you think should be included. This is mostly for folks in the Lower Mainland in BC so events will mostly reflect what's happening in this region, but others are welcome to receiving it as well, however we may not necessarily promote events in other regions (at least not at this point).
Previous edition:
Article: Redeeming The Arts - Colin Harbinson, YWAM
Many blessings!!
Great Commission Worship & Arts Center - Surrey, BC
http://DiscipleTheNations.org/index9.html
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