The Visual Arts and an Acts 2 Moment for the Church
“I believe that making beautiful forms is theologically connected to our call both to listen and respond to God in prayer, praise, and sacrament.”(1)
The church in which I grew up met in a rather utilitarian building on the side of town that was filled with immigrants. As the church developed and grew it moved to another location, however, even the new building remained utilitarian in nature. Not many frills, but elegant in its own understated way. There were several reasons for this understatement; one of the main reason was that the founders of our church wanted little to do with the visually artistic expression of faith, Dyrness’ “beautiful forms,” or what some considered to be representations of the idols and images forbidden in the scriptures. Like the reformers, they too had “come out of” Catholicism. For this reason, aside from the occasional chalk artist evangelist who visited our church, the visual arts were not particularly a part of our prayer, praise or sacraments. I came to realize that we were not the only church with the same point of view.
Dyrness begins his book with the recognition that in recent history at least, art and the Protestant church have not been on good terms with each other. (2) Dyrness traces this line of thought through the reformation and then to the 20th-century evangelical movement. Briefly stated, the reformers felt that there was little need for the visual in worship. All that was required to mediate the presence of the Holy Spirit was the preaching of the Word of God. “In worship, it is the preached Word of God that gives entrance to God’s grace.” The scriptures alone are all that is needed.(3)
Moving into the early part of the 20th century, the influence of liberalism was being felt in the evangelical church. To protect itself from the influences of the “world” the evangelical church focused more on the “inner life.” This move in some ways worked to protect the faithful from the “world,” but also created a, in some respects, a siloing of the church.(4) Not unlike Douthat who argues that the American church has departed from its roots. (5) Dryness points to the past and reformation as the beginning of the church’s departure, while Douthat points to present American culture as the cause. In both cases, the departure is seen as detrimental to the church and its mission.
In his analysis of the current situation, Dyrness builds on the obvious that can sometimes go unnoticed in the church, namely that the world is changing, people are changing, attention spans are changing are changing, and the calls for one’s attention are more varied and louder than ever before. (6) It is in this setting that Dyrness states “It is possible that we might actually win the battle of words but lose the battle of images. And losing that battle could well cost us this generation.” (7)
Dyrness addresses what can be done and considers this the time and era of new opportunities for the evangelical church and Christian involvement in the arts. He states that it is time for the evangelical church to “come to terms with the visual in a way that we have not had to do previously.”(8) Coming to terms means that there is no need to choose between the visual and the verbal, both are necessary, both will only enrich worship. Accordingly, Christians need to be willing to return to their visual heritage and their visual imagination and use it as a means of not only a mediation of worship but as a clear message to the world.(9) He is calling for a renewal of worship, and Acts 2 moment for the church. “Claiming the stimulus of the Holy Spirit is not an optional accessory of the Christian life, and any artistic renewal in and for the church can come only in connection with a renewal of congregational faith and worship.”(10)
Visual Faith makes sense on many levels. There is an absence in the evangelical church of the visual art. There seems to be a trail back to the reformation and to the 20th-century Evangelical church’s move to protect herself from the world. Furthermore, there is a return to the visual arts in the church. For example, the denomination to which I belong has a yearly event called the Fine Arts Festival. Thousands of youth participate. One of the categories is visual arts. Some of the work that the teenagers produce is incredible and extremely worshipful. In this there an acknowledgment of the importance of developing the arts and allowing a younger generation to express their faith and worship to God via the visual arts.
My arguments with Dryness are few. Though the visual arts may not have been a driving force in the church from the Reformation forward, they were always present and are to some extent still present today. For example in the sacraments of communion (the bread and the cup) and marriage (the rings). These continue to be visual artistic expressions of our Christian faith. Even the hymnal is a creative visual and tactile meditation of worship. There are those who would be concerned that the exploration of visual arts in the act of worship can draw attention away from God toward the visual art itself or even more problematic the one who created the visual art. Though I do not completely agree I do see this as a slight concern. I do not, however, agree with those who would state that the trend toward visual arts in the church is an effort to create a fad to attract a new generation of worshippers.(11) I neither see it as a fad or an attraction, if that were the case, visual arts alone would be enough to have a growing church community. I see it more as Dyrness sees it, as a return to the roots of our Christian faith. That is why I would agree that this may be an Acts 2 moment for the evangelical church.
- William A. Dryness. Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue. Kindle ed. Engaging Culture, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001, 9.
- Ibid., 11.
- Ibid., 53.
- Ibid., 14.
- Ross Douthat. Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics. Reprint ed. Free Press, 2013.
- William A. Dryness. Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue, 20.
- Ibid., 21.
- Ibid., 145.
- Ibid., 156.
- Ibid., 157.
- Kaitlyn Zachary. “Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue.” (2015): http://artistictheologian.com/2015/04/09/visual-faith-art-theology-and-worship-in-dialogue/ (accessed Sep 5, 2017).
About the Author
Jim Sabella
11 responses to “The Visual Arts and an Acts 2 Moment for the Church”
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HI Jim,
I enjoyed reading your blog. I love the insert of Acts 2.
Should I be able to have the Acts 2 experience through visual arts? I’ve learned through observing praise dancing along with the sound of music.
Thanks Lynda. Praise dancing and music can be expressions of the glory of God for sure. Thanks for highlighting that here and in your very interesting post. See you in South Africa!
Thank you, Jim. You are so right. The lifting of the cup and the tearing of the bread are Visual reminders of the original Lord’s supper.
And how about those tongues of fire? What about the speaking in tongues?
When in Rome I saw many symbols and pictures in the catacombs. Can a picture represent 1000 words?
I love your Biblical connections – thank you.
Thanks Mary! You’re right, a picture can speak 1000 words. I’ve never been to the catacombs in Rome. Hope to go sometime. See you in South Africa!
Thanks Jim. I agree that “jumping on the bandwagon” of valuing images in worship in order to attract young people is a poor motive. That being said, many young people ARE seeking experiential worship. We’ve seen many articles on millennials drawn to liturgy and “high church” communities. For instance:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/why-millennials-long-for-liturgy/
The author writes, “sacramental hunger lies at the heart of what many millennials feel. We are highly wired to be experiential. In the midst of our consumer culture, young people ‘ache for sacramentality…. The millennial generation is seeking a holistic, honest, yet mysterious truth that their current churches cannot provide. Where they search will have large implications for the future of Christianity. Protestant churches that want to preserve their youth membership may have to develop a greater openness toward the treasures of the past. One thing seems certain: this ‘sacramental yearning’ will not go away.”
Thanks Katy. I agree many young people and not so young are seeking experiential worship. Pentecostal worship has historically been “experiential” in nature. Today, in many settings that experience includes the visual arts. In fact, I just visited an Assemblies of God church that is, for all intents and purposes, very liturgical in its form of worship and many young people attended and enjoyed the form of worship. However, the church was located in a college town where there were many millennials living. I wonder how this move toward the visual might impact the churches that are outside of the urban or college settings? See you in South Africa!
A very thought-provoking statement Jim – “That is why I would agree that this may be an Acts 2 moment for the evangelical church.” As I was reading this book, I was struck with the importance of bringing art back into our contemporary worship services. It is clear that where words fail, art is victorious in communicating the heart of a message and transcends all ethnicities and religious groups. How do we inspire our artists to rise up and create, and how do we go back to our roots and resurrect the critical role of art in our contemporary western churches?
Thanks Jennifer. I appreciate your pointing out that the visual can speak in ways words can’t. Where words fall short, the visual can sometimes fill the gap. As I mentioned in my response to your post, I have been doing some research on visual journaling in the context of leadership personal and spiritual development and also in solving complex problems. The power of the visual is fascinating and in many ways incouraging in this area. See you in South Africa!
Jim, as a former youth minister, I was always impressed with the way that Assembly of God churches valued music, drama, dance, and visual arts training for their teens. As these teens grow into adulthood, they will become church leaders with a greater appreciation for the arts in worship.
Thank you for your encouragement and kind word Stu! See you in South Africa!
Jim,
A really thorough and well thought out piece here. I think there is a danger with visual arts – as with anything – if we make it ‘the thing’ that is going to bring people in or lead people to Jesus or whatever, that it will fall short….. but at the same time, it seems, well, just plain silly to me to exclude the visual in our worship – as it is such a crucial part of who we are and how we interact today (For instance: my kids all watch more video than they do radio)…. I would argue that the ‘war’ for images is already over and images have won.