{"id":2209,"date":"2014-09-05T01:52:20","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T01:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=2209"},"modified":"2014-09-05T01:53:05","modified_gmt":"2014-09-05T01:53:05","slug":"the-influence-of-art-in-christianity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-influence-of-art-in-christianity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Influence of Art in Christianity"},"content":{"rendered":"

William Dyrness\u2019s book, Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue[1], <\/em>provides historical context to how art and Christianity have impacted one another over time. The early Catholic Church (before the Reformation) incorporated elaborate art and architecture into their places of worship and services. It was used to draw people into the worship experience. During the reformation, the Protestants rejected incorporation of visual images and elaborate architecture in attempts to simplify worship and to direct people to the Scriptures versus symbolism. Even today the Protestant church seems hesitant to incorporate visual elements into worship, while the Catholic Church uses art heavily. However, today the Protestant Church seems to embrace the use of technology and digital forms of art. Although, there are varying levels of acceptance, depending on the denomination.<\/p>\n

The development of technology and digital forms of art has heavily influenced worship in most churches today. It is more widely accepted and utilized in the Protestant church, and it is changing the landscape of how we worship. Dyrness provides a quote by German artist Gerhard Richter, who says that \u201cart is not a substitute for religion: it is a religion. The Church is no longer adequate as a means of affording the experience of the transcendental, and of making religion real \u2013 and so art has been transformed from a means into the sole provider of religion. Today, people interact with digital technology and art outside of worship and religion daily. Art is used in the media, on the Internet, and people are constantly exposed and influenced by its presence. Richter\u2019s comment made me consider just how much art is used to present the Gospel and to influence Christians both within the church and outside. Even the image of the Anglo-Saxon Jesus paints a portrait in one\u2019s mind as to who Jesus is. The manner in which the artist presents Christ leaves an impression on a person about His character. These images leave an imprint in our minds, whether we choose to allow their influence or not.<\/p>\n

As artists seek to portray \u201cwho is Jesus\u201d, they have a heavy responsibility to accurately portray His Character and Nature. People could easily look to art as His representation and to be influence by what they see and hear. We see a similar behavior today as people listen to preachers, and take their word as the Gospel truth. Often, they don\u2019t take the time to read Scripture and to find out what it really says.<\/p>\n

Recently, the movie Noah<\/em> caused much controversy, as it did not follow the Biblical Account accurately. Coming in the near future, the movie Exodus: Gods and Kings<\/em>, has already made the news.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cDirector Ridley Scott casted actors Christian Bale, Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver, and other white actors in the lead roles and relegated black actors to play slaves and thieves.\u201d[2] These are great examples of how artists can have both positive and negative influence within the culture. The positive side to art is that it allows people to connect on a spiritual and emotional level, and engages their senses. For the Christian artist, God can utilize their gifts and talents to connect with people in a meaningful way. Art appeals to the human emotion and can reach depths that many times other humans cannot. As Dyrness states, \u201cWhat is special is God\u2019s revelation of himself and the call of creation to praise him in response.\u201d[3] Art can be a powerful medium to present Christ to the world, if artists respond to their calling and\u00a0praise Him through their work.<\/p>\n

[1] Dyrness, William A. (2001-11-01). Visual Faith (Engaging Culture): Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue. (Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n

[2] \u201c’Exodus’ Movie Director Talks Casting Amid Backlash for Whitewashing.\u201d The Christian Post, last modified September 2, 2014. Accessed September 4, 2014.\u00a0http:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/exodus-movie-director-talks-casting-amid-backlash-for-whitewashing-125744\/<\/p>\n

[3] Dyrness, William A. (2001-11-01). Visual Faith (Engaging Culture): Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue (Kindle Locations 1936-1937). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

William Dyrness\u2019s book, Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue[1], provides historical context to how art and Christianity have impacted one another over time. The early Catholic Church (before the Reformation) incorporated elaborate art and architecture into their places of worship and services. It was used to draw people into the worship experience. During […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[32,289,481,488],"class_list":["post-2209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlg","tag-dyrness","tag-lgp4-2","tag-richard-volzke","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2209"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2214,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209\/revisions\/2214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}