{"id":2250,"date":"2014-09-05T17:12:35","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T17:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=2250"},"modified":"2014-09-05T17:20:31","modified_gmt":"2014-09-05T17:20:31","slug":"visual-faith-art-theology-and-worship-in-dialogue-engaging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/visual-faith-art-theology-and-worship-in-dialogue-engaging\/","title":{"rendered":"Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue Engaging"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><em>Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue Engaging<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/IMG_3235.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2251 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/IMG_3235-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_3235\" width=\"222\" height=\"244\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue Engaging <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Recently I attended a leadership training conference where I watched someone do a side artwork during the preaching of the word ( see the picture above). This was my first cross-cultural experience of this type, and I have never seen before a visual artwork accompanying the sermon. It is a beautiful piece of art; I wish I had had the chance to ask the artist how her work relates to the sermon. \u00a0Confess I have already forgotten what the sermon was all about but still remember the visual image of that art. Wouldn\u2019t it be nice if the artist was given a chance to explain her art? \u00a0I also realize that I remember more visuals than audio. This makes me wonder why preachers and pastors do not use more visuals.<\/p>\n<p>After reading <em>Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue Engaging Culture, by<\/em> William A. Dyrness, I realized how imperative it is for us to create spaces for visual arts in our worship to encourage creativity that brings glory to God. Dyrness\u2019s detail analysis on the development of visual arts from historical, biblical and theological points of views sheds light on the current challenge for Christians and the art and also provides a helpful guide for the future.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some helpful insights I concluded from my reading:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>The growing interest in the visual arts<\/em>. According to the writer\u2019s analysis, the time after the reformation, visual arts were neglected in the church, \u201c for they were seen as distractions from true worship, which always focused on the preached Word\u201d (p.13). However, at the turn of the millennium, things have changed and today there is a high level of Christian interest in the visual arts (p.11). Is this why we see some emerging churches including artwork in their service? \u00a0In my Ethiopian context, the visual arts that William discusses in this book are not familiar in my church. However, due to globalization, there is a fast growing interest toward visual medias for better or worse. For instance, people are more interested in watching gospel DVD\u2019s than just listing to CDs. There are lots of Christian TV channels which air 24\/7 where people can listen to the sermons and enjoy the music. While I am very grateful for the freedom and opportunity we have to share the word of God through available medias, I am also concerned for its far-reaching negative impact on the church and kingdom work. Sadly, signs and miracles are the divine visuals that most Christians in my country are looking\u00a0 for. Often the growth of a church is measured by the number of its members and its capital. However, as William states, \u201cThroughout Scripture the visual experience of God\u2019s people was to accompany and elaborate God\u2019s Word to them,\u201d not to be used as a measurement for one\u2019s own success (p.84).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>We all are artists but in different ways<\/em>. We are created in God\u2019s image as men and women, and are given the capacity to do creative things to speak of our Father\u2019s glory. William explains more beautifully than I ever could, \u201c\u2026being a good artist is nothing special, for God holds everyone responsible for certain things: being stewards of the earth, loving our neighbor, and praising God\u201d (P.97). Therefore, the question is how as Christians do we see our work linked to doing justice to the earth, and voice to the hurting neighbor\u2019s to create a better world?<\/li>\n<li><em>\u201cGod is the author of all beauty\u201d<\/em> (p.73). William does a great job referencing from both Testaments the biblical grounds for \u201cbeauty and goodness. What he finds is that, in the Bible both God\u2019s words and acts go together, \u201cwhat is visually lovely and true reflects who God is, consequently, all that he does\u201d (p.75). Therefore, William sums up saying, \u201cgoodness, even beauty, are not fixed qualities toward which we can aspire\u2014as was the case with the Greek ideal of perfection and Beauty. Rather they have a contingent character so familiar to anyone who treasures roses or sunsets\u201d (p.75). I also love that the biblical idea of beauty is broader than how it is defined in our world. It includes \u201c sensations of light, color, sound, smell, and even taste\u201d (p.81).\u00a0 Therefore, it is pivotal to evaluate our understanding of beauty in lines with Scripture and ask ourselves whether our visual arts point to God, as they should be.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue Engaging Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue Engaging Recently I attended a leadership training conference where I watched someone do a side artwork during the preaching of the word ( see the picture above). This was my first cross-cultural experience of this type, and I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"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":[2,289],"class_list":["post-2250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-dyrness","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250","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\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2250"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2264,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250\/revisions\/2264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}