{"id":735,"date":"2013-09-06T05:43:54","date_gmt":"2013-09-06T05:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=735"},"modified":"2014-10-28T17:38:04","modified_gmt":"2014-10-28T17:38:04","slug":"christianity-and-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/christianity-and-creativity\/","title":{"rendered":"Christianity and Creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"

In all my years of ministry, even though I have enjoyed art, I have never given it serious thought and consideration as one that adds value to ministry.\u00a0 My protestant puritanical upbringing has not allowed me to reflect upon its value and worth in worship and discipleship.\u00a0 Reading Visual Faith \u2013 Art, Theology and Worship in Dialogue<\/em> by Dyrness<\/em> has awakened me from my slumber and opened my eyes to a whole new realm of opportunity for Christian influence upon the community as well as the theological training of a multitude of Christians whose lack of education limits their knowledge of the Word.<\/p>\n

For ages, the evangelical protestant community has been erroneously weighed down by a faulty but strong belief that visual art can swerve Christians away from true faith.\u00a0 Dyrness provokes serious thought against this belief, with a strong invitation to take a relook at scripture.\u00a0 He also poses a challenge that cannot be easily brushed aside in light of the fact that a new upcoming generation is \u201clooking for a new imaginative vision of life and reality, one they can see and feel, as well as understand.\u201d CITATION Dyr01 l 1033 <\/span>\u00a0(Dyrness 2001)<\/p>\n

Art in a variety of forms dominates Indian culture and religion. Visual art in particular is deeply embedded in Hinduism as a religion and in Hindu worship.\u00a0 Hindu gods, their characteristics, related legends, mythologies, epics, religious beliefs and practices once depicted through visual art forms to enhance religious experiences and aid worship, over time turned into objects of worship themselves thus giving way to idolatry.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately in India, orthodox as well as protestant Christianity from their very birth have had to distance themselves from all art forms particularly visual art fearing that it could turn idolatrous. Since people embracing the Christian faith within the Indian context are essentially turning away from idolatry, even to this day the protestant church has for the most part shunned visual art and imagery as sinful and a possible snare, limiting Christian visual art at the most to stained glass windows in sanctuaries. \u00a0\u00a0Occasional attempts have been made down through history to introduce art forms and symbols into the life of the church but they have faced vehement opposition and rejection. None have had any widespread success that is recorded.<\/p>\n

Given the fact that Indian culture predominantly follows oral tradition with a major proportion of its population being low or non literates, visual art could play a significant role in worship and spirituality in the church. \u00a0There is no doubt that we live in a fallen world and it holds every possibility in its fallen state to take what could be beneficial and turn it towards its own destruction.\u00a0 This could happen with visual art as well. \u00a0However, that cannot be a reason to discard art and imagery altogether.\u00a0 The Christian faith is based on the incarnation of Christ \u2018the word became flesh\u2019.\u00a0 Therefore imagery used both with caution and creativity can definitely enhance the experience of Christian worship and give it deeper meaning. Christian art certainly holds the potential to become a powerful tool for evangelism and discipleship.\u00a0 It can become an effective channel to inculcate the values of the Kingdom. \u00a0\u201cSurely what is called for is a new alliance and interaction between the word and the image\u201d \u00a0CITATION Dyr01 p 132 l
\n1033\u00a0 <\/span>(Dyrness 2001, 132).<\/p>\n

\n

So what would be classified as Christian art and what should it depict? \u00a0Is it absolutely essential that it should be identified as \u2018Christian art\u2019? Could it simply remain as art with a Christian message? These are questions I seek answers to. \u00a0\u00a0India, with its natural inclination toward art can widely benefit from Christian art.\u00a0 It needs to find its dwelling not just within the sanctuary or in lofty places inaccessible to the common person; neither should it be limited to biblical narratives and biblical characters alone.<\/p>\n

First, let me explain what Christian art cannot be.\u00a0 It cannot be \u2018art for art\u2019s sake\u2019.\u00a0 Christian art has a divine purpose to be fulfilled through human channels.\u00a0 In a sense \u2018art for art\u2019s sake\u2019 regardless of being Christian or not is an anomaly.\u00a0 Whether there is purposeful intent behind art or not, it does lead to an end.\u00a0 Art in every form conveys a message or provokes thought.\u00a0 It never remains as an end in itself. In other words, art is never static or inert. One couldn\u2019t agree more with Dyrness\u2019 observation, \u201cThe real significance of a painting lies not in the artefact that is hung on the wall, but in the way of seeing the world that it instigates or constructs.\u201d Dyrness makes a further point that \u201cart in its postmodern mode, therefore, frequently reaches across the boundaries of art forms, retrieves meaning from the past, and calls for a response from the viewer.\u201d CITATION
\nDyr01 p 126 l 1033\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0(Dyrness 2001, 126)<\/p>\n

Christian art should be reflective of Christian theology and of God\u2019s intervention in the realities of everyday issues of life. \u00a0Then Christian art should be Redemptive.\u00a0 God intends to use his Church, the ekklesia (called ones) in His ongoing redemptive work to redeem humankind and to restore the defaced image of God in them.\u00a0 Therefore the work of Christian art also has a redemptive purpose. \u00a0Dyrness writes, \u201cWhile all great art is in some sense \u2018redemptive\u2019, in that it takes the world and remakes it, Christian artists can understand their work as more directly tied to the work of Christ.\u201d \u00a0CITATION Dyr01 p 85 l
\n1033\u00a0 <\/span>(Dyrness 2001, 85)<\/p>\n

Finally, Christian art should also be Prophetic.\u00a0 Prophecy and being prophetic does not imply predicting the future alone. It is not restricted to the notion of forecasting . \u00a0The word Prophetic implies both \u2018forth telling\u2019 and \u2018foretelling\u2019. Christian art in that sense can be forthright in its presentation of the realities of life and the evils prevalent in society in order to evoke a positive response to correct those evils.\u00a0 Being forthright and frank may not be beautiful always.\u00a0 On the contrary, it could be unattractive and unacceptable. But the prophet speaks on God\u2019s behalf.\u00a0 A Christian artist as a prophet has to be a God- pleaser and not a man-pleaser. \u00a0\u201cThe best art,\u201d Turner argues, \u201cdoesn\u2019t tell people what to believe but enables them, for a short time, to see things differently, and the Christian can enable people to momentarily glimpse the world through eyes that have been touched by Christ CITATION Tur01 l 1033 <\/span>\u00a0(Turner 2001).\u201d Concern for image and beauty and the possibilities it holds for the church most definitely cannot be ignored in an increasing visually oriented world.<\/p>\n

\u00a0BIBLIOGRAPHY \u00a0l 1033 <\/span><\/span>Dyrness, William A. Visual Faith – Art, Theology and Worship in Dialogue.<\/em> Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academics, 2001.<\/p>\n

Turner, Steve. A Vision For Christians In The Arts.<\/em> Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 2001.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In all my years of ministry, even though I have enjoyed art, I have never given it serious thought and consideration as one that adds value to ministry.\u00a0 My protestant puritanical upbringing has not allowed me to reflect upon its value and worth in worship and discipleship.\u00a0 Reading Visual Faith \u2013 Art, Theology and Worship […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"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-735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-dyrness","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2927,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735\/revisions\/2927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}