CHRIST AND THE FINE ARTS
Someone recently asked me what kind of role the fine arts should play in the life of the church and its mission in the world. My mind immediately recalled the large old green book entitled, “Christ and the Fine Arts”, that sits awkwardly in the library of my study. Written in 1938, I stole it for a dollar at a local thrift store when I was fervently trying to fill as many bookshelves as possible with pastoral study materials. It’s often moved around to make room for other books and I never quite know where to put it. It doesn’t belong with the commentaries, dictionaries, or reference works on theology, and it doesn’t fit in with the ministry, history, or apologetic studies either. Dedicated to, “Lovers of art and the artistic” (1), it usually ends up on a bottom shelf, stuffed between books like; Bill Bennett’s “Moral Compass”, and an old Southern Baptist hymnal. I’ve thumbed through it before, but I’ve never read the book and probably never will. Not because it wouldn’t be interesting or even informative, but I haven't made the time because it’s just not a priority in my life. This honest admission concerning my view of the fine arts in relationship to my Christian faith and ministry calling is widely held by many in the church, and for good reason; the New Testament writers don’t list it as a high priority for the Church, and neither should we.
The life of a Christian should be governed by the leading of the Holy Spirit and the priorities that He has established for the church in His word. That is not to say that the fine arts should have no place in the life of individual Christians, and are therefore a bad thing, or even a sin, certainly not. But we must acknowledge the priorities that Christ Himself gave us, prior to His ascension, when he commanded us to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…” (2). So it’s not like we don’t have anything else to do with our spare time, and He didn't bother to say, "entertain them with a rich cultural experience". However, if we can use the fine arts in pursuit of those objectives, while employing the creative gifts and talents that God has given us, then we should certainly do that, to the glory of God and His kingdom.
However, I believe that some in the church have taken an unbalanced approach to this subject, for their own carnal reasons, and thereby distort the established aims of the Body of Christ, which ends up diverting resources that would be better spent in fulfillment of those purposes of which God has called us to. Satan spends the endless hours of his eternity scheming and plotting to ensure that we are engaged in just that type of pursuit; anything other than what God wants us to be doing. Indeed, the involvement of the fine arts in the church today is only one of many distractions that are being pursued by a liberal minded Christianity that is more cocerned with social justice, cultural relativism, and political activism, than they are with spread of the Gospel and the teaching of God's word. That is why some Christians have been sidetracked to the point of saying that, “Our 'GOAL' is the renewal of the presently corrupt creation.” (3) and the the pursuit of the fine arts are just one element in the implementation of this goal. But nowhere in Scripture is the church charged with this responsibility, even if it were possible, which it is not, but it sounds good doesn’t it? They say that, “Through the hard work of prayer, persuasion, and political action… [Christians] should generate programs and agendas in several different areas, from globalization and fair trade to governmental and societal reform…” (4). Wow, that kind of sounds like a lot of work, even a full time job!
It also sounds like something the church has tried and failed at on numerous occasions: i.e. Roman Catholicism in the Dark Ages, Dominion Theology, the Moral majority, the Religious Right, etc… We fail at these things because they are not what we were called to do nor gifted to do, and they distract us from our true calling. The military would call this, “Mission Creep”, which refers to the growth or expansion of the goals and objectives of a military operation, and they change and morph into something else than what was originally intended. Christians must guard against this vigilantly. The fine arts have become an extension of this ideology, as evidenced by this statement from a well-intentioned believer, on the subject: “It is central to Christian living that we should celebrate the goodness of creation, ponder its present brokenness, and, insofar as we can, celebrate in advance the healing of the world, the new creation itself. Art, music, literature, dance, theater, and many other expressions of human delight and wisdom… [become the] …highways into the center of a reality which cannot be glimpsed, let alone grasped, any other way.” (5). Sounds a bit ‘new agie’ doesn’t it? It is certainly not a scriptural reference, nor can you justify it through scripture, which again becomes the downfall of its premise.
While the arts should not be the priority of the church, they should not be viewed as evil sins to avoid either. Television can be a vehicle for evil, as well as a vehicle for good, and so can the fine arts be described in the same way. But when you begin to say things like: “We are ‘called’ to model and display the new creation in symphonies... in restorative justice and poetry... in politics and painting…” (6), you’ve just added to and gone well beyond Scripture and beyond our calling as Christians as well, which is very shaky ground for the believer. If I could take one thing away from Cynthia Maus’ book, “Christ and the Fine Arts”, it would be this statement, expressed in the introduction of her book: “May something of the richness of beauty, truth and love that was incarnate in Him [Christ] be builded in you...” (7).
Works Cited:
(1) Christ and the Fine Arts, Maus, Cynthia, Harper & Brothers, 1938, Address page
(2) New King James Version, Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Mat 28:19-20
(3) Wright, N. Simply Christian, Harper One, “New Creation, Starting Now,” pp. 223
(4) Wright, N. Simply Christian, Harper One, “New Creation, Starting Now,” pp. 226
(5) Wright, N. Simply Christian, Harper One, “New Creation, Starting Now,” pp. 235
(6) Wright, N. Simply Christian, Harper One, “New Creation, Starting Now,” pp. 236
(7) Christ and the Fine Arts, Maus, Cynthia, Harper & Brothers, 1938, Introduction
