Art and Biblical Worldview--Developing Christian discernment
By Jay Wegter
- God is the ‘Master Artist’
- Our aesthetics are keyed to God’s own expression of truth and beauty (Gen 1:31).
- God’s truth and goodness determine the standard of beauty.
- The standard of beauty is fixed, it is not evolving. Why?
- The doctrine of creation is the start point when thinking about beauty and creativity.
Key questions regarding beauty: Where does secular culture believe that beauty comes from? Is beauty evolving? Can beauty be manufactured? How does the contemplation of beauty point us to God and encourage our devotion to God?
- The Christian understanding of aesthetics directly opposes the world’s conventional wisdom concerning beauty.
- Biblical worldview suggests that what is beautiful is simultaneously the good, the true, and the real (Albert Mohler).
- It is precisely at this point (the unity of trancendentals) that biblical worldview is on a
collision course with the world’s philosophy of beauty.
- Since the beginning Satan has tempted by means of a false understanding of beauty.
Key questions regarding beauty: How may we esteem what is beautiful without worshipping and serving the creature and the creation? How can we as believers heighten our awareness that beauty is always joined to the true, the real, and the good? Do you agree with Dostoyevsky’s statement that beauty is a ‘battlefield’ for the hearts of men?
- Art that is Beautiful communicates Truth.
- God the Master Designer has joined form and function in what He has made.
- Beautiful art communicates truth because without words it depicts the relationships God has ordered and ordained.
Key questions: What are some of the ways that popular culture promotes the myth that beauty exists apart from truth? What is the danger of believing that myth?
- Culture is regarded by Scripture as an extension of creation.
- Culture is that which properly begins with creation.
- In the original plan, there was no shadow between culture and devotion to God.
- The unchanging theme of Scripture is that the physical order in creation is
inseparable from the moral order in creation (Ps 19).
- Romans chapter one is clear, those who disobey God are without excuse—for both
the glory of God and the duty of man are evident in creation.
- Therefore, would you as Christians agree with the following statement? “Culture only enriches our lives when it conforms itself to the way things truly are.”
Key questions in regard to culture: What is the creation? What is the connection between positive culture and God’s order in the cosmos? Why does culture begin with creation? Provide a few examples from art which illustrate that culture is drawn from principles of creation.
- Culture that is uplifting cultivates man’s deepest yearnings.
- We long for the joy that only comes from contemplating our Creator and eternity.
- Your identity as the image of God is inseparable from the fact that your Creator has
set eternity in your heart (Eccl 3:11).
- We need a Christian view of art—for popular culture has conducted a kind of
cultural captivity that has replaced God with the self.
- The arts constitute a kind of language which reaches to touch, as well as to create, legitimate longings in the human heart which prose cannot do.
Key questions: How does popular culture sell us short of our God-given yearning for the eternal? Describe the role of the arts in pointing beyond art to the eternal and the transcendent?
- Man as a creative spirit made in the image of God is ‘creatively receptive’ of God’s truth and beauty.
- By ‘creatively receptive’ we mean that man is designed by God to receive general
revelation and incorporate it into culture.
- We show our creativity by using what God has made in aesthetically pleasing ways. It
is part of our stewardship and cultural calling.
- Whether in the visual arts, drama, or literature, the creative process utilizes the
‘symbolic vocabulary’ of God’s world.
Key questions: How does much of the art produced by popular culture show its disdain for God’s categories and created symbols? In the Christian approach to art appreciation, why is it valuable to reiterate that God is the source of the categories and symbols utilized in art?
- ‘Evil Art’ has certain Presuppositions which stand behind it and show through.
- Art forms add strength to the worldview which ‘shows through’, no matter what that worldview is—or whether the worldview is true or false (Francis Schaeffer).
- The four major themes of redemptive history—Creation, Fall, Redemption, and
Restoration are inseparable from ‘truthfulness’ in art.
- Modern sinners prefer the ‘absurdity perspective’ of life (meaninglessness) in order
to free up their lusts and justify their apostasy from God.
- Artists who ‘normalize’ immorality in their art are responsible for their willful
rejection of divine revelation.
Key questions: How would you respond to the objection that the biblical definition of freedom stifles creativity in the arts? Why do modern sinners prefer the ‘absurdity perspective’ of life? Does the Christian duty to exercise discernment in the arts reduce, or enhance, the appreciation of the arts? Do you think that pointing out falsehood in art would be a valuable teaching device?
- Identifying the presuppositions of popular culture:
- “We can create our own reality.”
- “The creation is merely ‘raw material’ from which you may construct the self and
establish your own meaning.”
Key questions: The assumption that one can create one’s own reality is a denial of what divine truth? What does it mean that popular culture has severed religion from the purpose of the cosmos. What are some of the ways that this divorcing of religion from the cosmos might show up in art?
- What Standards of Judgment for Actual Works of Art may be derived from the Christian Worldview? What kinds of questions can be used for evaluating a work of art: 1) Does the work of art show technical excellence? 2) Does the work of art possess intellectual content and validity? 3) Does it call my attention to something about either reality or modern culture that I need to know? 4) What is the nature of the gulf between this particular work and my Christian values? 5) Does my contact with this work have a negative effect upon my Christian beliefs or morals? 6) Does my contact with this work make me more capable or less capable of being God’s person in the society in which He has placed me? 7) Does this work strengthen, or weaken, my Christian worldview? (Leland Ryken, Culture in Christian Perspective, is quoted in the article “Lost Arts,” by Tamela Baker).
- Art is not created in a ‘Worldview Vacuum.’
- The artist will ‘view’ life and depict life through his or her worldview.
Key questions: Why should a Christian be discerning in regard to the particular philosophy of freedom depicted in a piece of art? Without discernment it is easy to assume: this is life as it is.
- What is the role of believers in “redeeming” the arts?
- The church today needs to heighten its discernment of popular culture’s message.
- The church needs discernment to prevent embracing cultural trends blindly.
- Students today are immersed in a popular culture that is market-driven. Through social media students are seeking to find that which completes their identity.
- We are to call people to an entire renewed life across their cultural experience—in a way that honors creation, human nature, and the commands of God.
Key questions: What are some of the deceptive ways popular culture offers an enhanced identity to young people? A preoccupation with fantasy in art says what about the divorce between the physical and the spiritual? Does the church have an intrinsic interest in culture? In other words, is it possible to make sense of life without the gospel?