Notes from ‘Art and the Bible’

I was recently recommended a brief but complex book, simply entitled ‘Art and the Bible’ by Francis Schaeffer.

The book hooked me early on, as the author gives a very intriguing description of Jesus using artwork from scripture, metaphorically:

You will recall that while the children of Israel were wandering in the desert they complained to Moses about the lack of bread and water. God then sent “fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much of the people died” (Num 21:6). So the Israelites came to Moses, confessing that they had sinned and asking Moses to pray that God would take the serpents away. God then replied to Moses’ prayer: “Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a standard: and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live” (v. 8). Moses obeyed this command and those who looked upon the “serpent of brass” lived. The striking thing is that Jesus used this incident and this work of art as an illustration of his coming crucifixion: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life” (Jn 3:14–15). What was Jesus using as his illustration? A work of art. But then perhaps someone will say, “Yes, but they smashed it. Hezekiah broke it up in 2 Kings 18:4.” That’s true. In fact, God was even pleased with its destruction. But why did Hezekiah smash the brazen serpent? “And he (Hezekiah) brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it.” Did he smash it because it was a work of art? Of course not, because God had commanded Moses to make it. He smashed the work of art because men had made it an idol. What is wrong with representational art is not its existence but its wrong uses.

That is, to me, a very fascinating example of the power of art, with several different factors. It’s intriguing that God asked Moses to create a work of art. It’s intriguing that this work of art gained enough power to become an idol. It’s intriguing that, regardless of its full history, Jesus used it as a stand-in for his own person.

Truly, that shows the power of art, and the way that it is so very much woven into our lives. The book goes on to consider art as a whole, and one of the bits I appreciated most was the assertion that ‘Spirit-filled art’ does not necessarily mean that the art is about the subject of something heavenly, in particular. The author uses the psalms of David as an example of this truth:

2 Samuel 1:19–27 is a secular ode, a poem by David to the praise of Saul and Jonathan as national heroes. Later in 2 Samuel we are told that David wrote his psalms under the leadership and inspiration of the Holy Spirit: David the son of Jesse sayeth, And the man who was raised on high sayeth, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel: The Spirit of Jehovah spake by me, And his word was upon my tongue. (2 Sam 23:1–2) Acts 2:25–31 confirms the fact that David was a prophet. So we might paraphrase David as follows: “Yes, I was a prophet. I was a forth-teller of God. And how did I write? Well, I wrote my poetry under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.” We must not think that David was a prophet only when he wrote prose, for his poetry is just as inspired. How then can we say, or have even the slightest inclination to feel, that God despises poetry?

…and just as a ‘secular’ piece of art can be inspired by God, a ‘Christian’ piece of art can be totally devoid of the Spirit’s influence:

Religious subjects are no guarantee that a work of art is Christian. On the other hand, the art of an artist who never paints the head of Christ, never once paints an open tomb, may be magnificent Christian art. For some artists there is a place for religious themes, but an artist does not need to be conscience stricken if he does not paint in this area. Some Christian artists will never use religious themes. This is a freedom the artist has in Christ under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

I am all for the concept that we should embrace art, in many forms, instead of feeling fearful. Art is part of our identity as humans, part of essentially every culture, and should be used to express our faith in ways both specifically in worship to God as well as in celebration of our creative minds:

Christians, for example, ought not to be threatened by fantasy and imagination. Great painting is not “photographic” in the poor sense of photographic. The Old Testament art commanded by God was not always “photographic.” There were blue pomegranates on the robes of the priest when he went into the Holy of Holies. In nature there are no blue pomegranates. Christian artists do not need to be threatened by fantasy and imagination, for they have a basis for knowing the difference between them and the real world “out there.” Epistemologically, as I have pointed out in He Is There and He Is Not Silent, Christian man has a basis for knowing the difference between subject and object. The Christian is the really free man — he is free to have imagination. This too is our heritage. The Christian is the one whose imagination should fly beyond the stars.

The book ends with this very interesting charge to Christians who feel called to create:

It is true that some art forms, such as the epic and the novel, lend themselves to larger conceptions and more complex treatments, but even there not everything that an artist wants to do can be done in one piece. Therefore, we cannot judge an artist’s work from one piece. No art critic or art historian can do that. We must judge an artist’s performance and an artist’s world view on the basis of as much of that artist’s work as we can. There is a parallel here with the sermon. No single sermon can say everything that needs to be said. And no one can judge a minister’s total theology or the content of his faith on the basis of a single sermon. The man who tries to put everything into one sermon is a very poor preacher indeed. Even the Bible is an extended body of books, and it cannot be read as if any one book or any one chapter included the whole; it must be read from beginning to end. And if that is true of the Word of God, how much more is it true of an artist’s work! If you are a Christian artist, therefore, you must not freeze up just because you can’t do everything at once. Don’t be afraid to write a love poem simply because you cannot put into it everything of the Christian message. Yet, if a man is to be an artist, his goal should be in a lifetime to produce a wide and deep body of work.

…and this advice on how to interpret all works of art:

I would suggest that we take all of these perspectives on art and consider how they apply to our own Christian life. Perhaps it would be a good idea to read this essay again and specifically apply it to your life as a Christian. No work of art is more important than the Christian’s own life, and every Christian is cared upon to be an artist in this sense. He may have no gift of writing, no gift of composing or singing, but each man has the gift of creativity in terms of the way he lives his life. In this sense, the Christian’s life is to be an art work. The Christian’s life is to be a thing of truth and also a thing of beauty in the midst of a lost and despairing world.

That’s good advice indeed.