Cover photo of Schaeffer's Art and the Bible from Amazon.com
In the second part of the book
Art and the Bible, or essay two,
Some Perspectives on Art, Schaeffer looks at a Christian
perspective concerning art in general. He
begins by making the point that “All of us are engaged daily with works of art,
even if we are neither professional or amateur artists.” Schaeffer says that we are confronted with
all kinds of art and that our lives are works of art as well. He says we should be examining this
artwork. He does this through looking at
eleven distinct perspectives from which we can contemplate and appraise the arts,
while recognizing the arts are so vast that these perspectives are nowhere near
comprehensive in considering them.
These eleven perspectives that make up Schaeffer’s Some Perspectives on Art, include: one,
The Art Work as an Art Work; two, Art Forms Add Strength to the World View;
three, Normal Definitions, Normal Syntax;
four, Art and the Sacred; five, Four Standards of Judgment; six, Art Can be Used for Any Type of Message;
seven, Changing Styles; eight, Modern Art Forms and the Christian Message;
nine, The Christian World View; ten, The Subject Matter of Christian Art;
eleven, and lastly, An Individual Art
Work and the Body of an Artist’s Work.
In the first perspective, The Art Work as an Art Work, which Schaeffer says is the most
important perspective, we learn “A work of art has value in itself.” Here Schaeffer focuses on the important
reality that art is to be enjoyed for its own sake. It is beautiful and should be admired. Creativity has value simply because it is
creative and we were created in the Creator God’s own image. Artwork also has value, because humankind
creates art and humans are also created in the image of God, the Creator. As image bearers of God, we are creative, and
we are called to be creative.
Schaeffer, in the second perspective, Art Forms Add Strength to the World View, makes the point that art
forms add strength to the worldview, which shows through, no matter what the
worldview is or whether the worldview is true or false. In this assertion of the second perspective
we begin to think about the reality that art communicates viewpoints and
belief.
In perspective three, Normal
Definitions, Normal Syntax, Schaeffer makes the point, “In all forms of
writing, both poetry and prose, it makes a tremendous difference whether there
is a continuity or a discontinuity with the normal definitions of words in
normal syntax.” Language is universal
and is necessary for communication in literature and in the arts. Variations in syntax in art and literature
keep the arts interesting, but continuity is needed, as well as common
definitions of terms.
Schaeffer, in principle four, Art and the Sacred, states, “The fact that something is a work of
art does not make it sacred.” Art is
communicating a worldview. We should not
take the worldviews presented in the arts at face value. Just because the artwork is good and is
communicating a worldview, does not make that worldview acceptable, right, or
Christian. In the same way, just because
the artwork is religious in nature does not make that artwork orthodox or
Christian in the worldview it is communicating.
Schaeffer says, “The truth of a worldview presented by an artist must be
judged on separate grounds than artistic greatness.”
In Schaeffer’s fifth perspective, Four Standards of Judgment, he states that there are four basic
standards one uses to judge art. The
first is technical excellence, the second is validity, the third is
intellectual content and the worldview, which comes through the art, and the
fourth is the integration of content and vehicle.
In perspective five, Schaeffer also stresses the importance
of recognizing the excellence of an artwork in the face of disagreeing with the
artist’s worldview or belief system. In
other words, a Christian can enjoy art, which may not communicate a Christian
belief system. However, “The artist’s
world view is not to be free from the judgment of the Word of God.”
In perspective six, Art
Can Be Used for Any Type of Message, Schaeffer asserts, “Art forms can be
used for any type of message from pure fantasy to detailed history.” He argues that all art is communicating
propositional truth, regardless of its form. Schaeffer asserts, “Just because something
takes the form of a work of art does not mean that it cannot be factual.”
Perspective seven, Changing
Styles, states that styles of art form change and this is a natural,
expected, and acceptable reality.
Schaeffer says, “Styles of art form change and there is nothing wrong
with this.” He goes on to say, “As long
as one has a living art, its forms will change.” The reality being stated is that change and
shifts are a natural part of life and art, which is to be expected and
embraced. Living things change. These changes occur in the contexts of time
and in cultural and geographical
contexts as well.
In Modern Art Forms
and the Christian Message, perspective eight, Schaeffer states that the
Christian should be modern in his or her art.
In making this point, he firmly asserts, “There is no such thing as a
godly style or an ungodly style.”
Schaeffer does assert, however, that “an art form or style that is no
longer able to carry content cannot be used to give the Christian
message.” Christianity deals in truth
and reality and the art form must be able to accommodate truth and reality.
In perspective nine, The
Christian World View, Schaeffer divides the Christian worldview into a major theme and a minor theme. In the minor theme, Schaeffer says that
“[people] who have revolted from God and do not come back to Christ are eternally
lost.” He also states that the Christian
has a sinful side to his or her life and there is “no such thing as totally
victorious living.” The minor theme is
negative and hopeless. In the major theme
life has meaning and purpose, and “God is there, God exists. Therefore, all is not absurd. Man is made in God’s image and so man has
significance.” The major theme is
optimistic, while the minor theme is pessimistic.
In The Subject Matter
of Christian Art, perspective ten, Schaeffer says, “Christian art is by no
means always religious art, that is, art which deals with religious
themes.” In other words, art does not
have to depict strictly Biblical stories and themes to be “Christian.” Schaeffer states that “God the Creator” does
not strictly focus on religious themes and subjects in His own creation. Schaeffer stresses the need for Christianity
to deal with all the stuff of God’s creation, and all of humanity. He references many Biblical examples of art that
does just this throughout the scriptures.
In concluding this perspective, Schaeffer asserts,
“Christian art is the expression of the whole life of the whole person who is a
Christian. What a Christian portrays in
[his or her] art is the totality of life.”
Schaeffer also states that the Christian should be aware of and unafraid
of his or her imagination and creativity.
He states that we have lost a Biblical understanding of the arts and
must regain that understanding. This is
the point of the essay where Schaeffer famously says, “The Christian is the one
whose imagination should fly beyond the stars.”
In perspective eleven, An
Individual Art Work and the Body of an Artist’s Work, Schaeffer says,
“Every artist has the problem of making an individual work of art and, as well,
building up a total body of work.” He
says that no one piece of art can encapsulate the artist or sum up his or her
entire worldview. The artist should not
be judge by a single piece of artwork, but should be judged by one looking at
the sum of the total body of his or her artwork, or by as much of the total
body of work as one can possibly examine.
Schaeffer applies this concept to preaching and to the
scriptures. He says that a preacher’s
whole theology should not be determined by a single sermon, and that the
scriptures should not be looked at or judged by a single book, as if any single
book contained the whole. Schaeffer
says, like an artist’s body of work, “ 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 for the Word of God, how much more is it true of an
artist’s work!”
In the concluding section of Schaeffer’s second essay, Some Perspectives on Art, The Christian Life as a Work of Art, Schaeffer looks at the Christian life as a work of art. He makes the point that we should take these eleven principles of evaluating art and apply them to our own lives, which can, indeed, be offered up as works of art to the glory and worship of God.
Schaeffer affirms, “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 goes on to say that while we all may not have “artistic” talents, “Each [person] has the gift of creativity in terms of the way [they live his or her] 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 beauty in the midst of a lost and despairing world.”
