The following is a lecture delivered in beautiful Colorado Springs to the Ad Lib Society, a group of Christian artists from the Midwest and West. Thanks to Dr. Richard Terrell and all for a wonderful weekend and good hospitality.
ARS
LONGA… NO LONGER
BEN WITHERINGTON
PARALLEL
UNIVERSES?
In God’s
Kingdom….
The architect is
greater than the architecture
The artist is
greater than the art
The singer is
greater than the song
The playwright
is greater than the play
The poet is
greater than the poetry
The person is
greater than the persona
The reality is
greater than the dream
And being is
more than doing……
For all persons
created and redeemed in God’s image
But in this
world….
The beauty is
made by the buzz
The star is
eclipsed by the light
The manuscript
outlasts the man
The hit is made
by the hype
The race is
rigged by the ride
The persona
isn’t even the person
The home run
hero is juiced
The idol has his
two minutes of fame
The politician
is made by the PACS
And image is everything……….
even if it is an imitation
“For what does
it profit a person if he gains the whole world and loses his soul”
Richard
asked me to talk with you about how we can apply Biblical perspectives to our
work as artists. I have given that some considerable thought and concluded that
we need to go back to first principles, and here is why—- In an age of
serious economic downturn where the arts have become an endangered species, not
merely in public education but also with the withdrawal of patronage for the
arts by churches, charitable organizations, governments, and even
philanthropists, it is necessary that we go back to first principles, and
rethink all over again how we should view the arts from a Christian theological
point of view. So I will start with some
first principles before I talk about art as culture-making. The most important
thing to say about art is that God is an artist and a patron of the arts, and
that we are created in his image which in part means we share in that capacity
for chosen creativity.
GOD AS AN ARTIST AND A
PATRON OF THE ARTS
The
first thing to be said is that God is the consummate artist. We can see this just by looking at the
stunning beauty of creation in a place like this (Colorado Springs), but as it
turns out God is not just a ‘visual’ artist, God is both an inspirer of, but
also a composer, of music, as Robert Banks points out.[1] So for instance God tells the Israelite
leaders in Deut. 31.19 “write down this song and teach it to the Israelites,
and have them sing it.” In fact there is
a direct connection made between God giving verbal wisdom to someone and God
inspiring song in 1 Kngs. 4. 32–“God gave Solomon wisdom…he spoke 3,000
proverbs and his songs numbered 1,005.”
The precise number of the latter suggests someone took a specific count
of the number of times the King was inspired and given lyrics this way.
God however is not just a heavenly source of inspiration.
God is a blues singer. Thus in Jeremiah we hear ‘Therefore I wail over Moab…my
heart laments for Moab like a flute…” (Jerm. 48.31-36), but he also sings
joyful anthems and ballads “The Lord your God is with you…he will quiet you
with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.’ (Zephan.3.14,17). God doesn’t just sing morning music however,
he also sings night music–“By the day the Lord directs his love, and at night
his song is with me…” (Ps. 42.8). No
wonder the natural response to God, is music of all sorts, for God is not
merely the inspirer of all sorts of music, God embodies and shares all sorts of
music.
Robert Banks puts it
this way:
Just as love is
not only directed to or expressed by God, since God, as the apostle John says,
is love, so is God not only the one who
inspires and enjoys music, but also is music
and song. This makes God the supreme
exemplar, as well as the supreme author and audience, of music. This makes God
music’s chief patron, which is why making music ‘to the glory of God’ is so
fitting. It is only giving back to what
God has given in the first place. It is
only recognizing that the musical dimension of life, like the orderly character
of the universe, ultimately stems from the musical character of God. In the end we make music not simply because
God gives us the capacity to do so or appreciates our making it, but because
God is inherently musical.[2]
One
of the great problems for artists here is
that America is a very pragmatic culture.
Many Americans believe that if something doesn’t serve some obvious
utilitarian purpose, or is practical, then it should be seen as superfluous at
a minimum, and certainly optional. That
sort of practical bent can be seen in some of our famous American
quotations. Thomas Edison is credited
with once saying that ‘genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine
percent perspiration’. Or consider the
words of Colleen C. Barrett who argues ‘when it comes to getting things done,
we need fewer architects and more bricklayers.’
Without disparaging either of these persons, or the profession of
bricklaying, I would suggest that some of the most important work anyone could
do is work that moves one to be a better person, inspires one to think about
the relationship of truth and beauty and goodness, motivates one to do a better job of glorifying
God. And art fills the bill in all of
those categories.
It
is an old Latin aphorism— ‘art is long, life short’. Rembrandt may be long since gathering dust in
his grave, but his enormous painting of the Prodigal Son is alive and well on a
gigantic wall in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. I know because I have spent some hours
sitting in front of this gigantic painting contemplating its meaning, point of
view, nuances. Rembrandt’s art lives on
and continues to speak for him and to us.
Great art, like great architecture, continues to inspire and motivate us
to be creative, which, after all, was part of the prime mandate God gave Adam
in the first place.
Unfortunately
in a workaholic culture that places an inordinate stress on math and the
sciences to the considerable neglect of the arts, art is seen as an added
extra, it is seen as not having a practical
function. Painting for example is
not seen as a real profession, unless one is painting the walls of one’s
house! Colleen Barrett in the quote
above expresses something of this attitude, as does Thomas Edison. They fail to notice that without vision the
people perish, their souls shrivel up.
Human
beings created in the image of God were called to be creators, makers,
artisans, not merely doers of just any task that someone is prepared to
remunerate. I would remind you that the
so-called oldest paid profession on earth which has always made lots of money
is prostitution! It does not follow from
that, that in the pursuit of the Almighty dollar it would be a wise thing to
prostitute ourselves, or sell our birthrights for a bowl of soup. We are created in the image of God the
ultimately creative one. The question
is— what should we do about it?
It
was not always the case in America that arts and languages (the vehicles to
other cultures) were treated as non-essential when it comes to basic
education. I began playing in an
orchestra in the third grade, took Spanish in elementary school and Latin in
junior high, and we all learned the arts along the way. Not so much any more. We now have schools called math and science
high schools, as if other subjects were so clearly of less importance! And indeed the whole attitude of the culture
has been changed from our being truth seekers to being job seekers. In interview after interview college freshman
explain that they are taking this or that course, this or that major so “I can
get a good paying job when I get out”.
The cost of such pragmatism is that one is in danger of gaining the
whole world and losing one’s soul in the process.
I
love to go to the Lands of the Bible and look at some of the magnificent
creations wrought in earlier ages. Some
of the immaculately wrought sculptures of Praxiteles for example always move
me. I ask myself–how have we lost so
many of these incredible skills in the arts over the ages? Who could produce Michelangelo’s Pietas
today?
Sometimes
when I worry about the lose of artisan skills and artistic contributions to our
world, I take comfort when I read the
story of Bezalel and Oholiab If you’ve
never heard these names before it is perhaps because no one has pointed out to
you that being an artist or artisan is a Biblical calling or vocation. Consider then Exodus 31.1-5:
1 Then
the LORD said to Moses, 2 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of
Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him
with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of
crafts- 4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and
bronze, 5 to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in
all kinds of craftsmanship. 6 Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son
of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also I have given skill to all
the craftsmen to make everything I have commanded you: 7 the Tent of
Meeting, the ark of the Testimony with the atonement cover on it, and all the
other furnishings of the tent- 8 the table and its articles, the
pure gold lampstand and all its accessories, the altar of incense, 9
the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, the basin with its stand- 10
and also the woven garments, both the sacred garments for Aaron the priest and
the garments for his sons when they serve as priests, 11 and the
anointing oil and fragrant incense for the Holy Place. They are to make them
just as I commanded you.”
Bezalel
was called to the vocation of being an artist and an artisan, and notice how
God equipped him. He filled him with his
spirit, which gave him not just ability but intelligence and not just
intelligence but the knowledge he needed, and not just knowledge but “all
craftsmanship”. His vocation is
described as follows— “to device artistic designs, working in gold, silver,
and bronze as well as in precious stones, and in carving wood, and if that were
not enough, “to work in every craft”.
This is one multi-talented artist and artisan, a Michelangelo of his
day. But Bezalel was not called to use
his craft and knowledge for just any task, he was assigned to make the tent of
meeting, the ark of Testimony including the mercy seat or atonement cover, and
all other furnishing of the tent of meeting–the gold lampstand, the incense
altar, the basin, all the utensils, not to mention the woven garments to be
worn by the priests, including Aaron and his sons. Oh yes, he was also to
produce the anointing oil and fragrant incense for the tent as well. After this last work order I am imagining
Bezalel saying “holy smokes!”. His was
the honor of constructing and furnishing the dwelling place of God, and notice
that he was not encouraged to use cheap materials, or to go out and buy a
trailer made out of pressboard and use it as a tabernacle. No, he was called to use the most precious
metals and materials, in order to honor God.
It
is very interesting, as Gene Veith points out that Bezalel is the very first
person in the Bible to be said to be filled with God’s Spirit. We are being told that he is inspired,
enlightened, enabled to be an artist!
This brings up an important point.
Sometimes Christians, especially frugal ones, think that the creating of
elaborate, beautiful works of art, worth lots of money, is itself either a
waste of money, or at least not good stewardship, if it is not simply sinful
altogether. What this story suggests is
just the opposite. The believer should give their very best to God, and indeed
it is not a sin to construct beautiful art objects or a beautiful building to
the glory of God, which is precisely what is going on in this story. The story of work begins with a gardener
named Adam, but the first ‘inspired’ worker in the Bible is an artist and
artisan, and we would do well to ponder the implications of that fact. Perhaps creativity, including the arts is the
quintessential way the image of God can mirror the Creator God himself?
Friedrich
Schiller, the great German poet, once said that the path to freedom lies
through beauty. It must be said that
there is some connection between beauty and freedom. I was in the Norman Rockwell museum recently
in Rutland Vermont and one of his most famous paintings was hanging on the left
hand wall. It is a painting of the
entrance way of a large Gothic cathedral in some major American city, perhaps
Rockwell’s home town, New York. One of
the workers in the cathedral is standing on a ladder and changing the sign that
hovers over the entrance way doors, announcing this week’s sermon. The sermon title is “Lift up your Eyes”. But on the street below, are the commuters,
all heads down, scurrying towards their morning jobs.
What
a great parable of a workaholic culture, without the time or sense to look up,
and see the beauty of things that God and his creatures have made. I cannot speak for others, but good art does
raise my vision of what the world is and can be. It gives me hope that human beings can live
by the better angels of their natures, and not by the demons that drive them,
if they will but be transformed by grace.
Perhaps by catching a glimpse in art of something better, something
bigger than they had yet contemplated aesthetics can have an ethical effect on
us. And in at least one sense Schiller
was right— by being transfixed by the beauty of Christ, we are transfigured,
and set free. Paul puts it this way—
“And we all, who with unveiled face contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being
transformed into his image with every increasing glory” (2 Cor. 3.18). When we lift up our eyes, and behold true
beauty, then in some sense we become what we admire, we become works of the
great artisan, the great sculptor of human personality–Christ. And if the Son has set you free to be a work
of art, to be your best self, you are free indeed. Beauty, truth, love, goodness creativity were
all meant to be, and to be seen together.
That is God has placed within us all, as being created in God’s image,
an aesthetic sensibility. And by this I
don’t mean just the capacity to be creative as God is creative, I mean the
ability to revel and rejoice in that which goes well above and beyond the utilitarian,
the absolutely necessary for bare existence.
Indeed, I would say that just a close examination of God’s creation
itself inspires an non-utilitarian vision of what is really important in life.
Consider
for example, the extraordinary beauty of many different species of butterflies.
Did you ever ask yourself the question, why all this riot of color and
patterns? It isn’t simply because this
helps a butterfly attract a mate.
Butterflies do not see in color for a start. Yes the patterns do help
attract the attention of the mate, but not the color and particular
configuration of the colors. In fact, many butterflies are like neon signs
attracting some of their natural predators.
This is hardly a matter of adapting in order to merely survive.
Did
it ever occur to you that God created this beauty in the world perhaps
especially for those creatures most capable of appreciating that beauty— namely us?
In other words, the very way God made various aspects of creation not
merely inspires creativity, but suggests that God wants us to lift up our eyes
above and beyond the necessary and the utilitarian to gain a glimpse of the
beatific vision in and through nature— a glimpse of the beauty of God
himself. Could it be that the arts
perhaps more than any other vocation have an essential role to play in leading
people to see and know God, and without that role, worship, teaching, theology,
ethics become impoverished? I think this
is true. TELL THE STORY OF HANDEL AND
THE CREATION OF MESSIAH. Could it be that God longs for the day where the phrase,
‘starving artist’ becomes an complete oxymoron, because the work of the arts is
seen as an essential part not merely of being human or being spiritual, but of
being Christian, in specific.
It
needs to also be said at this juncture, if one is a Christian, one cannot see
one’s art as merely an exercise in self-expression, or an exercise in pure
narcissism. One has to see one’s art as
part of a ministry that God has gifted and called one to do, and by this I do
not mean something manipulative. For example, I do not by this mean that the
arts must in some narrow sense serve specifically didactic evangelistic
purposes. I am not suggesting that art
exists purely for propaganda’s sake, any more than I think we as Christians
could support the trite slogan— art for art’s sake. I would say we should
talk about art for Christ’s sake, art for love’s sake, art for joy’s sake, art
for inspiration’s sake, and so on. And
this brings us to the discussion of art as culture making.
ART AS CULTURE MAKING
Art at its best never merely recycles culture (e.g think
of Andy Warhol’s picture of a soup can), nor does it merely imitate culture
that already exists, nor does it merely critique culture, it creates culture. For one thing it creates a fresh way of
viewing important things. Think again
for a moment of the famous Rockwell painting ‘Lift up Your Eyes’. Secondly, art creates culture when it peals
away the façade of false culture making, and helps us see the truth about
reality as it is. I am thinking for
example of the famous Picasso painting ‘Guernica’ if you know the story of what
happened in that horrible war situation.
Art can serve as a reminder that we have and should exercise our
consciences. One of the things Andy
Crouch is calling us to in his book on culture making, is to recognize that Christians need to not
merely network and encourage one another to be creative, but rather should
co-operatively create a community that provides and ethos, a support network, a
context, where actual culture-making is possible. Two examples will have to serve.
I was born in raised in the middle of North Carolina,
which is to say, the heart of red clay territory, which clay serves not only
the utilitarian function of providing us with red bricks, but also it is the
territory which has a huge pottery and ceramics industry. There is even a town
named Jugtown in the heart of this region which involves places like Seagrove
and Why Not N.C. Now the thing that has repeatedly
struck me about this whole area and its pottery industry is that while there
are some 50 or more working kilns and potters in the region, the main ones are
all related—- they are part of the Owen family, and it is a family business,
and when it’s not the Owen family, it a community of people who lived as their
neighbors and work alongside, and sometimes with them. Yes, there is some competition going on, but
there is also community, and the results are spectacular, especially when it
comes to the saltpeter glaze pottery.
What makes this artistic colony interesting is that it is based in the
land (requires a certain sort of clay), and grounded in a community of shared
ideas, techniques, skills, and the like.
These artists do not act in isolation, they are part of a larger ethos,
and you can see how cross fertilization works in these cases.
Also from the middle of North Carolina is Ben Long (from
Statesville). Ben is a remarkably
talented fresco painter in the style of the Italian renaissance. His work graces lots of churches and banks
and other sorts of buildings from the mountains through the Piedmont of
N.C. Ben went to Italy to study with
some of the last real fresco masters, as it is a dying art, and he brought this
back to North Carolina, where, not coincidentally, there is just the right sort
of soil to make the perfect plaster for frescoing. Ben not only brought the technique back with
him, he brought the notion of apprenticing people, and so he has developed a
huge cadre of younger artists, now trained in the delicate (and fast) art of
fresco painting. My favorite examples of
Ben Long’s work are in Charlotte and in Montreat. At the latter site we have a college chapel
with a remarkable fresco of the prodigal son returning home. Ben conceived of
the painting as depicting the whole story, so incongruously you have pigs
hanging out in the front yard of a Jewish household to remind us of what the
prodigal had left behind. But the most
spectacular example of all is his triptych
of the death, resurrection and Pentecost scenes all juxtaposed over the
high altar in St. Peter’s Catholic Church.
Sadly, nearby recent construction caused part of this fresco to crack
and fall down, and it cannot be regenerated.
What is interesting about this last example, is that Ben Long has
enjoyed the patronage of several churches, which gives you hope that the church
might regain its role as patron of the arts.
The lessons we learn from such examples is that :1)
community is important to the thriving of the arts and the possibility of
considerable culture impact, and 2) that art that ministers to the higher and
better instincts, the better angels of our nature, has a chance to have a more
lasting impact. If art is something we
can do because we are created in God’s image, then art should never be seen as
self-indulgence, or mere self-expression, but rather something done as a
ministry to other and to the glory of God. And 3) art that is literally
grounded in a particular place, drawing materials from a particular place and
in a particular context which has a specific ethos, has a chance to develop in
interesting ways over time and cross fertilize, unlike the infamous isolated
individualistic starving artist. I will
leave you with one more poem…..
SOMETHING DEEP INSIDE
Between living and dead
Between heart and head
Between flesh and blood
Between soul and spirit,
Something deep inside.
Between thought and action
Between image and reflection
Between act and being
Between sight and seeing,
Something deep inside.
Between silence and speech
Between grasp and reach
Between alone and lonely
Between singular and only,
Something deep inside.
Between begotten and made
Between art and artifice
Between lost and mislaid
Between offering and sacrifice,
Something deep inside.
Between parent and child
Between Father and Son
Between many and one
Between finished and done,
Something deep inside.
Between union and communion
Between friendship and family
Between sister and brother
Between One and the other,
Something deep inside.
Between loosed and bound
Between circular and round
Between labyrinth and maze
Between fog and haze,
Something deep inside.
Between Spirit and spirit
Between breath and life
Between time and eternity
Between image and identity,
Someone deep inside.
Between appearing and being
Between thought and meaning
Between revery and reverence
Between wholeness and holiness,
Worship deep inside.
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