Thursday, September 27, 2012

Art's place in the Church


Art is a beautiful. I’ve seen more art in this last month at college then I have in my entire life up until then. I like it, but it makes me wish I had seen this much art my whole life. Such richness, such depth, such raw spirituality. This is something I had not experienced as a child for the most part. In the last year I have come to discover the wonders of art and as I said have been exposed to so much more here.

The church has no art. Gone are the days of commissioned paintings in beautiful cathedrals. There are no more stained glassed windows behind the alter. Even the churches themselves have changed from the beautiful palaces of worship from the Gothic era to now being built only for efficiency. The Church has forsaken beauty for function.

If we worship a beautiful God, should we not worship him with the beauty He gives us the talent to create? He is a creative God. He has made us a creative people. The Church has forgotten its role of leading the world in art; in setting the bar for good art. We no longer see art that was commissioned by the Church. Much of what Bach composed in his lifetime was commissioned by the Church. Now we are told by the Church to stay away from music because it is Satan’s tool to corrupt us. Something about that seems wrong to me. God commands us to worship Him with music, but somehow that is wrong?

The same is true with every artform. We shy away from art unless, as Dr. Leeper happily points out, it is Thomas Kinkade. The first man to be filled with the Holy Spirit in the Bible however was Oholiab. He was an artist who God chose to design the tabernacle. He sculpted the ark, he embroidered the curtains, he made all of the instruments of worship. Without Oholiab, there would have been no worship. Now, however, we keep a distance from art, thinking it not appropriate for the Church.


This is my favorite Caravaggio painting and a great example of art in the Church:

No comments:

Post a Comment