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The question is answered by looking in the Bible and finding specific example regarding art in all of its forms. The general perspectives on art are looked at in eleven points. I will also critique this book and give my personal opinion. The first thing made clear in Art and the Bible is the Lordship of Christ regarding man. The Bible makes four things very clear: God made the whole man; in Christ the whole man is redeemed; Christ is the Lord of the whole Christina life; and when Christ comes back men will be raised from the dead and the whole man will have whole redemption. Under this framework is how art in the Christian life is understood. Art does have a place in Christian life, a Christian should use the arts to the Glory of God—not just as a tract, but as things of beauty to the praise of God. Without the framework then art would be seen as ungodly. Many people think that the Bible has little to say about art. To be more specific some say that the Jews had no interest in the arts because of what the Ten Commandments say. This is believed only because the Bible is being misinterpreted. To read the Bible more clearly one would see that the Bible has much to say about art. There are many places in the Bible where we can find that God allots art, and where it is even commanded by God. Some people think that art is not allowed by God, but in actuality God does allow it he just doesn’t allow the worship of it. “To worship art is wrong, but to make it is not.” Art was commanded by God to be in the Tabernacle. While Moses was on Sinai, God gave him specific instructions regarding the building of the tabernacle. And in these instructions God clearly asked for beauty to be present in the tabernacle. God commanded that art be constructed, not only in the Tabernacle but also in the Temple. There was no utilitarian purpose for some of the art in the Tabernacle and in the Temple, it is just that God is very interested in beauty. Also, God didn’t say that the art had to be photogenic, God commanded that there be blue, purple, and scarlet pomegranates adorning the skirts of the priest. Purple and scarlet are natural colors of a pomegranate but blue is not. In other words art can be free, it is not constricted to actuality in nature. There are many other instances in which God commanded art in the Temple and in the Tabernacle. The art that has been discussed so far has all had to do with God, but there is also secular art, and that does not mean that it is wrong. There is secular art in the Bible, in 1 Kings 10 Solomon’s throne is described. His throne is adorned with ivory and the finest gold, and with a total of 14 lions, as statues or real lions. This must have been a magnificent piece of secular art. For even more uses of art look at the “serpent of brass.” God used this piece of art in a very symbolic way. While the Israelites were wandering in the desert they started to complain and God sent fiery serpents among the people and many of them died. Then Moses prayed to God and asked Him to take away the serpents, God replied to Moses by commanding him to make a serpent of brass and all those that looked at it were brought back to life. Even though the serpent was destroyed later it was still a use of art. There are also other aspects of art, such as: poetry, music, drama and dance. Poetry is one of the most widespread forms of art in the Bible. The Psalms are full of poetry, in 2 Samuel it is said that David’s psalms were under the leadership and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Music is another art in which the Bible does not ignore. The use of music is found in many places in the Bible such as Ex. 15 in which the Hebrews were rescued from Pharaoh’s army, and they sang praises to God. Drama and dance also show up in the Scripture. In Ezekial, we read about how Ezekial was commanded to perform a drama every day for more then a year, so that the Jews would see what God was trying to say to them. This is all evidence that poetry, music, dramas and dance are art forms recognized by God. There are eleven aspects of art in which Francis Schaeffer believes Christians should have an understanding of. (1) The work of art has a value in itself. This is very important, for if we miss this point we miss the very essence of art. (2) Art forms add strength to the world-view, which shows through, no matter if the view is true or false. (3) In all forms of writing both poetry and prose, it makes a tremendous difference whether there is a certainty or a discontinuity with the normal words in normal syntax. Many writers tend to disassociate their works from the normal language, which makes it difficult for the reader to understand. (4) The fact that something is a work of art does not make it sacred. In other words if we read something or see something we don’t have to believe that it is truth. (5) Four standards of judgment: technical excellence; validity; intellectual content; integration of content and vehicle. These four judgments are the way in which we should look at an artwork. (6) Art can be used for any type of message, from pure fantasy to detailed history. (7) Styles of art form change and there is nothing wrong with this. (8) There is no such thing as a godly or ungodly style. (9) The abnormality of the revolting world, and the meaningfulness and purposefulness of life. These are world-views. (10) Christian art is by no means always religious art—that is, art that deals with religious themes. It is worth mans while to create works upon the basis of the great works God has already created. (11) Every artist has the problem of making an individual work of art and, as well, building up a total body of work. All these eleven points are perspectives on the way in which we should view art. Art and the Bible is a very interesting book. In order to critique this interpretation of art I really had to think about what all he was saying. For me to critique a book I must look at each main point made, the reason for this is because some of the points are better then others and I feel I should note this. The first point was regarding graven images, I really think that this point was for the most part common sense, as a Christian we already know that to put anything in front of God and worship it is wrong, so his point was true, and clear but it was commonsense. He made two points, which I found very interesting. He was talking about how art was commanded by God to be put into the Tabernacle and the Temple. I never knew that it was commanded to have such beautiful artwork present in these Holy places. He also mentioned Secular art, I think that was important to mention. Some Christians have the tendency to think that everything not to do directly with God is a sin and I don’t believe that this is true. He mentioned how there was a lot of beautiful art adorning Solomon’s throne, I think this is a good point to make because art that’s not Christian doesn’t mean that it is not a creative, and God created us and our creativity. Then he mentioned how God directly used art as a lesson to the Jews and look at the coming crucifixion of Jesus. This doesn’t really apply to anything these days but it is fascinating to se how God used art as an object lesson. The next three points made were regarding other forms of art I think that this was a good thing to mention. The reason for this is because art is a very broad subject and it was smart to include not only works of art such as paintings and pictures, but poetry, music, dance and drama. For each of the four art forms he shows how it was used in the Bible proving his statement that art is in the Bible. The most interesting example of music in the Bible was really cool to see, he mentioned that when the Hebrews sang after they were rescued from Pharaohs army, what a site that must have been to see that many people singing their praises to the most High God. One thing that I found very fascinating was that there is evidence of drama and dance in the Bible, I had no idea that God commanded Ezekial to do a drama every day for more then a year to show the Jews what God wanted them to see. These were all things that he mentioned about where art could be found in the Bible, the next set of things he talked about was how to properly look at and judge pieces of artwork. Schaeffer showed the reader how to better look at an artwork. I had no idea that there were so many different aspects to simply looking at a picture or listening to a piece of music. Again some of the points that he made were common sense but others were very in-depth and hard to grasp the meaning of what he was trying to get across. Some of the easy ones to understand were regarding the sanctity of art. He pointed out that just because we were created in Gods image does not mean that what we create is sacred. I again think that, as a Christian we already know that but as a non-Christian this point may be more meaningful. Another point that I think is common sense is “Art forms change and there is nothing wrong with this.” This to me is very obvious, just because I have seen styles of art change just over the period of my life, but possibly back in the old days people may have not seen the artwork change as much as present day. There were some points that were so hard to understand. An example of this is when he talked about “Normal definitions, normal syntax” I don’t quite understand what he is trying to say hear, I’m sure that it is very relevant to looking at art work I just don’t understand. When things are hard to understand it makes the reading harder and uninteresting. There were only a few points in which I didn’t understand so I think that it is all right, but I would rather see it written in more understanding terms. Overall the book is very detailed and very well written, if I was to give a formal critique I would have gone more in depth on his points, but it was a very good book. I also think that for any Christian art lover it would be wise to read it. To give my personal opinion I would first like to say what I was expecting it to be like. When I first started reading I thought that it was going to bore me, but as I read on it became very intriguing. I was going into it with a biased opinion because I am reading his other book “How then shall we live” and I don’t have the highest opinion on that book, but this one is very good. As I mentioned in my critique I think the only thing that I would have liked to see, is if it was written in a more understanding way. I understood most of it but there were some points I didn’t really understand what he was trying to get across. The thing that I liked most about it was that in all of his points he backed it up with Scripture, that shows me that he took his time to prove each of his points. If there were no scriptures then his points would have no truth to fall back on. So overall the book was really good and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who enjoys art in all of its forms. Bibliography: Word Count: 2158
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