'Christian' Art: some formative thoughts

In the final part of my series Culture in the Christian Worldview, I outlined four principles for how Christians might engage with our culture. I would like to consider the last of these, the call to ‘create culture’, in more detail. I wrote:

Christians can also participate in this conversation by creating art of their own. We are creative by nature and should think critically and purposefully about what we create, and perhaps, even gently, we can help steer the conversation, and lift our collective gaze in a heavenward direction.

So, as people who are creative by nature and determined to direct our efforts for God’s glory, how should the Christian faith impact our creative expressions? What makes art ‘Christian’?

Immediately we encounter an issue of definition. The most obvious Christian distinctive is the gospel, but this has so permeated our culture that concepts of sacrifice, for instance, are part of everyone's vocabulary. Some of the most affecting films and books directly reflect or rely on this gospel narrative. Such completely different stories as Harry Potter, Gladiator, The Dark Knight, The Shawshank Redemption and The Matrix each depend on a Messiah figure who suffers (or dies) to save someone else. For all intents and purposes, these examples are ‘Christian’; they all demonstrate the gospel. The only thing that could make the connection clearer would be if they were explicitly Christian.

The same could be said for lots of other facets of the Christian worldview. As discussed in the Worldview series, the reason works of art resonate is because they reflect things that are true about the world and the human condition. Three that come to mind are:

• The pain of loss
• The joy of reconciliation
• The satisfaction of justice

All of these are encompassed within the Christian worldview, and you would be hard-pressed to find a film or novel that does not showcase at least one of these. So, it does not seem distinctively Christian to focus on these.

So if it is not the gospel narrative or the Christian worldview that distinguishes 'Christian' art, the only distinctive left is works that are explicitly about Christianity, or made by Christians, or for Christians. When canvassing friends for examples of ‘Christian art’, answers tended to fall into one of three categories:

1. BIBLICAL ADAPTATION

John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667); J. S. Bach, St John Passion (1724); George Frideric Handel, Messiah (1741); Ben-Hur (1959); The Prince of Egypt (1998); The Passion of the Christ (2004); The Chosen (2017-) 

These are works of art that use the Bible as their source material and portray events from it. There are of course issues about how one should adapt Bible stories, especially questions of creative licence and depicting Jesus or God.

2. ALLEGORY

Dante d’Alighieri, The Divine Comedy (1320), John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678); C. S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-56)

These works depend on allegory or metaphor to depict the Christian life or doctrine.

3. DIDACTIC ART

J. S. Bach, Mass in B minor (1749); Patricia St. John, Treasures of the Snow (1950); VeggieTales (1993-); Courageous (2011); God’s Not Dead (2014)

Works in this category are made to serve a purpose; they are didactic, teaching aids geared to a believing audience, ranging from Bach’s church liturgy to animated parables like VeggieTales (I bet that was the first time you’ve seen Bach and VeggieTales in the same sentence!). I include modern evangelical films such as God’s Not Dead here, because they are also films with a clear Christian message, essentially parables about Christians resolving issues about their faith.

My theory is that because Western society has long operated on Christianity’s moral axes, it was hard to identify anything as ‘Christian’ unless it was explicitly about the gospel. In the twentieth century, as society unmoored itself from its Christian roots, the audience for these things grew smaller and smaller, becoming a sort of 'subculture' or genre of its own.

The big danger of a Christian subculture is it disconnects Christian endeavours from the mainstream, and fosters a divide between 'sacred' and 'secular'. The problem for the Christian artist is feeling that their creative efforts must be directed towards a Christian audience, rather than (for example) pursuing beauty or truth. The problem for the Christian reader is that we develop a double standard for how we judge art. We'll evaluate what we see in cinemas on aesthetic terms, and what we pick up in a Christian bookshop in terms of piety or faithfulness.

The chief complaint people have with modern ‘Christian’ art is that it is poor quality and feels preachy. I think that is because the messages that their creators try to convey become the most important aspect of their artistic endeavour, rather than artistic excellence. Video essayist Josh Keefe makes the observation that this isn't because of a lack of funds:

“If Christians believe in a limitless, creative God, then why are we making unimaginative movies of such low quality? Money isn’t the problem – they have plenty of it. The problem with Christian movies is that they seem to be made by preachers, not filmmakers.”

This is the trajectory that I fear Christian creatives find themselves on, away from artistic pursuit and toward a special interest. Since the gospel is the clearest depiction of the fundamental narratives of culture, there is a tendency amongst Christian artists to feel that this is the cultural ideal that their art should aspire to. Combine this with the duty to evangelism, and any other subject matter appears trivial and less important.

This trajectory also applies to other areas of the Christian life. For example, the church in the UK has a rich heritage of social action, setting up schools, poverty-relief enterprises, and advocating for all manner of social justice (e.g. the Abolition of the Slave Trade). But these movements so brilliantly saturated society, that it became no longer distinctively Christian to advocate for these things. The Christian distinctive slowly became normalized, with evangelism the final grain in our salt mill.

If we reduce the definition of Christian art to that which is explicitly Christian, we risk denying the dignity of work and common grace; that every calling, every line of work plays a part in fulfilling our call to steward the earth. Christianity is not just the gospel. It cannot be anything less, but it certainly is a lot more. There is a quotation ascribed to Martin Luther that conveys this:

“The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship”.

Christian artist, there is redemptive dignity in your every endeavour. You need not make every painting a depiction of a Bible story, nor every poem a psalm. You have the full gamut of truth to draw from. Otherwise, we create a subculture and deny that God’s beauty can be discerned in other parts of Creation.

To demonstrate this, I have two case studies:

Case Study 1: Stuart Townend

Here’s an interesting example. Stuart Townend, writer of ‘In Christ Alone’ and ‘How Deep the Father’s Love for Us’ is one of the best-known contemporary Christian songwriters. His 2009 album, Creation Sings is in millions of Christian households. But his last track on the album is doing something very different. After an album of congregational worship, this bonus track is anomalous, incongruous. You can listen to it here:

This wouldn’t be out of place on BBC Radio 2. If you heard it, you would not think it was Townend. Perhaps it would have done well if released by a more major artist (Snow Patrol, perhaps?). What’s it doing on this album, though?

I think Townend’s confidence in putting ‘My Fault’ in this album demonstrates that his calling or talent as a songwriter is more than producing resources for the church. Adding this track tells me that Townend does not see being a Christian songwriter as incompatible with his personal works. The song is far from inappropriate, but demonstrates the joy a Christian artist takes in his craftsmanship, whether it is directed for the edification of the church, or just as a means of expressing his thoughts. 

I could not find other songs like this by Townend. Perhaps this was an experiment that did not take off. At any rate, its inclusion is indicative of the possibilities for Christian artists.

Case Study 2: Other Christian Traditions

As you read through the lists above, you may have wondered “Where is Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov (1880) or J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (1954-55)?” Both of these works are indisputable classics and artistic triumphs. They are thoroughly Christian in their themes, but not preaching to the reader. Dostoyevsky belonged to the Russian Orthodox tradition, and Tolkien Roman Catholicism. Tolkien’s work is Christian not because he was Catholic, but because it is saturated with Christian themes. He is a storyteller, and can pursue beauty in his craft without depending on moralizing.

Unlike Protestant evangelicalism, both of these church traditions are highly aesthetic and have clear space for artistic appreciation. Consider that the greatest artists in the Western tradition were sponsored by the Catholic Church and created sculptures or altarpieces for the Church; e.g. Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, Michelangelo’s David or the Sistine Chapel ceiling, van Eyck’s altarpiece for Ghent Cathedral (even cathedrals themselves?). Masterpieces. 

Regardless of any doctrinal issues one may have, I think it is no coincidence that the Churches with clear aesthetic traditions have resulted in more enduring art than the Reformation. Evangelicals do not have the same heritage to look back to. 

Conclusion

We deprive the world of the wealth of wisdom the gospel brings to bear on the entirety of existence if Christian artists confine themselves to catering for subcultures. This is not to deny the beauty accomplished in explicitly Christian works; just look at Bach! 

If, Christian artist, you feel called to create works tailored for a Christian audience, more power to you. Devote your skills to honing your artwork, refining it to be the greatest it can be, offering your best work.

And if, Christian artist, you feel called to write a sonnet or symphony about something completely different, more power to you. May the truth of the gospel saturate your efforts, as you render your talents to the Creator who makes this world colourful and musical. 

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3:23-24)