Art, Faith & Culture
Image is a journal of art, faith, and cultural renewal. Its purpose is to speak to the church and culture with a commitment to both artistic excellence and religious truth. Image recently produced a short video that explains what Image is about and why it matters.
It is called Spanning the Gap: The Image Video
Art, Faith, & Cultural Transformation.
Check it out here
Larry is the senior pastor at 
Thank you Larry for posting this video. We should pray for the continued success of Image, for their goals are certainly an important part of the kingdom of God.
Here is a heady quote from Balthasar addressing the same issue as the video.
Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics (Ignatius, 1982, p. 152).
“For the moment the essential thing is to realize that, without aesthetic knowledge, neither theoretical nor practical reason can attain to their total completion. If the verum lacks the splendor which for Thomas is the distinctive mark of the beautiful, then the knowledge of truth remains both pragmatic and formalistic. The only concern of such knowledge will then merely be the verification of correct facts and laws, whether the latter are laws of being or laws of thought, categories and ideas.
“But if the bonum lacks the voluptas, which for Augustine is the mark of its beauty, then the relationship to the good remains both utilitarian and hedonistic: in this case the good will involve merely the satisfaction of a need by means of some value or object, whether it is founded objectively on the thing itself giving satisfaction or subjectively on the person seeking it.”
Wow Connie, I kind of like it when you speak Latin but let me see if I get this straight. The “vernum” is the truth and it needs the splendor to reach our hearts and have its full impact. The “bonum” is the good, and the “voluptas” is the beautiful, so the good needs beauty or else we may do good for pragmatic reasons but we will not love the good
for it’s own beauty’s sake?
Thanks Larry for the Latin translation! I think you got it. I’ll just add a little more….If we don’t love the beauty in goodness and truth, maybe we are not even seeing the fullness of goodness and truth–only seeing them in pragmatic or hedonistic ways. Maybe the gospel has even become only pragmatic and hedonistic in our culture because it has been presented primarily in kitchy and ugly ways. It seems that God is moving in believing artists to work against this reduction of the gospel. It will be a pleasure to see what God does and we should pray for a strengthening of these artists, because mostly more utilitarian (pragmatic) duties get in the way and the supposedly less practical beauty gets lost.
What??????
Saul, I may not be clear in what I am saying, (I would like to be) and I would like to answer whatever questions you may have, if I can. But….I don’t know where to start, when you ask such a broad question, like “What??????”. Maybe you could narrow it down and then I could have a go at answering and we could also have a discussion.
Basically, an ugly presentation of the gospel does it a huge disservice, to the point that the content may actually be warped. To know something as beautiful as the gospel takes beautiful ways of telling. The question is, “Can truth really exist without beauty?” The answer of course is no. All truth is beautiful… if you take away the beauty it ceases to be true. So when people replace the beauty in the gospel with kitch what are we left with?
Connie, I like the quote and want to understand it better.
What does it mean about Thomas or Augustine being the mark of the
beautiful? Also, the video was great to see. For me, this whole relationship of art to faith is new and I wish I understood it better.
I, like Sharon, am new to the relationship of art to faith. I had the day off today and was looking around on the CCC website. I found and read Connie’s articles on “Redeeming Beauty”. I really enjoyed them. This is a new perspective for a “black and white” type person like me. Her articles helped me to understand more clearly truth, grace , and beauty. I also could use some help with the part about Thomas and Augustine being the mark of the beautiful.
Chuck, thanks for the comment. I’ll ask Connie to develop those ideas a little or, if i have the time, I’ll work on them myself. Since you mentioned Connie’s articles I thought I would add a link here for those who would like to read them. The Articles are called “Redeeming Beauty” there is an introduction and then three articles. You can find them here: http://www.cccdaytona.org/article/redeeming-beauty
I think so many people are interested in this we will be posting more comments on these issues from time to time. If you are interested in these themes check out Alex’s blog also. Just click here for a link: Splinteredlight.com.
I just went back and read Connie’s 2nd article again. She talks about a definition of beauty that I, as a new Christian, have never heard before. She writes,”An interesting fact about the study of beauty in the OT is there is no word equal to our word ‘ugly’, the closest is ‘blemish’ or ‘defect’ and this can either be physical or moral and can disqualify a person from priestly service. So ‘ugly’ is any defect that keeps something from being what it was created to be.”
“The concern in the OT is not about beauty or ugliness, but between something, in its setting, serving God’s purpose or something that is used wrongly and so leads away from the just order God intends. This needs to be part of our vision of beauty.”
She also says,”We need to retain the idea that beauty does have a visual element. We don’t reject that reality. The beauty of the natural world reflects the glory of God. God made visual and physical beauty that could be seen and appreciated and he acknowledged and affirmed it when he called it good. But for beauty to be ideal, it must involve the objective moral fittingness and truth God speaks about in the Bible.”
“Each of us are artists of our own lives. We can be haphazzard, willy-nilly, just plowing through our lives or we can be thoughtfully, carefully, listening to God building lives of beauty,…all fitting into God’s good created order.”
THAT is beautifully said!
Chuck & Sharon thanks for joining in the discussion, so it is not primarily me and my family talking about stuff we could discuss in our living room! (You too, Saul)
Balthasar is difficult to understand. But, if you substitute the English words that Larry supplied for the Latin, it is easier to get. He is saying that in Thomas Aquinas’ ( 13th century Christian ) thinking, splendor is the distinctive mark of the beautiful. Truth (verum) must have spendor, or it remains merely pragmatic and formalistic. While for St. Augustine (5th century) something that brings pleasure (voluptas) is the distinctive mark of beauty. So, the good (bonum) must give pleasure (not carnal or sinful pleasure but truer deeper pleasures that reflect the glory of God.) or it is only utilitarian and hedonistic. These things are trying to describe what really can not be descibed! That is in part why art is important, it puts into song, dance, painting things that can not be put into words–the arts symbolize truth. We need both words and images to try and say more of God’s glory. We need both the heart and the mind.
Connie, in your talk, “redeeming beauty” you said about Ephesians 3:14-15, that “from the first time Larry preached on this verse, I have been set on a long thread of thinking.” Well, a couple of years ago your family sent out a Christmas letter that touched on
this same idea. The thoughts expressed in that letter were new
and thrilling to me – they, like you, set me on a long thread of
thinking. The idea being that this visible world is embedded with
meaning because it is an expression of God’s nature for us to see and experience. In the letter you said, “He did not create the world and the put meaning into it. It has meaning because it was created as an expression of his person. It seems to us that he created wind and water as they are because they actually “picture” what his Spirit is like! So in many ways the whole created world becomes a metaphor for the person of God.” That letter began a thread of thinking for me and your talks on beauty continue to be
helpful as I re-read them.
I enjoyed the video and I think it is a great forum for artists of faith to express themselves. Beauty, no doubt, derives its origin from our Creator which is clearly seen in his magnificent creation. Since we know he cannot lie he is, therefore, the very Source of Truth which is evidenced in the gospel played out in the lives of those who come to receive it; the miracle of the transformed soul gradually moving from darkness to light, brokeness to wholeness. I am not sure I agree that we need both words and images to try and say more about God’s glory. The Word of God is complete and informs our understanding as to whether or not the images reflect his glory. Art certainly can be a rich expression of his character to believers and unbelievers alike yet it is still just a shadow. As new creatures, we believers are transformed by the very hand of God. He desires our lives to be the greatest expression of his heart. Everything else is a shadow. Good for pointing the way, a marker, so to speak,like the curtain which separated the holy of holies from the Tabernacle. A magnificent work of art elaborately designed enriching the eyes of the priests and pointing to the heavens. But, in Christ, we as believers, embody the very nature of God. We are his greatest work of art. We are the dwelling place of God by his Spirit. Therefore, the greatest expression of the beauty and truth of God should flow through us. Otherwise, as Paul said, we are just clanging symbols. If we do not sincerely show the love of God to those around us in our daily lives all the art under the heavens will just be wood, hay and stubble. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Eph. 2:10
Thanks for your thoughtful comments Mo. I certainly wouldn’t want anything to take away from our sense of the centrality and sufficiency of the Scriptures.
I’m not sure exactly how this relates to your thoughts but your comments on the “magnificent creation” reminded me that recently read where Calvin spoke about the beauty of the world as a kind of “theater for God’s glory”. He said: “Let us not be ashamed to take pious delight in the works of God open and manifest in this most beautiful theater”. “There is not a spot in the world where you can not see at least some spot of His glory.” (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, I, x, 1.)
Did you know the word “workmanship” in Ephesians 2:10 is the Greek word poiema from which we get the word “poem”? It suggests a carefully crafted work of art. Thanks again for your thoughts.
Larry, I know that you stand on the sufficiency of Scripture. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. I guess it was the word “need” for more words and images” that got me going in that direction. God has gifted so many people with artitic talent and for them to use it for his glory is a wonderful thing which certainly must bring him pleasure as well as us. It wasn’t my intention to diminish the importance or value of it in our lives. i guess I was just trying to bring it back down to the basics of our individual lives and the powerful effect a heart yielded to the Holy Spirit can have in the lives of those around us. The idea that we are his poem to be read by the world, his masterpiece to be observed is truly daunting and humbling. Thank you for the Greek translation. I love the idea of “poem”. It has such a deeper sense of intimacy and beauty attached to it. Also, the Calvin quote rings so true. I often think that the beauty of this world is so breathtaking and we are witnesses to its fallen state. How magnificent will it be restored?!
I also would like to say that I think it was a great decision to start this blog. Fellowship in the flesh is not always so easy to come by these days in our fast paced lives. Most of us tend to see each other briefly after services which is not always conducive to discussions such as these. It is another way to extend community and help us get to know each other on a deeper level. So…bravo! La vie communitaire!
Thanks again for the encouragement Mo I wish I could read/speak French but if i had to guess I would say La vie communitaire is saying something good about community. So I will agree and reply in omnibus ipse primatum tenens, which is Latin not French and may be out of context but is always good to remember.
Amen!