Kaleo San Diego Church

“To consider art is to contemplate human creativity in all of its forms.” – Gene Veith Jr.

Christians have always struggled with culture. How do we live in the world, but not be of it? How do we influence the culture we live in without succumbing to its values, which are often antithetical towards our creator? There have been two popular, but wrong ways of answering these questions in the history of the church: sectarianism and syncretism. By exploring these two approaches to culture, I believe we can come to a Biblical balance and find a way of redeeming the arts both in culture and the church.

Sectarianism and the Arts

Sectarianism is alive and well in American evangelicalism. Like the Pharisees of old, sectarians are committed to separating from the world lest they catch the deadly disease known as sin, so they hole up in their Christian ghettos, creating an isolated “sacred” culture. Christians with this mindset become postmodern monks that must validate the arts by valuing its spirituality. All forms of art for the sectarian must have some utilitarian benefit: a sacred slogan, a Bible verse, a Jesus fish, a Holy Spirit dove, or some other object that lets everyone know that this car, painting, song, t-shirt, or business is promoting the cause of Christianity.

The effects of sectarianism are two-fold: (1) it marginalizes the importance and cultivation of the arts in the church, and (2) it limits the influence of the gospel in our culture by promoting art that is mediocre, at best.

Lets deal with the first of these effects. If I am told or led to believe as a Christian artist, that the value of my work is measured by its spirituality, then my work will be limited in scope and marginalized to meet the needs of my religious sub-culture, who may know very little about the art I am trying to create. This is frustrating for the artist who is trying to cultivate and employ the gifts God has given in the culture that God has sovereignly placed him. And this limited mindset has led many good artists to quench their gifts, because they believe it to be a worldly pursuit.

Franky Schaeffer expresses this frustration clearly:

Loneliness is a constant reality for Christians who seriously pursue an artistic career. We are caught on the thorns of a miserable dilemma. On one hand is the church; on the other is the larger world and its art community. The nonbelieving art community, be it in the field of painting, theatre, writing, film, music or dance, has little interest in those who would express orthodox Jewish-Christian themes through their personal lives or their art-works. Yet the church is no better; it has lost vital contact with art and culture and has even lost the cultural vocabulary to discuss art and the humanities, let alone encourage artists…

In the most unfortunate reaction possible, many Christians find false security through collective ignorance and deny rather than affirm, run rather than shape, endlessly say no rather than present good alternatives. The Christian who is serious about being an artist occupies, in this reactionary ghetto [of church], a place as comfortable as a live fish placed in boiling water. 1

Sectarians are often well intentioned, but they fall unknowingly into a form of neo-Platonism, wrongly dividing their lives into spiritual and material. All of life for the Christian is spiritual, including the material world. God made the body as well as the soul, and in Christ the whole man is redeemed, not just a portion. As Schaeffer humorously puts it: “Spirituality unconnected with real existence is like a car in neutral endlessly revving, going nowhere, while the occupants pat themselves on the back and delight at the speed at which the engine is turning over.” 2

Artistic Church Board Fodder: a sectarian attempt at cultural relevance

The second problem with sectarianism is its limiting effect and promotion of art that is often trite. How can we influence the culture we live in with the truth of the Gospel if we are not willing to employ our gifts as artists in the world? Jesus called us to be lights in this world. When we limit both the content of our art to mere religious sloganeering and confine the location of our art within the walls of the church for our personal piety, we are greatly dimming the light and its penetrating effect.

Syncretism and the Arts

While sectarians do not go far enough into culture, syncretists go too far. Syncretists are more concerned with being popular with culture than with being faithful to God, and therefore, let go of the gospel. Syncretists are quick to state how irrelevant sectarian churches have become, but syncretist (liberal) churches are also irrelevant. As Pastor Mark Driscoll points out:

Syncretism simply baptizes unscriptural beliefs in the name of limp-wrested relevance, social progress, being nice, and making a good nonjudgmental impression. Syncrestism inevitably dissolves into a universalism in which God loves everyone, and will forgive everyone's sins and take everyone to heaven because he simply lacks the courage to judge anyone. Eventually, syncretists become less distinctively Christian in favor of an inoffensive spiritual mush. 3

Sectarians say they love God, but neglect their neighbor. Syncretists say they love their neighbor, but deny God in doing so. Both are wrong, or only half-right. Jesus' high priestly prayer is helpful here.

Jesus' Prayer for the Church

Before Jesus went to the cross, he spent some time on his knees praying for his people. Note specifically what he prays for:

But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of this world, just as I am not of this world. I do not ask that you take them out of this world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of this world, just as I am not of this world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. (John 17:13-19)

Jesus makes it clear in his prayer that we are not to be separated from the world, even though it is not our final resting place. And the reason he wishes us to remain in this world is to reach it with the gospel of his saving redemption. He was sent into this world to redeem it, and the church is sent with the same purpose.

We are not saved in a spiritual vacuum. We are saved for the purpose of glorifying God by enjoying Him forever. This enjoyment of God does not begin in heaven, but right now on earth. Just as the businessman praises God by conducting his business in an honest fashion, the artist praises God by employing his gifts to the best of his/her ability. Schaeffer concludes: “Christians should be those least threatened of all by new artistic ideas, by experimentation, by taking risks, by looking at and enjoying what the other side has to say. If indeed our feet are solidly rooted on truth itself, we are those who can look the world in the eye with confidence.” 4

Kingdom of Heaven on Earth Micky Donnelly

We must boldly proclaim God's goodness, beauty, and truth through the arts in the world while remaining faithful to God's sanctifying word. This can be done through any media or medium available. We do not need to justify our artistic endeavors by attaching cutesy precious moment slogans to spiritually redeem them. There is no difference between the spiritual and secular world; there is just the world God made and sent his Son to redeem. For the Christian artist there should be no dichotomy between painting a portrait of a common man and that of a religious scene. Both are subjects of God's world, and both have come from God's creative hand.

In Part 3 of this series we will look at examples of art found in the Scriptures to gain a better understanding of how all encompassing the arts are in our everyday lives.

..continue to part 3>

1 Franky Schaeffer, Sham Pearls for Real Swine (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, 1990), pg. 12, 17.

2 Franky Schaeffer, Addicted to Mediocrity (Wheaton, IL: Good News Publishers, 1981), p. 55.

3 Mark Driscoll, The Radical Reformission ( Grand Rapids , MI : Zondervan, 2004), p. 144.

4 Franky Schaeffer, Addicted to Mediocrity , p. 49.

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