From: crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu (Lauren L. Crawford)
Newsgroups: rec.music.christian
Subject: Re: TANGENT: Christianity and art
Date: 1 Sep 92 16:42:01 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

In article <1992Sep1.151957.3254@cbnews.cb.att.com> ajw@cbnews.cb.att.com (andrew.j.whitman) writes:
>
[lots of excellent, thought-provoking stuff deleted]

>For Schaeffer, all of this results in "bad" art - bad because it
>doesn't reflect the Christian view of a universe controlled
>by, watched over by, and cared for by the God who is there.  
>
>Me?  I think Schaeffer missed the point.  Schaeffer spends a lot of
>time defending the notion that life without God logically leads 
>to nihilism and despair.  I happen to agree with him.  But when
>he sees that nihilism and despair reflected in the arts, his 
>response is to denigrate it.  Why?  Because it isn't based on a
>Christian understanding of truth.

Well, one definition of art ( I realize there are many) is that which
brings order out of chaos.  In other words, there are loads of notes
and sounds and rhythms in the universe, but music is by its very nature 
an order imposed on all that stuff.  Without the order, there is no
music.  Schaeffer made that point rather eloquently in his "How Should
We Then Live" film with the piano player in the middle of Times Square
(or somewhere like it), who sits down to play.  Everyone waits expectantly.
And waits.  And waits.  Eventually, he just closes the piano lid, bows,
leaves.  Everyone applauds.  His point:  There is no order.  Therefore,
there is no music.  

I think one can make the same argument for paint thrown at a canvas.
Is that art, or a celebration of chaos?  What about a blank canvas,
or a black canvas (both of which I've seen in museums)?  They're
anti-art.

I think people can make music about despair.  They can create art
about despair.  Dostoyevsky wrote eloquently about the dark night of
the soul.  But the point is that he wrote words, created characters,
translated tremendous thought and perception into works of fiction that
transcended and broadened those with whom he communicated.  Had he taken
a pen and paper and written gibberish -- idhheksh $$33 #ksi9!,, --
it wouldn't have been art.  It would've been chaos.  That's what I think
Schaeffer was arguing.

>
>Bob tells us (and Francis Schaeffer would agree) that certain forms of
>art are inappropriate for Christian expression.  The witness and work  
>of Christian artists tells me differently.  So which themes/styles
>are inappropriate?  And why?

Good question.  For me, the overarching theme is the most important.
Is the point of this book/painting/song that despair is all there is,
there is no hope?  Does reading/seeing/listening to this lead me to
despair?  If so, it may be art but it's not "of God" except that it
has created a certain order out of mayhem.  I don't think "there's
no hope, lay down and die, scumbags" is an appropriate theme for
Christian artists.  Neither is a glorification of hatred, which so
much art I see today seems to be.  Those are a couple of ideas, at
any rate.



-- 
Lauren Crawford  //  crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu

I believe we are on the irreversible trend toward more freedom and
democracy -- but that could change.   -- J. Danforth Quayle  
Newsgroups: rec.music.christian