Monday, November 28, 2005
a puzzling axiom
My pastor made a very bold statement yesterday before our music practice and I am still seeking to understand what he meant by it. I don't remember exactly how it came up, but he said "bad art is bad Christianity". Maybe I am just too dumb to figure it out, but I have not been able to get that phrase out of my head for the last 24 hours. Does it mean that poor art misrepresents the Christian faith? I don't know but would love to hear the insights of others on the subject.
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5 comments:
i would have to raise my eyebrows somewhat at that statement as well. i have a problem with one person getting to decide not only what bad Christianity is, but even what bad art is! "bad" as used to refer to art is clearly a subjective description based on taste, and "bad" used to describe Christianity seems to me an entirely puzzling concept. even if it was possible to describe some Christianity as bad and some as good, surely no mere mortal should presume to make that distinction. to go even further and equate these two concepts seems to be firstly nonsensical and secondly a tad judgemental. but that's just my (rather harsh) feeling on the matter.
wait, i have more to say- and that is that having said the above, i can sort of see where Randy was coming from and that it probably wasn't meant to be taken to the extremes it could be. i think that if God has blessed someone with artistic talent and that person doesn't bother to use his talent to the best of his ability (hence producing "bad", or half-assed at least, art), then yes, perhaps he is misrepresenting the Christian faith, or even worse, God himself. so, with a few qualifications, i think Randy's statement stands.
I'd have to agree with Katie on this one. Now...I'm not going to make a statement on what I think "bad Christianity" or "bad art" could mean, precisely because both religion and art are very complex and personal, and much too conceptual in my eyes to be pinned with such a label. Matty, maybe you should ask Randy to illuminate what the heck he was talking about--isn't that what spiritual leaders are good at?
i wasn't there and can't place the comment in context, but then again Bing didn't give us context -- just the comment.
if we look solely at the statement "bad art is bad christianity", there is nothing to suggest that Randy (or anyone else) gets to decide what is good and what is bad. asking why Randy... doesn't really have a place in addressing the comment (not that it doesn't have place in another conversation).
the comment says that there is such a thing as bad art (ex: Left Behind) and such a thing as bad christianity (ex: Left Behind) and suggests that they are linked. i think Bing's question boils down to "how are they linked?"
i also think that tait's second response is reasonable response to the question of how bad art and bad christianity might be linked.
i also think it would be worth asking Randy what he was not talking about. it's usually good to ask someone for clarification when you're confused about what they've said -- whether they're a 'spiritual leader' or not.
as for my thought's on the relationship between bad art and bad christianity... check out my blog in a week or so, hopefully there will be something there.
Actually, Katie, Tait's second comment IS much more applicable to the context and situation, not the first. The comment was certianly said with sarcastic hyperbole - as opposed to theological percision - but here's my point.
A great deal of what is deemed "Christian Art" is, at best, illustration and, at worst, propoganda. And there's a history to this.
The Christian subculture that many of us grew up in had created and nurtured into us a division between things that were ‘Secular’ and ‘Christian’.
In fact, when I was growing up, there were two kinds of Christian artists. “Serious Christians” did Christian art with obvious Christian themes about Christian subjects. And then there were the other kind, the “Sell Outs” … those who had crossed over into mainstream art, and did mainstream music and wrote mainstream fiction.
This division created a 'Christian industry'. An industry that thrives today – certainly not because of the quality of its art – but because the themes of the art fall within certain prescribed parameters. In such a world, the word ‘Christian’ has become an adjective: a word to describe something.
The Bible never uses the word Christian as an adjective. The word ‘Christian’ appears three times in the Bible and only as a noun. A Christian was a person. The first followers of Jesus were called ‘Christians’ by outsiders in Antioch. It was a name, it was an identity: “little Christ”.
The minute we start using ‘Christian’ as an adjective, we start running into trouble. It becomes a tag, a label … a way to categorize.
The problem is, something can be labeled ‘Christian’ and not be true or good. The "Christian" painting could lack creativity and inspiration. The "Christian" song lyrics could contain recycled clichés.
As Rob Bell says,
"It is possible for a movie to be “Christian” and be a terrible movie. It may actually desecrate the art form in its quality and storytelling and craft. Just because it is a Christian book by a Christian author and it was purchased in a Christian bookstore doesn’t mean it is all good and beautiful."
Why can’t we find Annie Dillard, T.S. Eliot, Frederick Buechner, Dostoyevsky, Hopkins, W.H. Auden, or Alexander Solzhenitsyn in Christian Bookstores?
These people are acknowledged as some of the best writers of the 19th, 20th and the 21st Century. Some of them wrote pulitzer prize winners. One was a poet laureate. One even won a Noble prize. All devoted Christians. Why are they great? For a lot of reasons, but one thing is consistent with all of them. None of them acknowledge the divide between that which was secular and Christian.
None of these authors, to my knowledge, set out to write 'Christian' stories or poems. Their aim was to write well. And they succeeded.
At the end of the day, I guess I don't believe "Christian Art" is even biblical. There's got to be a better way to think. It is better to encourage "Artists who are Christian" to be true to their craft to the glory of God.
So, there you have it ... the context of my comment.
Jester, joker, pastor,
Randy
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