Why do most professional critics and unbelievers hate “Christian art”? Is it because they’re prejudiced against the Gospel? Should their opinions matter to Christian artists or Christians in general? On this episode of the Renew the Arts Podcast, Michael and Justus talk about the God’s Not Dead movie franchise, the dubious label “Christian art,” and why Christians need to listen carefully to what unbelievers think and feel about the creative work the church creates and endorses.
Stay tuned at the end for “Steeples,” by Fiery Crash, from his album In Clover, which we think exemplifies a nuanced and compelling approach to making persuasive artistic appeals to those who are at odds with God and the church.
While I agree that quite a bit of Christian messaged products (I can’t really bring myself to call much of the efforts art) are lacking in nuance, intelligence, imagination, and, well, creativity. What if part of the problem isn’t the work itself, not the quality (not a question of excellence, but more regarding the characteristics and chosen aesthetics)? What if the problem is the message? What if the message is what is the weakest part of the work?
Do we really understand the gospel as well as we think we do? I am not convinced. I haven’t seen _God’s not Dead_, but I have seen more than my share of “Christian art”. Are we really creating work that is true, good, and beautiful? Are we really creating generative work? We certainly do try to present what we believe the nature of salvation represents to the Christian. But is that what the gospel truly is?
When Jesus proclaimed the gospel, what he considered to be the good news, it seems unequivocal, unarguable, “…to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then when Jesus explains where he can be found in Matthew 25, are these the messages our work proclaims? I would say much of the message Christians want to proclaim these days has more in common with a message of death and oppression.
A word on style. Much of contemporary Christianity has also given into the larger cultural traps of Modernism. Aesthetically Modernism is eschewing ornamentation and devaluing of tradition. That is the very core of Protestantism, that tradition is not important, is not a carrier of truth. So we must strip down our message to the core so that we can “know beyond a shadow of a doubt”. This is reflected in much Christian creative endeavors. We don’t want to be misunderstood. Nuance and imagination risk obscuring the message.
But what do we find with Jesus and his chosen art form, parables? He does not seem to be all that concerned about people misunderstanding him. He even seemed annoyed that those closest to him didn’t understand and wanted him to speak plainly!
Just some thoughts,
Joe
Interesting thoughts. I agree that a narrow and often incorrect view of the Gospel itself is a problem, possibly the problem, though it would mostly be corrected by any honest and even partially successful attempt to express embodied truth.
As for tradition, the Protestants very much honor a tradition, but that is one which emphasizes propositional truth almost to the exclusion of incarnation. The Roman Catholic tradition might be the opposite of that. I think both traditions have a tradition problem concerning the arts, in other words.
Thank you for commenting and for listening. We very much appreciate it.
I think a big problem is that Christian art isn’t often art it is a sermon. It doesn’t often exist to translate beauty or truth, it doesn’t always put story first but rather uses it as a vehicle to teach. A lot of it exists as analogy which, while a useful teaching method, and certainly in the oral traditions Jesus was a part of, was a recognised staple of the culture, it isn’t how modern Western storytelling is best received. It’s just not as interesting if by the end (or half way through) something you realise you are being preached at not being taken along a journey. The Narnia stories walk this line carefully but even they are not as engrossing as, let’s say, Harry Potter. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but they put story and character first. I think the Christian’s artist struggle can be wanting to put God first but also not realising that can be done by creating the best possible form of art. Creating art in itself that speaks truth can be for God without it needed to deliver a blatant ‘message’. Art makes us feel, it teaches through emotion, it needs to be a poet, it doesn’t need to be a lecturer.