If you're used to only reading Schaeffer for his apologetics, you are missing out on one of his biggest contributions to Christendom - the encouragement for Christians to make Jesus Christ Lord of all - that also includes in the culture and the arts.

During Schaeffer's day, he was the one answering any question thrown at Christianity. He was going to the youth and college students (and they were coming to him). He was an adopter of indie documentaries like "How Should We Then Live?" He would have fit right at home in the online video space. And this book is a prime example of Schaeffer writing succinctly and proficiently.

After stating his premise that Christians are to be great artists for the glory of God, Schaeffer splits the book into two parts to make his case. The first part is a look back into the Scriptures to show all the ways art has played a part in the carrying out of God's plan of salvation. It's easy to say that he stays here a bit too long but to not draw on the examples he gives would do a disservice of the purpose of his whole book and premises. Schaeffer points to God being a Creator and us being His image bearers, we can engage in non-idol making art. Art that is not just paintings but architecture, jewlrey, painting, etc. are given. A stellar point of how even the Song of Solomon points Christians to being good romantics and engaging in good sex should not be undersold. All points are reflections back to the main Souce of our Creator.

The second part of the book is what most of us are use to today - the call to action. Schaeffer has grounded his call in Scripture and so the motivation in how should we now live becomes one of inspiration and details. Schaeffer doesn't only talk about being good artists but also being good intakers of art. Things like technical abilities should be displayed and those same abilities should be appreciated for it. Of course, Schaeffer has to talk about the worldview being reflected in the art. Amazing points all around for this for those who read Schaeffer for his presuppositional apologetics. Other points worth highlighting is that not all good, Christian art has to be "religious" art. The art can still be Christian art without putting a baby Jesus in it or footprints in the sand. An interesting cultural aspect that Schaeffer discusses is one of how one's culture and society should be seen in the art. The music or the sculpture from Japan is going to be recognized as such because the style and technical aspect that makes the music or sculpture from the UK different. Schaeffer makes some interesting points that are being discussed and debated today.

One aspect that I would have liked to have read more on was Schaeffer's take on objective beauty. Beauty is discussed here but I feel like Schaeffer would be able to express a positive case for objective beauty in about six pages (an inflation rate of 120 pages by today's authors).

This is a book to pick up and discuss with others. Jesus Christ is Lord of all - even the arts. Christians should have no excuses for making bad art. Final Grade - A- ( )

Art in the Bible - 4.5/5
Some Perspectives on Art - 3.5/5

A small and very short book made up of two essays. The first is no less impactful for its brevity and Schaeffer makes a very strong case for art and the artist within the Christian sphere (essentially debunking the extreme line of thinking that stems from "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image"). This portion is very readable, very clearly laid out, and draws from the well of scripture for conclusions.

The second essay deals with a number of facets of art and how a Christian should view it, appreciate it, and outwork their own artistry appropriately. This is less of a bible study and more of a brief but detailed presentation of Schaeffer's view on the arts in the context of the Christian walk. In that sense, the first essay can be seen as the biblical foundation upon which the second essay is built. Schaeffer goes into a commendable amount of detail in a small number of pages, but aspects are perhaps over-simplified on occasion. I'm not sure if I'm on board with everything he puts forth, but very broadly speaking you can boil it down to: "...whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (1 Cor. 10:31) ( )

2.5 stars. An exploration of the role of art in the Christian life. Some interesting thoughts. I got a little stuck on the parts where I am supposed to be judging others' worldview. Schaeffer seems to have too strict of rules as far as what kind of art people "should" be producing when he talks about how artist shouldn't try to make art that isn't consistent with the time and place in which they live. This was a bit too "high-brow" to use as a listening companion for housecleaning! ( )

Should Christians focus only on religious art? The art of poetry can be found in the Bible, particularly in the book of Psalms. But what about the more visual and tangible arts; for instance, sculpture. This 63 page booklet discusses the art of graven images, the temple, the tabernacle. There are discussions on standards of judgement, changing styles, modern art forms and the Christian message and world view. So much to consider in this tiny book, Art and the Bible by Francis A. Schaeffer.

Speaks volumes to not just art but worldviews. Audiobook took only about 2 hours listening. Well worth it. ( )

In this short volume (94 pages) Schaeffer takes you on a journey through both the old and new testaments to show you that God really does like art and that the cases if which art is destroyed are due to people worshipping the art.

When humans are being creative they’re doing something that God does, God is the creator of all things and can create out of nothing, Schaeffer argues, but man still creates, he just uses existing things and tweaks them.

Schaeffer also takes us through the idea of representing your worldview in your art and tells us that everybody does it, whether they’re conscious of it or not. Art has a message and that message will stem from how that person views the world.

I think I got more of out this particular volume after my second reading, so I encourage and recommend that you read this book more than once. ( )

Favorite Francis Schaffer book. It had really good points, and helped a lot with a paper I had to write. ( )

LT Art and the Bible, Francis A. Schaeffer, 1973, IVP , 2/18/13; 12/21/17

from Lewis Carl 12/30/04; 2/24/05; 12/9/13
Do things for beauty---God's glory reflected
Notes at end on culture (mine)

LCA 15,16,17,19,23,33,35-Whit/37,38,59-60,63,
L 25
Lewis 29,39-40,49,
K 27-3,31,35-gifts,38,39,43,49-style is neutral/51-2,57-no higher law,62-3
Lex Rex 46
Language 53
Rock 54-5-6
Major-minor 56-9

Theme:
Type: philosophy instruction
Value: 1-
Age:col
Interest: 1-
Objectionable:
Synopsis/Noteworthy:

5 The Christian is one who's imagination should fly beyond the stars.

I. Art in the Bible

What is the place of art in the Christian life? Is art—especially the fine arts—simply a way to bring worldliness in through the back door? What about sculpture or drama, music or painting? Do these have any place in the Christian life? Shouldn't a Christian focus his gaze steadily on “religious things” alone and forget about art and culture?

As evangelical Christians, we have tended to relegate art to the very fringe of life. The rest of human life we feel is more important. Despite our constant talk about the lordship of Christ, we have narrowed its scope to a very small area of reality. We have misunderstood the concept of the lordship of Christ over the whole man and the whole of the universe and have not taken to us the riches that the Bible gives us for ourselves, for our lives, and for our culture.

The lordship of Christ over the whole of life means that there are no platonic areas in Christianity, no dichotomy [a division into two especially mutually exclusive or contradictory groups or entities] or hierarchy between the body and the soul. God made the body as well as the soul, and redemption is for the whole man. 7

I have frequently quoted a statement from Francis Bacon who was one of the first of the modern scientists and who believed in the uniformity of natural causes in an open system. He, along with other men like Copernicus and Galileo, believed that because the world had been created by a reasonable God they could therefore pursue the truth of the universe by reason. There is much, of course, in Francis Bacon with which I would disagree, but one of the statements which I love to quote is this: “Man by the Fall fell at the same time from his state of innocence and from his dominion over nature. Both of these loses, however, can even in this life be in some part repaired; the former by religion and faith, the latter by the arts and sciences.” 9-10

Those who feel that art is forbidden by the Scripture point first to the Ten Commandments… God told Moses what to do in detail… What kind of art? Representational art in the round. A statuary of representation of angels was to be placed in the Holy of Holies… Thus we have another work of art—a candlestick. And how was it to be decorated? Not with representation of angels, but with representations of nature, flowers, blossoms, things of natural beauty. 11-13

Later in Exodus, we find this description of the priests’ garments: “And upon the skirts of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the skirts thereof” (Ex. 28:33). … The implication is that there is freedom to make something which gets its impetus from nature but can be different from it and it too can be brought into the presence of God. In other words, art does not have to be “photographic”… 14

The temple was covered with precious stones for beauty. There was no pragmatic reason for the precious stones. They had no utilitarian purpose. God simply wanted beauty in the temple. God is interested in beauty. 15

Come with me to the Alps and look at the snow-covered mountains. There can be no question. God is interested in beauty. God made people to be beautiful [socially, morally, athletically, physically, musically]. And beauty has a place in the worship of God.

Young people often point out the ugliness of many evangelical church buildings. 16

Here are two free-standing columns. They supported no architectural weight and had no utilitarian engineering significance. 16

Here cherubim, palm-trees and flowers are put together. In other words, we have representational art of both the seen and the unseen world. 18

The factor which makes art Christian is not that it necessarily deals with religious subject matter. 19

“Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory… And twelve lions stood…” (I Ki. 10:18-20).
19

Later in 2 Samuel we are told that David wrote his psalms under the leadership and inspiration of the Holy Spirit… 21

It is the mannishness of man that creates. 22

So the man who really loves God, who is working under the Lordship of Christ, could write his poetry, compose his music, construct his musical instruments, fashion his statues, paint his pictures, even if no man ever saw them. He knows God looks upon them. 23

In one way [the Song of Solomon’s] placement in the Bible is parallel to the sort of secular art that we noticed on Solomon’s throne, but it is more significant because this poem is put into the Scripture as Scripture itself. 24

How often do Christians think of sexual matters as something second-rate. 24

We should note that with regard to the temple all of the art worked together to form a unity [every week a biblical theme!]. The whole temple was a single work of architecture, a unified unit with free-standing columns, statuary, bas-relief [sculptural relief—a mode of sculpture in which forms and figures are distinguished from a surrounding plane surface—in which the projection from the surrounding surface is slight and no part of the modeled form is undercut], poetry and music, great huge stones, beautiful timbers brought from afar. It’s all there. A completely unified work of art to the praise of God. Surely this has something to say to us about architecture, and we ought to be asking the Lord how we can produce this kind of praise to God today. 27-28

Is the creative part of our life committed to Christ? Christ is the Lord of our whole life and the Christian life should produce not only truth—flaming truth—but also beauty. 31

II. Some Perspectives on Art

All of us are engaged daily with works of art, even if we are neither professional nor amateur artists. We read books, we listen to music, we look at posters, we admire flower arrangements. ... there is a very real sense in which the Christian life itself should be our greatest work of art.

How should we as creators and enjoyers of beauty comprehend and evaluate it [FS uses art and beauty interchangeably]? 33

The Bible says that the art work in the tabernacle and the temple was for beauty. 33

How should an artist begin to do his work as an artist? I would insist that he begin his work as an artist by setting out to make a work of art. 34

... man not only can love and think and feel emotion, but also has the capacity to create. 34

When I was younger, I thought it was wrong to use the word create in reference to works of art... 35 [creation ex nihilo versus creation ex material]

As a man, in a certain way they are myself, and I see there the outworking of the creativity that is inherent in the nature of man. 36

... the artist makes a body of work and this body of work shows his world view [this is right notion of view of art]. 37

A Christian Perspective of Art

1. Beauty (art, pleasure) is a sufficient end for an activity [only as secondary].

2. Art (structures, forms) empowers a message (makes it more effective).

3. Art requires shared symbolism to communicate (definitions, syntax) [I object].

4. Truth is not determined by beauty [I object].

5. There are four standards of judgment: technical excellence, validity (integrity/ transparency to the truth or to himself, don’t play/preach to the audience), intellectual content (world view which comes through, eg-Rousseau promoted Bohemian life, non-Christian can produce art with Christian worldview), and integration of content and vehicle (e.g., T. S. Eliot’s “Wasteland" and Picasso’s Demoiselles d’Avignon).

It is possible for a non-Christian writer or painter to write and paint according to a Christian world view even though he himself is not a Christian. To understand this, we must distinguish between two meanings of the word Christian. The first and essential meaning is a man who accepted Christ as his Savior and has thus passed from death to life, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God by being born again. But if a number of people really are Christians, then they bring forth a kind of consensus that exists apart from themselves, and sometimes non-Christians paint and write within a framework of that consensus even though they as individuals are not Christians... [Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson wrote from sort of Christian consensus.] 45-46

6. Propositional content can be communicated through possibly any type of art form.

7. Styles within art change and this is not bad (if they do not violate Scripture or nature).

“The past art forms ... are not necessarily the right ones for today or tomorrow. To demand the art forms of yesterday in either word systems or art is a bourgeois [tendency toward mediocrity] failure. It cannot be assumed that if a Christian painter becomes ‘more Christian’ he will necessarily become more and more like Rembrandt [or a preacher like Chaucer].” “Christians must absolutely and consciously separate themselves from such thinking.” “... each art form in each culture must find its own proper relationship between world view and style.” “First, Christian art today should be twentieth-century art. Art changes. Language changes. The preacher’s preaching today must be twentieth-century language communication, or there will be an obstacle to being understood. And if a Christian’s art is not twentieth-century art, it is an obstacle to his being heard. It makes him different in a way in which there is no necessity for difference.” “Second, Christian art should differ from country to country.” “Third, the body of a Christian artist’s work should reflect the Christian world view [followed by good summary].” 49-50
bourgeois
1: of, relating to, or characteristic of the social middle class
2: marked by a concern for material interests and respectability and a tendency toward mediocrity
3: dominated by commercial and industrial interests : capitalistic

8. Style is neither godly nor ungodly, when it is defined strictly as arrangements of the elements (components) of the art form (such as music, architecture, painting), unless the arrangement communicates immorality (communicates propositional error or profanity or arouses depraved urges).

“Yet, while there is no such thing as a godly or ungodly style, we must not be misled or naïve in thinking that various styles have no relationship whatsoever to the content or the message of the work of art. Styles themselves are developed as symbol systems or vehicles for certain world views or messages [association].” “Therefore, while we must use twentieth-century styles, we must not use them in such a way as to be dominated by the world views out of which they have arisen.” 52, 54

“Let us say, for example, that you are playing in a Christian rock group, making an art form of rock... Suppose further that at the same time you are going into certain coffee-houses and using rock as a bridge to preach the Christian message. That’s fine. But then you must be careful of the feedback... One must talk at length with the viewer or reader.” “This is something each artist wrestles with for a lifetime, not something he settles once and for all.” “In conclusion, therefore, often we will use twentieth-century art forms, but we must be careful to keep them from distorting the world view which is distinctly ours as Christians. In one way styles are completely neutral. But in another way they must not be used in an unthinking, naïve way.” 54-56

9. There are two real themes in the real (Christian) world view (FS calls them a minor and a major theme; a world view is the total way of looking at your world): man is broken (has ugliness) and God is whole (perfect in beauty); both themes need to be reflected in the total life work (FS earlier called this his body of work) of every real (Christian) person (artist—we all are producing art).

Unsaved man has no basis of hope (or optimism) outside of Christ, nor does a saved man (have any basis for optimism outside of Christ and Spirit-filling). Art should reflect reality, and these reflections of life apart from God should reflect some ugliness. Life is meaningless without God.

“There is a defeated and sinful sin to the Christian’s life. If we are at all honest, we must admit that in this life there is no such thing as totally victorious living. In every one of us there are those things which are sinful and deceiving and, while we may see substantial healing, in this life we do not come to perfection.” 56

Saved and Spirit-filled man has hope and art should reflect this. “The major theme is the opposite of the minor; it is the meaningfulness and purposefulness of life.” “So therefore the major theme is an optimism in the area of being [metaphysics]; everything is not absurd, there is meaning. But most important, this optimism has a sufficient base. It isn’t suspended two feet off the ground, but rests on the existence of the infinite-personal God who exists and who has a character and who has created all things, especially man in his own image.” “But there is also a major theme in relation to morals.” “God exists and has a character which is the law of the universe.” “It is not that there is a moral law back of God that binds both God and man, but that God himself has a character and this character is reflected in the moral law of the universe.” 57

“First of all, Christian art needs to recognize the minor theme, the defeated aspect to even the Christian life [which doesn’t mean it’s okay to promote art which feeds the flesh—prurient art]. 57-8

“Modern art that does not depend on the Christian consensus has tended to emphasize only the minor theme...” 58

10. Christian art deals with all of creation (and God), and not just with religious themes.

“Christian art is by no means always religious art, that is, art which deals with religious themes.” 59

“We should remember that the Bible contains the Song of Solomon, the love song between a man and a woman, and it contains David’s song to Israel’s national heroes. Neither subject is religious. But God’s creation—the mountains, the trees, the birds and the birds’ songs—are also non-religious art.” “If God made the ocean, indeed it’s worth writing poetry about.” “The Christian message begins with the existence of God forever and then with creation. It does not begin with salvation. We must be thankful for salvation, but the Christian message is more than that.” “Man as man—with his emotions, his feelings, his body, his life—this is important subject matter for poetry and novels. I’m not talking here about man’s lostness but about his mannishness.” 60

“Christians, for example [of what Christianity says about the arts], ought not to be threatened by fantasy and imagination. Great painting is not ‘photographic’ in the poor sense of photographic. The OT art commanded by God was not always ‘photographic.’ There were blue pomegranates on the robes of the priest when he went into the Holy of Holies. In nature there are no blue pomegranates. Christian artists do not need to be threatened by fantasy and imagination, for they have a basis for knowing the difference between them and the real world ‘out there.’” 61

11. Every artist (which is every person) should think in terms of producing a total body of art in his lifetime (demonstrating growth in the knowledge of God/life), as well as in terms of producing individual pieces which reflect only an aspect of life (reality).

“No single sermon can say everything that needs to be said. And no one can judge a minister’s total theology or the content of his faith on the basis of a single sermon. The man who tries to put everything into one sermon is a very poor preacher indeed. Even the Bible is an extended body of books, and it cannot be read as if any one book or chapter included the whole; it must be read from beginning to end. And if that is true of the Word of God, how much more is it true of an artist’s work!

“If you are a Christian artist, therefore, you must not freeze up just because you can’t do everything at once.” “Yet, if a man is to be an artist, his goal should be in a lifetime to produce a wide and deep body of work.” 63

The Christian life as a work of art

“The Christian’s life is to be a thing of truth and also a thing of beauty in the midst of a lost and despairing world.” 63

Art-KH (also culture)

Art (ideas from Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, H. R. Rookmaaker, Crossway, 1970): giving form to a concept or spirit (p. 131); an interpretation of reality put into a form (pgs. 26, 82); a particular view of life expressed attractively (pgs. 18, 28); a portrayal of reality in a human way (pgs. 21, 95); depictions of important human issues (p. 69)

Art (from “arm”): (4) the conscious use of skill and creative imagination esp. in the production of aesthetic objects; (1) skill acquired by experience, study, or observation; (2) a branch of learning; (3) occupation requiring knowledge or skill (Art implies a personal, unanalyzable creative power.) Webster’s Ninth Collegiate Dictionary

Exo 28:2 And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.
Exo 28:40 And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty.

Culture: 1. The arts, customs, and habits that characterize a particular society or nation.
2. The beliefs, values, behavior and material objects that constitute a people's way of life.
3. (microbiology) The process of growing a bacterial or other biological entity in an artificial medium.
4. (anthropology) Any knowledge passed from one generation to the next, not necessarily with respect to human beings. Wiktionary (2/18/13)

Cultural changes: technology, physical safety concerns and abuse reporting, pluralism, nursing/retirement homes, treatment of blacks, translations, rhetoric, automobiles, women’s rights, acceptance of gays, head mic, Bill Russell smoking on the bench between quarters

One who cannot separate his desires from his judgment must recuse himself from the discussion.
The whole world lieth in darkness.
Culture’s tendency is “slouching toward Gomorrah.”

Nothing is more beautiful, there is no greater work of art, than the co-working art project of seeing corrupted image bearers changed into His image.

“Be willing to embrace cultural change that doesn’t compromise our theological and doctrinal positions.” Keith Wiebe, 2/5/13
Contrast the (relative rhetorical) power of this rewording: “Do not embrace cultural change that compromises our theological and doctrinal positions.”
Embrace the good, eschew the evil. Eph. 5:10-11

How do we know the mind of Christ in discerning good and evil? Knowing and continually meditating in Word. Review Essentials “will of God” paradigm; consider authority versus (personal) impulse; consider RCC view of authority and Baptist distinctive of “priesthood of the believer.”

Exhortation: prayer, immersion in Word not world, walk with wise not foolish, be disciple-makers (priests) not self-gratifiers

Short and sweet and to the point, but very good. Schaeffer's vision was on-target, by and large, though he got a little hung up at times on conveying propositional truth through art. Thus, his rejection of art-as-tract is right, but as a cultural project his vision failed at least in part because it wasn't truly coherent in his own writing here. Still, this should be on the required reading shelf for any would-be Christian artist. ( )

Much modern art, like a Giacometti sculpture, portrays man in alienation, loneliness, despair. Was art always like this? Must it always focus on the lost-ness of man? Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer, a theologian with a deep interest in the arts, shows how the Bible records the use of various art forms in the Old Testament times. Then, turning to the contemporary scene, he suggests eleven perspectives within which a Christian view of art can take shape. For the Christian the arts can be a source of joy, a symbol of the creativity that marks the mannishness of man, man himself being made in the image of God the creator.

A very helpful book, teaching how to view works of art, not just on their technical side, but on their worldwiew as well. Also teaches Christians to be free in their art as they were created to be. ( )

Small paperback