Art & the Christian - Part I

Art and the Enlightenment
“Traditionally, the arts had been regarded as an expression of Truth. Even though they make use of myth and metaphor, the arts conveyed deep truths about the human condition. In the Enlightenment, however, rationalist critics began to denounce the arts. They argued that poetry and fairy tales – with their unicorns, dragons, monsters, and fairies – were nothing but harmful illusions. The “true world” revealed by science was contrasted to the “false world” invented by poets and painters”. Nancy Pearcey
“At best, art was nothing more than a pleasing falsehood, a Noble Lie”.

Plato and Art
Even prior to the Enlightenment, Art was getting dogged by Plato. Plato’s Allegory of the cave and his idea of real vs. shadows in our perception seeks to demonstrate that art has no bearing on reality. Why? Because it seeks to describe something, but will always do so imperfectly. Plato specifically had a problem with art because he believed that the real world was merely imperfect copies of the true and perfect which we would experience in the afterlife. If this is how he understood reality, what does that mean about art? Art, according to Plato, was a copy of a copy and therefore useless.

Can We Really Say that Art, Music, Film, Theater and Novels are useless? Think about it, In what ways are you effected by music/art? In what ways are you effected by film/novels/theater? How are you effected by the creators/artists/writers and actors? We seek and find truth in them with which we relate. We find our heart’s struggles and desires displayed in these. Many times we find ourselves emulating the creators, artists and actors who are responsible for the art. This leads to perhaps a bigger question: How do the arts effect our identity? Do you learn about truth and our identity (as a culture/male – female/individual through these)?
Two Examples: Why do men (typically younger men) love movies like “Braveheart” and “Fight Club”?
Our culture is one of the few that has no rite of passage for men to pass from boys to men (not to be confused with the ‘Boyz II Men’). Young men find themselves asking “at what point do I become a man” and in a culture where the men act like grown up boys they ask “what does a real man look like? I would suggest that boys love these movies because they display the struggles that men deal with in seeking identity (Fight Club), and also give answers to how we are to live as men and what it means to be a “real man” (Braveheart).

Think with me on this. What movies/music affect you?
A negative example of the impact of art would be The opera “Thus Spake Zarathustra” by Strauss and Novel of the same title by Nietzsche. These had a profound impact on one individual. This individual thought so much of the ideas in these that he not only put them into practice in his own life, but he was also very fervent in his approach to changing culture using these ideas. He gave copies of Nietzsche’s book to his followers (I think for Christmas) so that they would understand these "truths", as he saw it, as well. This was more than simply looking at a Novel as being pretty, but he believed that truth was being displayed through this novel and opera. The man who was impacted was Adolf Hitler and he put the ideas into practice through the Holocaust. Nietzsche never suggested for anyone to eliminate a race, but he did say that morals have no bearing on the individual and that you should rise above “herd morality”. This is precisely what Hitler did. I am not trying to suggest that Novels and Art are always dangerous, but I am suggesting that Art done well has a huge impact on society for good or for ill. Why? Because they communicate ideas and perceptions of TRUTH. I think this is something that we must take seriously.

In part two, we will further develop these ideas while discussing whether or not art can be 'qualitative' with the intention of discussing how the Christian should view art. Ultimately, in part three, I will give some specific ways to understand art and how to view it with the mind of Christ.

Please post any comments you have, and feel free to post on the quote I have put up as well. For more on Art, see the previous discussion entitled "Art, Truth, and the American Way" from 01.05.2006. Just scroll down and feel free to leave a comment there too.