Francis A. Schaeffer - Art and the Bible

Art and
the Bible

Two Essays

FOREWORD BY MICHAEL CARD

A nd with truth comes beauty and with this beauty a freedom before God. In 1812, Dr. Benjamin Rush wrote a letter of congratulations to his close friend John Adams. He had been encouraging Adams and Thomas Jefferson to renew their long fractured friendship. Adams had responded, offering an olive branch letter written to Jefferson on New Years Day. Jefferson responded shortly afterward. Upon hearing the good news, an overjoyed Rush wrote back to Adams, Some talked, some wrote, and some fought to promote and establish it [the American Revolution], but you and Mr. Jefferson thought for us all.

Two hundred years later, another revolution took place, a revolution of the Spirit. It was called the Jesus Movement, and unless you were caught up in the midst of it, you might have difficulty appreciating what a liberating word, what a breath of fresh air Art and the Bible was. A lot of people talked, wrote and even fought over the Jesus Movement, but Francis Schaeffer did a good deal of thinking for us, and more importantly, he taught us how to think.

Almost as soon as the movement began it was plagued with confusion. While some of us were trying to embrace the gifts God was pouring out on the body, others were calling them a curse. They claimed that contemporary styles, even certain instruments (like the guitar) were not appropriate or acceptable in the church.

Into the midst of this confusion stepped a quirky, goateed man in lederhosen. He spoke words of faith and freedom. Into a world that had become suspicious of the beautiful Schaeffer reminded us that the Father of Jesus was also the God of beauty.

At a time when we needed concrete, biblical objectives, Schaeffer provided perspectives and structures (major and minor) while at the same time insisting again and again that it is our lives that are supposed to be the lived out works of art (poiema). We were free, he insisted, our imaginations were free. We were free to create, as long as we never forgot that we are slaves to Jesus.

Schaeffer moved freely from Heidegger to Eliot to Filippo Lippi to Luther, expecting those of us who werent familiar with these creative giants to go look them up. In the process he exposed us to a wide scope of thinkers we would never have known otherwise. His insistence on the integration of content with vehicle and what he called validity provided a directive that cut through the confusing fog caused by all the dissension. But his encouragement was not a carte blanche; it was a defense of artists to the church and a challenge to the artists themselves to remain redemptively within the church.

This book, a primer on biblical creativity, sought to drum into us the idea that we create out of a worldview and that it is our responsibility to align that point of view with Scripture before we continue on. He encouraged artists to take seriously the lordship of Christ in every aspect of their creative lives. He brought biblical clarity at a time when the movement badly needed it. He warned us that our creative struggle should and indeed would last a lifetime. My experience has shown that he was right. At a time when doors were being slammed in our faces he sought to open them, or at least to hand us a key. He liberated an entire generation of artists while at the same time placing us under the easy yoke of the authority of Scripture, everything under the Word of God

Perhaps you are thinking, All that was almost a generation ago. What place does Schaeffer have today? Though it might be true to repeat the worn out notion that this book can speak to a whole new generation, that does not really say enough. Today, over thirty years after it was written, many of us believe a new movement is coming. What we believe and hope and trust is that the timing of this new edition of Art and the Bible is in accordance with a new revolution of the Spirit that is soon to come.

So, young artist, invest yourself in the truth of this little book. Open your eyes to the beauty that is unveiled through the Scriptures and the gospel of Jesus Christ. And finally, come alive to the freedom that is uniquely yours to create to the glory of God. Think.

Michael Card

Singer, songwriter and author of Scribbling in the Sand

W hat is the place of art in the Christian life? Is artespecially the fine arts of painting and musicsimply a way to bring in worldliness through the back door? We know that poetry may be used to praise God in, say, the psalms and maybe even in modern hymns. But what about sculpture or drama? Do these have any place in the Christian life? Shouldnt a Christian focus his gaze steadily on religious things alone and forget about art and culture?