Why Your Pastor Thinks Your Painting Is Stupid

Consider the first two paragraphs of this post, “How to Discourage Artists in the Church” from The Gospel Coalition:

Many Christian artists live between two strange worlds. Their faith in Christ seems odd to many of their friends in the artistic community—almost as odd as their calling as artists seems to some of their friends at church. Yet Christians called to draw, paint, sculpt, sing, act, dance, and play music have extraordinary opportunities to honor God in their daily work and to bear witness to the grace, beauty, and truth of the gospel. How can pastors (and churches) encourage Christians with artistic gifts in their dual calling as Christian artists?

As a pastor and college president, I have made a sad discovery: the arts are not always affirmed in the life of the local church. We need a general rediscovery of the arts in the context of the church. This is badly needed because the arts are the leading edge of culture.

Not a new revelation to those of us who stand with one foot each in the church and artistic worlds. I’d rather qualify this a little further to say that its church leadership in particular that doesn’t affirm art by their church membership, not necessarily the body corporate itself.

That’s not important. I wanted to focus on this reason:

Demand artists to give answers in their work, not raise questions. Mark Lewis says, “Make certain that your piece (or artifact or performance) makes incisive theological or moral points, and doesn’t stray into territory about which you are unresolved or in any way unclear. (Clear answers are of course more valuable than questions).” Do not allow for ambiguity, or for varied responses to art. Demand art to communicate in the same way to everyone.

I’ve been on the receiving end of “can you clarify so we know it’s for JAYSUSS” imperatives from churchian gatekeepers, and I’ve witnessed, in real time and in person, the same phenomenon happen to others. My background is in music with some in journalism/writing and I can say since I’ve been involved that nothing much has changed for the better in either field.

It might be the western church’s fixation with reducing divine truths down to a series of propositions with which someone agrees or not, as a litmus test for racking up the conversion tally marks. While I think there are some things about God that we are granted to apprehend as a yes/no binary, the Bible portrays God as a being who carries the ontological bulk of himself on a much more transcendent level.

And this is where art might be important. It deals with material, binary things but can temporarily transcend it as someone consumes it. This is to say, if I can borrow a bit from Hegel, that the art plus the consumer synthesizes and produces a third thing. The task of the Christian artist could be to use art to synthesize faith within the consumer (or consideration of faith or to apprehend some sincere portrayal of it). Having a milquetoast buttinsky of a church elder come in with his red Sharpie and puritanize your short story^* or still life for JAYSUSS kills the synthesis process and makes art a sermon rather than a productive dialogue^** between art and consumer.

That’s fine if you want to write a sermon, but artists are not formal ministers nor preachers, and the church shouldn’t hammer them into that role.

Photo by Katie@!.

* Imagine what A Wrinkle In Time or Wise Blood would be like had a modern evangelical pastor got ahold of it. You can do it. I’ll wait until you’re finished.
** “Dialogue” is a horrible word for this because of the many modern usages in religious contexts but I’m using it anyways.