In his Letter to Artists the late Pope John Paul II offers some insights into the relationship between artists and the church. Accepting the relevance of his arguments for the church universal, a number of question come to mind:
Feel free to comment on 1 or more of the following questions:
a) What does he mean when he talks about beauty. Can a work of art be beautiful? How does the incarnation factor in?
b) Does his notion of beauty in the church suggest a movement away from this world? What distinction does he make between Christian humanism and humanism that might be helpful here?
c) What do you think of his notion of artistic inspiration?
d) Do we artists need the church? Does the church need artist. What does John Paul suggest? Do you agree?
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"Beauty" is a tricky word, and I think Pope John Paul has a wrong spin on the concept as something sublime, or "above and beyond". His final section entitled "The "Beauty" that Saves" sets an unfair and burdensome load on the shoulders of artists who are to "..affirm the true beauty which, as a glimmer of the Spirit of God, will transfigure matter, opening the human soil to the sense of the eternal." I do not believe beauty is something that we as humans must strive towards-- but is present in the simple, nuanced and "allusive" which Dr. Seerveld illustrates through the Isaiah 53 and Mark 14 in the introduction to "Bearing Fresh Olive Leaves". Referring to Christ, Isaiah states that "He (being the Messiah) had no beauty to attract us to him" yet in Mark, Jesus says what the woman has done for him is a beautiful thing. As Artists, we are called to bring beauty to the body of Christ--and inward action, and I think that Pope John Paul is treating it as something that we point outwardly to.
ReplyDeleteI am interested by the quote that John Paul uses from Cyprian Norwid: “beauty is to enthuse us for work, and work is to raise us up”. I'm not exactly sure what this means, but it seems like here beauty inspires us to go to the world, not to move away from it. If beauty motivates us to work, and work raises us up (helps us to grow or develop our potential?) then I think that beauty directs us very much to the world. I think that that is a good thing. The distinction of Christian humanism (a focus on "everything human" because God places value on humans as shown in the incarnation) is helpful because it also draws us to the world. I agree that art should be about the "reality of history"; it should be relevant, and it should remind us of our role within that history. If beautiful art is art that draws us to each other and to our role within God's creation, then I agree that Christian art should be beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI believe I am able to say whole wholeheartedly that artists do need the church. The most obvious reason is that all Christians need the church because we as humans are designed in such a way that we need community and we need to work together. From what I have seen it is very easy for artists to become frustrated with the church (i.e. Bono - U2), but I understand where this comes from. Nonetheless we are all parts of the body and just because artists think in a different realm does not mean they can reject the church. There is a need for artists to belong to a community and it is more than likely that a church community will be eclectic and therefore we can grow together in Christ and from that learn from each other and their differing styles of worship.
ReplyDeleteSecondly the church needs artists for the reason I just mentioned. There is so much more to worship than our traditional sense of the meaning. Not everyone is capable of feeling and expressing in the same way but we are capable of exploration. The artist can bring beauty, hope, sadness, or contemplation to worship through different perspectives unlike that of many traditional styles. I believe that we constantly have to seek Christ in everything and arts is a very integral part of worship that is very meaningful and when executed by a true artist it moves the body forward together.
Pope John Paul states that there is a mutual need between the artist and the church. The church needs the artist to creatively express the message of God and the artist needs the church to be inspired explore the hidden meaning of the gospel. I would, however, take this further and agree with Lauren. I would say that a greater reason for the Christian artist needing the church is to engage in community. When Dr. Seerveld came to Redeemer last year for the Crossroads conference, he addressed the issue of exploring questionable subject matter in art. Dr. Seerveld pointed out how important it is to have a close community of believers who can hold you accountable in your work and correct you in love when you may have made a mistake and overstepped your bounds. This is not to say that artists should avoid confrontational subjects or tone down their work for their audience; it just points to the fact that it is important to be part of a community of believers that can support you and give guidance. This being said, I also think it is important for the artist to be able to step outside of their place in the church to observe how the church functions and be mindful of its role in the larger world. I'm still working this out for myself but I do think that there is a balancing act for the artist in the church: To be integrated into the church and to remain marginalized to view the life of the church from the outside. This is still an issue that I haven't fully resolved for myself.
ReplyDeleteI believe that beauty can be found in anything, especially art. The creation which is God's work of art is beautiful who could disagree. Some aspects of this world my not have the physical beauty but the concept or the purpose of that created thing is beautiful. Just a simple rock not to be considered beautiful when see in a new light can hold the essence of beauty. Anything can be beautiful if we think of it as something God created.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Pope John Paul II’s idea that beauty is a saving ideal which we must all strive towards suggests a movement away from this world. This logic is flawed from the start as the concept of ‘Beauty’ is subjective. When we look to the Bible to see God’s vision of beauty, it is described in terms of relationships rather than a specific aesthetic model. While God has been described as beautiful, words such as jealous, sorrowful, vengeful, and full of wrath have also been used to portray the Lord’s character. If God can be both beautiful and jealous, two seemingly opposite qualities, then it serves that our own ideas of aesthetic beauty may be somewhat limited. Rather than turning towards ‘beauty’, we should be digging deeper into this flawed earth and into our broken relationships to find the beauty that is hidden there. Perhaps it is our mission as artists to highlight the beauty that can be found in our brokenness.
ReplyDeleteI like what the pope says near the beginning of the letter: "Through his “artistic creativity” man appears more than ever “in the image of God”". This suggests that in creating works of art we are being like God who created the beauty of the entire universe. This makes me think again of our responsibility as image bearers. The kind of art we create should be a representation of God's image. This does not mean however, that we need to move away from the world in order to create beautiful art. The image of God is imprinted on the world that he created. We can attempt to recreate this beauty in different ways through music and art that reflect the world around us. Since it is God's good creation, we need not look away from it in order to find some "higher" form of art within the church.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Pope John Paul has to say about artists needing the church and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteThe church needs art in three main areas: imagery, musically, and architectially. Through these three forms of art the church is able to thrive in praising their creator. They also help people to pay attention because it enables both hearing and visual aspects of how they are worshipping, enhancing worship to another level.
Secondly, artists need the church! For most christian artists, Pope John Paul argues, they find their inspiration from the church. it offers power to their creativity. God enabled the artful gift that they have. God was the first creator, and has now passed on that gift to people. Finding inspiration while talking and worshipping God is a great start.
I think his ideas about artistic inspiration are really interesting.. at least they made me think. His ideas about the Spirit of God being the inspiration of our art work was interesting because we always talk about how the "spirits of the age" are reflected in works of art. Its easy for us to see how the spirits of our age are reflected in art, but how often do we see the one true Spirit.
ReplyDeleteI don't quite know what I think of the notion that artists are directly inspired by the Spirit. The Pope makes it sound as if we are inspired by an other-worldly force whereas I think we are inspired by works of the Spirit in this world. His views encourage us to look outside this world, but I think we are called to look right into it - to face it and bring those "moments of grace" to it. I think this calling exists for everyone, regardless of vocation.