Art and the Bible is a collection of two essays which are separately titled “Art in the Bible” and “Some Perspectives on Art”. In the first essay, the writer discusses the general negative standpoint of Christianity towards art, which is overlooked and deemed unimportant, and provides arguments with examples of art in Christianity to prove this as a wrong way of observing art in Christianity.
The writer argues that Christianity includes the whole of man, with his body and soul, and therefore his creativity and need to create art. He debunks the idea that art itself is forbidden in the Bible; instead, the worship of figures of art are forbidden. He uses the biblical example of the tabernacle and the temple, which were ordered by God for man to build, and its esthetic purpose, and as a result making it a form of art.
The author argues the biblical use of literature, precisely poetry with excerpts from the Bible in relation to David and his poetry, to confirm his point that art is clearly represented and an important part of religion. He also provides examples of music, as well as drama and dance, represented in the Bible to argue his point of art. He concludes his essay by saying that freedom is an essential part of Christianity, and that Christian life isn’t only a life of hard truth, but of beauty as well.
In his second essay, the writer provides several perspectives on art, from a general point of view and the point of view of Christianity. His first perspective is that a work of art is a work of art, and that an artist should start his work with this main purpose. His second perspective relates to the importance of art as means to provide strength to a presented world view.
The third perspective provides the importance of normalcy in art. The writer alludes to Shakespeare’s work in particular as an example of this: it contains normal syntax and grammar along with the intricate metaphoric language, which communicates with and doesn’t alienate the reader. His fourth perspective is straight to the point and argues that just because something is a work of art it doesn’t mean it should be looked upon as sacred.
The next perspective provides standards of judgement while looking at a piece of art which include validity and previously mentioned world view. In his next perspective the writer argues that art can be used for any type of message, ranging from fantasy to history. After this the writer argues that the change is a positive and necessary thing. It is an inherent part of Christianity and art should be in accordance to contemporary times. Connected to this the next perspective talks about the issues of adapting to the modern times whilst still remaining true to the message of Christianity.
From the next perspective, the writer talks about the Christian world view and division into two themes: the minor theme which is concerned with the meaningless and sin and the major theme which is concerned with redemption and forgiveness. The writer argues that both themes are equally important to represent the whole message of Christian life.
From the next perspective, the author argues that Christian art mustn’t always be concerned with religious themes, as God is the creator of all things. The final perspective is about the artist’s individual art and the whole body of his art. An Artist shouldn’t be judged by only one piece of his art, but his entire artistic life. The author finishes his essay by arguing his view that Christian life in its entirety is a form of art, and shouldn’t be viewed as only a form of truth but also a form of beauty.
