I will discuss technical excellence in relationship to painting because it is easy to point out through this medium what I mean. What kind of judgment does one apply, then, to a work of art? I believe that there are four basic standards: Once again, please take a look at Francis Schaeffer’s book, Art and the Bible. I believe this to be a profitable discussion in light the desperate need among Christians to interact intelligently and sensitively with culture and art. In this perspective, Schaeffer discusses how a Christian should judge a work of art. Today I want to share his 5 th perspective at more length. It was fascinating how relevant many of his thoughts are to contemporary discussions of mission and culture and specifically the task of contextualization.Yesterday I shared Francis Schaeffer’s 7 perspectives in which Christians should consider art. My next post will be primarily related to Schaeffer’s thoughts about art, meaning, and context.

The Christian’s life is to be a thing of truth and also a thing of beauty in the midst of a lost and despairing world.” (Kindle loc 598-602) In this sense the Christian’s life is to be an art work. He may have no gift of writing, no gift of composing or singing, but each man has the gift of creativity in terms of the way he lives his life. “No work of art is more important than the Christian’s own life, and every Christian is cared upon to be an artist in this sense. The book covers the above, but also makes the connections to one’s own discipleship to Christ as a form of art. It makes me thankful for Schaeffer and others like him who were speaking into this area in the church 40 years ago. I still hear from a lot of churchgoers a lot of fear about “those postmoderns,” but one of the blessings of the shift in worldview culturally over the past few decades has been the rediscovery in some ways of the power and importance of art and creative efforts. I think in the last couple of decades, the Church has made pretty significant strides as it relates to how it stewards art and values its role in community and mission. Schaeffer aims to lay out a simple theology of art and creation for giving glory to God and bearing witness to the world. Various faith communities over the years have either drifted to either rejecting the role of art in giving glory to God or they have gone to the other extreme of worshipping art itself. The book was written a few decades ago, but it serves as an apologetic of sorts for the importance of art and creation for the Church and for Christians. It was short and awesome – I love books like that! I recently read Francis Schaeffer’s Art and the Bible and I really appreciated it.

Art & the Bible by Francis A. Schaeffer