Adult Discipleship - Christians & The Arts

In the spirit of last year's series on Faith and Science, the Adult Christian Education team is intending to present a ten week summer potpourri class entitled Christians and the Arts. We wish to become a stronger learning community together as we tackle this stimulating topic. To frame the issue better (pardon the pun) consider the following excerpts from an "artist's manifesto:"

No one would deny that Christianity has been very influential in the history of Western art. Despite this, Christians have often been reticent to either take the aesthetic dimension of the whole of life seriously or to become meaningfully involved in the arts and media, [and in turn] have not viewed the arts as a legitimate avenue of service for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Some Christians are openly hostile to Christian involvement in the arts outside the institutional church and condemn such involvement as unspiritual. Others have welcomed the use of art within the gathered church but have not taken seriously a costly penetration of the arts outside of the gathered church.

To a significant extent the arts have been left under the domain of non-Christians and it is therefore not surprising that they have often developed in a non-Christian direction. Furthermore those Christians called to serve God as artists have often found themselves caught between the pressures of non-Christian developments in the arts world and the rejection of fellow critical Christians.

The result: Christians continue to neglect the aesthetic dimension of life and Christian artists are unable to serve God as freely and fully as they might do [and] Christ is not glorified as He might be.

If you would like to play a part in presenting or facilitating or being part of a panel discussion one or more Sundays or in simply speaking into this dialogue of preparation, please e-mail or call Gordon Bonham. We look forward to your response!