The Liberated Imagination

The Liberated Imagination, by Leland Ryken, is a great examination of the arts from a Christian perspective.  I was just reminded of it because I was asked by a prospective church to talk about books that have had an impact on my view of worship.  I would like to take the next few days to blog through one of the best chapters, which is entitled "Creativity, Beauty, and Recreation."

Dr. Ryken, who is an English professor at Wheaton College, starts his discussion of creativity in Genesis 1.  "Artists create because God created first," he writes.  God is depicted as the creator of all things and as the One who "saw that it was good."  Abraham Kuyper wrote, "As image-bearer of God, man possesses the possibility both to create something beautiful, and to delight in it." (Abraham Kuyper, Calvinism, p.142)

Some Christians have traditionally had trouble justifying the pursuit of the arts.  The tendency has been toward utilitarianism.  Some act as if art is only "worth it" if it teaches some spiritual truth.  On the contrary, Dr. Ryken insists that "works of art have value because they are imaginitive and creative." (p.69)

This is not to suggest that we cannot pass any judgement on artistic creativity.  Dr. Ryken suggests three standards we should pay attention to:

1. The purpose, or intent, of the artist.
2. The effect it has on its audience.
3. Aesthetic excellence.

I wonder if readers agree with these three categories.  What do you like or dislike about them? 
   

Comments

[ScottB]

How does he define "aesthetic excellence"? I've seen attempts to construct some "objective" criteria for aesthetics, which has always struck me as somewhat of an oxymoron.

[Bill]

He's basically talking about craftsmanship. A person can be creative, but lack skill or training in the medium they are trying to use.

Here's a good quote:

"We might note, therefore, that the Christian content of a work of art that is technically mediocre does not redeem the work as a piece of creativity. In fact, the lack of artistic excellence detracts from the impact of the Christian content." (p.70)

[ScottB]

Ah - makes sense. What a shame, then, that most of what passes for Christian "art" is commercial.

A few years ago I spent half a day in prayer at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was fascinating to pray through the exhibits, especially moving chronologically. It was quite easy in the medieval areas, but got progressively more difficult as I moved toward the modern stuff. This isn't to bash modern art (although there is progressively more crap with no technical excellence whatsoever as you get more current) - rather it's a recognition that we've either abandoned or been crowded out of the artistic world (probably some of both). Part of it probably stems from the dualism inherent in western Christianity as well - art is physical and temporal, truth is spiritual and eternal. Sad, really.