Art Question #1

After my teaching on art this week, I received the following question by e-mail:

"When you said that we should engage our minds with the art that we expose ourselves to, I was wondering does the artist matter? For example, I know some singers who have some songs that I like and others that just disgust me. Can a good song have a negative influence if the artist's other work is questionable?"

This is a great question. As I understand it, the question is whether or not we can enjoy a piece of art on it's own merit? Do we have to take the artist's beliefs, behavior, and other works into account?

This raises another important question: What is the source of truth? Can there be any truth apart from God? I believe the answer has to be, no. God is the author of truth.

John Calvin picked up this same theme in the Institutes: "If we regard the Spirit of God as the sole fountain of truth, we shall neither reject the truth itself, nor despise it wherever it shall appear, unless we wish to dishonor the Spirit of God."

There are not two kinds of truth, God's truth and, free floating truth. We are made in the image of God and the Holy Spirit is communicating to everyone. These two facts make truth available to us. Even if we don't submit to God, his Spirit is still at work trying to get our attention and working to teach us. There are many times when truth is communicated by people who have not yet submitted themselves to God. This also means that one piece of art may reflect truth while the other pieces by the same artist don't. We can embrace the piece which reflects truth while rejecting those that don't.

We have to do this all the time. None of us possess perfect truth. Only God does. Even our best intentions will contain error. So we should take in information of all kinds the same way we eat chicken. Eat the meat and throw away the bones. Sometimes it's hard to know the difference. That's why our minds need to be engaged constantly. (vegetarians feel free to insert your own metaphor)

Here's the larger quote by Calvin:

If we regard the Spirit of God as the sole fountain of truth, we shall neither reject the truth itself, nor despise it wherever it shall appear, unless we wish to dishonor the Spirit of God. For by holding the gifts of the Spirit in slight esteem, we condemn and reproach the Spirit himself. What then? Shall we deny that the truth shone upon the ancient jurists who established civic order and discipline with such great equity? Shall we say that the philosophers were blind in their fine observation and artful description of nature? Shall we say that those men were devoid of understanding who conceived the art of disputation and taught us to speak reasonably? Shall we say that they are insane who developed medicine, devoting their labour to our benefit? What shall we say of all the mathematical sciences? Shall we consider them the ravings of madmen? No, we cannot read the writings of the ancients on these subjects without great admiration. We marvel at them because we are compelled to recognize how preeminent they are. But shall we count anything praiseworthy or noble without recognizing at the same time that it comes from God? (Institutes, 2.2.15)

Keep asking questions!