Church History reveals that Christians of different generations, for two thousand years, have had a variety of opinions concerning the arts.

The Liturgical Church

We must go back to the very commencement of the church during the time of the church fathers. The very earliest period was passed with a strong view that Christianity and Christians must be pure. This was the central longing of the very first years.

However, the church of the Fathers then began to realize the difficulty of being a puristic institution and began to teach the other side of the Christian life: that sin would indeed appear in the church. Of course, if you preach that, then sin will come into the church.

These two extremes passed, the purist and the licentious church. Then the third extreme commenced: that since neither purity nor license could be reached or tolerated, then God would, yea must, accept the church through the alternative of beauty and the involvement of its people through church liturgy. Of course, down through the medieval, one-thousand year period, from 500 to 1500, the church persisted in that liturgy and finally resulted in the Seven Sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church institution.

Our Modern Century

Today, in looking back, we find ourselves in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries leaning forward with several extremes concerning that liturgy which is manifested in the extremes of art itself. Liturgy is defined as a public form of worship arranged in a ritual or orderly or artistic manner.

At this point in church history we can see several extremes which have manifested themselves. They are: (1) the "iconophile," (2) the "iconoclast," (3) the "decorate," and (4) the "aesthete." Also, we must study these four views in our extreme time of slob-culture, which has reached an all-time high in the United States of America and the world.

The iconophile exalts art, going so far as to make works of art central to their religious and devotional lives. The word "iconophile" means one who is a lover of the icon, a synonym of "idol."

The iconoclast has rejected art, going so far as to actually destroy works of art considered idolatrous. The word "iconoclast" means a hater or destroyer of religious images. We have already alluded to the institution of the liturgy in the early church fathers. This liturgy erupted several times since the earlier days and later in the days of the Protestant Reformation. Both these extremes, the iconophile and the iconclast, exist today. We do not believe that either of these two extremes are truly becoming the Christian before God and His Holy Word.

There are two other positions which have been taken: "the decorate," and the "aesthete."

The decorate collects knick-knacks because it is cute, or, simply pick up little statues of St. Christopher for luck. This kind of art is known as Kitsch, whether secular or sacred. The decorate will follow the top-forty chart in their listening to music. This cute decor, always arranged hoping to beautify junk, is simply an emotional relic used in the ignorance of art itself, and it suffers from a lack of proper appreciation of the fine arts. Therefore, the decorate finally enters into the decadent fields of sound and discord or form and freedom in all Fine Arts.

Finally, the aesthete has the best appreciation for art in the earth. The aesthetic quality may be pursued by the Christian, yea studied and used to the enjoyment of the human life as well as give glory to God. In following both Luther and Beethoven, we see enough similarity in their definitions of music that we can say: Music is to not only glorify God but also bring a source of recreation for the human soul.

It is a mistake to assume that because of the failures of the church fathers, in the early years, and the long-term existence of the Roman Catholic Church during a large proliferation of all the arts, that all art of those periods are therefore apostate arts and under franchise and monopoly by Romanism. Art is primarily a result of the mighty surrounding beauty and resource of nature. Nature was given to us by our Creator and Redeemer so that we might see His law, order, design, purpose and beauty. Whether cathedral or cantata, ornament or oratorio, architecture or art, or, decor or doctrine, we must not throw out the baby with the bathwater. We are in a desperate time for the survival of art in our homes and our churches and our world. Rock and Roll music and contemporary music are genuine evidences to prove this. We, as parents, must cultivate the aesthetic as the aesthete, or our children will fall back into the swamp of the decorate, the iconoclast, or the iconophile.

The Aesthetic Principle in Art Forms

Before proceeding on with this article, something must be noted concerning the aesthetic principle in art forms. We would appeal to man's general understanding of nature and human nature which has been brought down through history especially since the time of the Greeks. Of course, it was known among the Hebrews as they viewed nature and creation in the Old Testament.

We believe that Creation brought to man many capacities and capabilities which we too often just take for granted. Although man is depraved, God did not leave man dead in life and to certain realities in human life. Man eats, breathes, works, and plays amidst crafts, skills, gifts, and creative imagination. In God we live, and move, and have our being.

In the realm of the arts, we would take the position that the faculty of art is resident within the other capacities and capabilities of man. The faculty for art is a gift to man; the aesthetic view is also a part of that nature of man. The faculty of art in man paves the way for him to be able to experience an aesthetic reality. The aesthete, which is not an elite group of people alone, is a person who has a capacity to see beauty in creation, nature, and things of nature. The Greeks were the great proponents of this reality. Their art forms were produced with the aesthetical sight in mind. Although bawdiness came out in certain characters, yet violence and sexual perversion never came out on the stage. To this day, our word "obscene" means "off stage," or something which took place off stage between the acts and the scenes of the drama itself. They knew that the aesthetic view would fail if something "obscene" took place on the stage. As an example, an act of violence or a sexual perversion will interrupt the aesthetic view of beauty, and the mind and emotions will turn aside to a demoralizing effect. Everybody, we believe, has the aesthetic capacity, but some exercise it more than others and some study and pursue it more than others. I still desire to see beauty as I did when I was young. Others lack understanding of its value and view. The ability to see beauty must be developed attentively. When a person is viewing an art form, a painting, a piece of architecture, sculpture, or even listening to a symphony or other, he has the opportunity to follow an aesthetic sight and ear with a growing appreciation and understanding of that beauty artistically. Like ethics, however, neither beauty nor morality will ever bring a person to personal salvation from sin; they are parallel differences. Only the Lord Jesus redeems the soul. In fact, if a person followed appropriately the aesthetic view in all the beauties of creation, nature, and human gifts of art alone, he would probably come to despair. His view of beauty would outgrow his ugly view of himself without God. Aesthetics and ethics were never given as a means of salvation. They were more for the assets of beauty and restraints in life in the midst of a fallen world and a pluralistic society. How wonderful that God thought of such a gift to us whether in a fallen or unfallen world.

From this privilege, given through Creation and nature, as nurtured in the school of providence, God ordained these gifts, by the Holy Spirit, as we walk with our families through the environments of life. When the individual becomes a born again Christian, the aesthetic opportunity is enhanced. Aesthetics and ethics, of themselves, lead to despair; but Christ can bring a better heart to both. The despair explains much of the sadness of many artists, their breach of genius, and sometimes their breakage in suicide. Christ adds much to the appreciation of art, and the artist who pursues it with the biblical presupposition will be an increased witness for the Lord.

Art Forms in Painting

As a result of this reservoir, we can see certain periods in history when the faculty of art in man and the aesthetic view brought designated times of a certain emphasis in art. These run parallel in painting, music, architecture, and other.

Paintings fall into the categories of the following: the earliest, catacomb art; then medieval art, Byzantine, reformation, renaissance, mannerism, baroque, rococo, enlightenment, romanticism, impressionism, expressionism, and modern art, with its many divisions.

It is good to notice that most art forms of history center upon the Christian theme, and we should indeed rejoice that, historically, painting and music centered upon the biblical realities. Although we do not believe in Roman Catholicism, we must keep the record straight that the popes did not do the paintings and write all the compositions. The pope aggrandized himself and his church through art and made idols out of it, but art itself arose from the people and the artists of the times. I had rather see art centered upon the subject of Christianity than atheism, agnosticism, or despair alone. However, we must not make art anything other than art; it is not to be worshipped; it must never become an idol. Of course, we can make idols of anything. But it does not have to be an idol; and art is only of "workmen, they are of men" (Isaiah 44:11).

Catacomb art was painted on the walls of the Catacombs, outside the city of Rome, during the earliest Christian persecutions. This is a simplistic presentation of the earliest Christian art form, the very origin of Christian art. The symbol of Jesus as the Shepherd is almost everywhere in the Catacombs.

Medieval art was a period in which the artist was searching for the deity of Christ. That art form endeavored to paint the exceptional man, and therefore the halo. A flood of light from heaven was painted falling upon the Christ or sometimes on those closest to the Christ. There was always the accompaniment of an aura around the Lord. Of course, this conception of Christ is false.

Reformation art, as vindicated by Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli, represented a fresh point of view. Luther came from his hiding prison to stop the desecration of stained glass and other pieces of art in the cathedral, including those of Christ, as he simultaneously destroyed the Roman idols of the Church. Calvin and Zwingli believed in art, but not idols. Calvin espoused considerable attention to art. Without a halo or a flood of light, his theology proposed viewing Jesus as made flesh, as a man. He knew no one could paint deity, but they could paint a man. These men did not believe in art form for the church sanctuary itself. Rembrandt is probably the best artist to follow Reformation art. He painted many sides of society with the family and portraits and judges and noblemen, etc., sustaining Christ and Christian art in the form of man.

Byzantine art did include Christian themes in illuminated manuscripts, apostles, etc., but it finalized itself at Byzantium (Constantinople & Istanbul) with the symbolism of other subjects. Byzantine art came as a result of the influences of India, Rome, and the Mediterranean areas.

Renaissance art takes us through the baroque and the rococo. The Renaissance brings us to a three-dimensional painting perspective, bringing man, the observer, and his point of view of the painting, to the forefront of its interpretation. This led art into the Enlightenment and Romanticism. The former comes as a result of logic and analysis; the latter, aristocratic and human life-styles, which led to the affluent and the worldly view of life.

Impressionism is punctuated by painted points or the break-up of a painting as the painter, himself, sees the scene. This was followed by the painter with brush-strokes furthering the presupposition beyond an impression to an artist's expression. Monet and Van Gogh are typical of these two art forms, respectively.

Somewhere in all of these changes in the philosophical presupposition behind painting as an art form, we move on out into modern art consisting of surrealism, dadaism, abstract, op, and pop art. In these we see the despair of man and his mannishness. He has left God.

An Encomium and A Eulogy

The connotation, if not the denotation, of an encomium and a eulogy should be distinguished. The eulogy, of course, is a dedication of praise to a friend deceased; the encomium is a dedication of praise to a friend alive among us still. It is in my heart to speak both an encomium and a eulogy to a friend, Dr. Bob Jones, Jr., Chancellor of Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina, who led me to the Lord Jesus Christ when I was twenty years of age, and who has been a star of blessing throughout my Christian pilgrimage. Yet, he has respected my opinions, too.

In my own life, the greatest single influence of this Christian gift of art lies in my debt to this esteemed friend, Dr. Bob Jones, Jr. He brought out, through the university presentations, an aesthetic view of art of which the general world of the fundamentalists in the earlier years was not always aware nor respectful. I was a student in the last semester at Cleveland, Tennessee, and made the move with the University to Greenville, South Carolina. The first year in Greenville brought an upsurge of art forms which exploded before me and marked a fulfillment for a larger view of Christianity and life itself. The "cultural program of the school contained seven elements: discipline, Vespers, Artist Series, drama, opera, cinema and the art collection—but all seven were raised to new heights." In previous years, the founder, Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., reiterated over and over again the need of culture in the Christian life. He was very careful to protect his definition of "culture," but it is obvious that his inclusion of the term for the Christian life was a deliberate ingredient for Christians. The balance came in his well-known statement, "We are not interested in bringing students here to this school to just get the training we have in music, in speech, in culture. We are not interested in letting the devil grind his ax on our grindstone."

I had been an avid reader since the second grade of my childhood, and after two years in the United States Navy at the end of World War, II, I entered Bob Jones College and saw this Christian explosion with a major in undergraduate school of speech and music. It brought me to an enlarged world-view of the Christian life and Christianity that I shall always be grateful to God for in my life, after I had read and read and read of such a world as a child. The narrative, the novel, and the narrator of the fine arts were embraced in my new Christian life, newly saved by grace, through the human instrumentality of Dr. Bob, Jr. Of the seven art forms previously mentioned, the cinema and the art collection were developed at Greenville, but "all seven were raised to new heights" there. My wife, Joye, a trained artist and vocalist, was a great asset to my explosion in this artistic world. We talked many days and hours on these things in our marriage. She became our first Dean of Fine Arts at Foundations Bible College, as I pursued founder and presidency along with writing musical compositions, cantatas, and oratorios. Anvil House, a learning center on campus, was finally built with over 1800 art pieces to teach three histories: world civilization, church history, and Christian remnant history. Anvil House is not a museum or an art gallery; it is a teaching place of history using a gothic architecture with many other art forms.

Dr. Bob Jones, Jr. dedicated this facility May 15, 1997. May God continue to use what he left us in his versatile Christian life.