Art as Prophetic Proclamation
Michael Craven
Author, Speaker, Founding Director of the Center for Christ & Culture
I am constantly challenged to discover creative and effective ways in which to communicate the Christian interpretation of reality or worldview into contemporary culture. This is after all a central aim of every Christian—to communicate the “good news” that there is a God who has revealed Himself, who explains where we have come from and what has gone wrong with the world, a loving personal Being who has done something in response to evil and in so doing has provided the only effective remedy to the world and humanity’s condition.
Often our attempts to communicate this good news or Gospel are direct and straightforward and at times effective. But more and more, cultural conditions are such that this approach may not proceed as far as we hope because many today may immediately become defensive and unwilling to listen.
This is where alternative, even subversive, mediums can prove helpful, mediums that have been employed by thoughtful Christians in the past and, I think, are once again necessary.
Historically, the Arts have provided a powerful prophetic medium through which Christian truth has been persuasively communicated. Consider the works of Shakespeare, Milton or Dante that accurately convey the themes of sin, the nature of man, the Fall, and redemption. These have endured for centuries and continue to find contemporary expression.
Furthermore, the Arts contribute to the formation of culture, either Christian or anti-Christian, which is why Christians must be involved in the Arts. In fact, the Arts may be one of the most influential mediums for cultural formation. This is certainly evident in our time when so much of contemporary art is anti-Christian, deconstructive, or nihilistic. The resulting “culture” then becomes a formidable obstacle to the reception of the true interpretation of reality or Gospel.
Unfortunately, today many Christians find themselves only opposing culture—an understandable reaction to the often decadent and narcissistic culture that now confronts us. To be sure, Christians must engage culture with righteous judgment and offer critique wherever it undermines God’s moral truth and authority.
However, we must also realize that the Dominion Mandate calls upon the faithful to create culture for the glory and honor of Christ. As T.M. Moore points out in his excellent book Culture Matters:
The institutions, artifacts, and conventions that make up any culture are not neutral instruments only designed to enhance survival or the enjoyment of life. They are part and parcel of a worldview that, in the antithesis between the kingdoms of light and darkness, cannot possibly occupy some middle ground. Either culture will be consciously employed for the advancement of the kingdom of God, or it will fall into the hands of those who seek nothing more than the fuller realization of the next human agenda or scheme. Indifference to culture therefore is tantamount to abandoning the high ground to the adversary. Avoidance of it is impossible. Narrow selectivity in the creation of a distinctively Christian culture leaves the most powerful aspects of culture in the hands of God’s enemies.
