Category: Cultural Reflections

From its early roots in the 1930s, the Worldwide Church of God, now known as Grace Communion International, was theologically and relationally at odds with orthodox Christianity. The church denied the doctrine of the Trinity, viewing the Father and the Son as one “God family” and the Holy Spirit as God’s power and essence.

After Armstrong’s death in 1986, the Holy Spirit began to draw the WCG into the orthodox faith of historic Christianity. By the early 1990s the church had accepted the doctrine of the Trinity and began to discover the joy and freedom of the true gospel of grace.

As the transformation progressed, and the church seriously engaged the work of such theologians as Thomas Torrance, James Torrance, Karl Barth, Ray Anderson, Elmer Colyer, Colin Gunton, and others, the more it came to see the profound implications of the Incarnation of the Son for humanity’s union and communion with God and one another.

Dissatisfied with existing Christian approaches to modern and contemporary art, critic and curator Daniel A. Siedell charts a new course with God in the Gallery: A Christian Embrace of Modern Art (Baker Academic , 2009), which takes for granted the importance of engaging modern and contemporary art on its own terms, from the inside, as it were. Rather than simply imposed from the outside, Siedell’s theological perspective emerges in conversation with modern and contemporary art. Between Art and Religion responds to art historian James Elkins’s claim that art and religion cannot mix by reflecting on the theological implications of God in the Gallery. Siedell offers the image of the darkly lit hallway to describe how his work develops deep relationships between art and religion without destroying the integrity of each practice.

Rather than think about what makes Christian art or what makes art Christian, Martin French suggests we ought to think in terms of how an artist can create Christianly. Does my creative process reflect worship, honesty, and communion? Does my expression connect with what I know, with the struggle and refining that God is working in me? Are my scars evident in the work? Chances are, if someone can look at something and say, “Oh, that’s Christian art,” then it wasn’t made very Christianly. In order to create in this manner, we must believe that art is not a secondary activity, not on the fringe of the Christian experience, and not a random afterthought. God from the beginning has chosen to reveal Himself to us through creative expression. He calls out to us creatively—And he has specifically placed within many of us, the ability to make and create along with him. That is important work, and the Church should fully engage in it. Are we willing to move beyond our selves, beyond our quest for acceptance, our fear of success, and make art in the context of truth and worship?