Without Apology: Why I Am a Presuppositionalist -- By: William Edgar

Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 58:1 (Spring 1996)
Article: Without Apology: Why I Am a Presuppositionalist
Author: William Edgar


Without Apology: Why I Am a Presuppositionalist

William Edgar

[Adapted from a lecture given at Westminster Theological Seminary’s Contemporary Issues Conference, March 15, 1995.]

The work of New York-based process artist Christo has puzzled even the most tolerant viewers. It typically consists of huge projects using nylon sheets that wrap buildings or even landscapes. Some critics regard this not as art, but as one more nihilistic insult to the Western aesthetic temperament. A closer look, however, reveals some interesting features, quite compatible with a Christian sensibility. In 1976 he created The Running Fence, an 18-foot-tall white nylon ribbon that stretched for over 24 miles across Sonoma and Marin counties in northern California. It began on one side of Highway 101 and ran into the Pacific Ocean. Driving or walking in the area, one first sees this banner not at one end, but at some point along the way. As the eye follows it up and down the hills, the clear contours emerge, the landscape’s hues and shapes suggest themselves. The fence disappears, first here and there, as it is hidden behind a hill, and then altogether, beyond what the eye can see.

Christo (who significantly dropped his last name, Javacheff) has not surprisingly invited reflection about the transcendent by his viewers. These great sheets of fabric are only displayed for a few days or weeks. Human finitude is also impressed on the beholder by contemplating the sheer size of the work produced. While we stand in awe of its dimensions we suddenly become aware of our own limits, and can echo David’s words, “What is man that you are mindful of him?” (Ps 8:4) The works also highlight the basic shape of things, their underlying structure. In the same way that Cézanne painted landscapes by stressing their geometric outline, Christo goes directly to the subject and invites the viewer to discover the outline personally.

There is more. Wrapping buildings or coastlines suggests a gift, and reminds one of the way the world in which we live is not our own creation, but comes to us because of God’s blessing. Art historian Dominique Laporte sees other connections with the Christian message. The sheets, which are eventually removed, present a shroud syndrome which reminds one of the theme of the resurrection.1 However much of this aspect of Christo’s

approach may be intentional, it certainly can have the effect of pointing us to the Creator of the world, who has given it meaning and direction.

Presuppositional apologetics does the same thing, only far more directly and persuasiv...

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