Journal: Southeastern Theological Review
Volume: STR 16:1 (Spring 2025)
Article: Introduction: Christianity, Philosophy, And The Arts
Author: Ben Holloway

STR 16:1 (Spring 2025) p. 1

Introduction: Christianity, Philosophy, And The Arts

Ben Holloway

Guest Editor

In his book, Art and the Bible, Francis Schaeffer asks whether Christians should forget about art and culture and focus only on religious matters.1 His answer is in the negative, but Schaeffer’s question is curious. First, it seems that we don’t have a choice in the matter. How could we forget about art and culture? Art and culture are unavoidable. We just do it. Second, the question indicates that we also don’t see culture as necessary. It isn’t like farming. We won’t die if we stop doing it. So, what is the point of it?

The first question may be answered by considering what we mean by culture. As Theodore Gracyk defines it, “a culture exists when a social group’s belief structure and values are intergenerationally transmitted.”2 Culture is just what happens when we disseminate our beliefs, norms, and practices from one generation to another. We start schools, establish courts, paint pictures, write works of fiction, and compose music. We could “forget about art” if we gave up preserving our beliefs, norms, and practices over generations. But we aren’t going to do that in a hurry. Indeed, the Bible instructs us not to (2 Tim 2:2).

But the second reason Schaeffer’s question is curious is because although education and social organization account for securing both the climate and the content of our traditions, art appears peripheral. Surely, teaching our children and ensuring order is enough. Somehow, though, we can’t help generating something more.

Consider a church. It has all three—education, politics, and art. We form Sunday schools, seminaries, and members’ meetings, but we also write hymns, design our buildings, cultivate our gardens, paint, and compose sermons. It isn’t peripheral for us. Nor is art peripheral to the Lord. God could have called a philosopher to write a systematic treatment of his work, will, and nature, but our go-to for all things proper in our theology is a book of poetry, the psalter. Aesthetics isn’t peripheral for God.

In order to see why, perhaps we should consider the alternative. I once

STR 16:1 (Spring 2025) p. 2

visited East Berlin in the early nineties, not long after the wall came down. What struck me was that the communists had attempted to remove all beauty. When traversing the boundary from the west, it was like going from technicolor to greyscale. People were alive—the lack of beauty didn’t kill them, at least not physicall...