Great artists began by creating a work of art and then worldview naturally shows through their body of work. Number 3: In which the artist creates something displaying their worldview. The author goes on explaining how this way of thinking only reduces art to “an intellectual statement” and the idea of art for art’s sake disappears. To be honest, this is the view I had about art for a while. Number 2: Art is a vehicle which to communicate a message about the world, artist, man etc. The point being that the great masters never worked with this mindset. Schaeffer questions, does any great artist work from this point of view? He used the artists of the Renaissance and Modern artist like, Picasso to explain how all legendary artist wished to communicate something. It doesn’t say and it’s not suppose to say anything. Number 1: Just art for art’s sake it’s just there to be there. Schaeffer continues, stating that there are three main views of art. Firstly the fact that God is the Creator gives creating value already. Where is the value in creativity? The author answers these questions. It is that the mind has been corrupted by sin and must be rewired back to its original state, that is, before the Fall of Man. Not thinking purely to know something more knowledge’s sake, but to help us to understand our Father in Heaven on a deeper level. But this doesn’t mean we should be discouraged from thinking. Of course, we can’t understand everything we are finite while our God is infinite. At one point in the book, the author said, “The Bible addresses the whole Man, just as God created them.” This means that it is true that logic and thought can be put into the things of the Bible, even the spiritual things. What I mean by this is, it addresses the spiritual realities, as well as the physical (something I feel is often forgotten).

This book approaches the Bible, yes, as a Holy Book, but also a book that is grounded in the reality they lived in back then and today.

The foreword begins with a bit of a history lesson, to give us perspective on the need of a clear understanding of Art and Christianity what is of God and what is only for the glory of Man. It addresses many misinterpretations and questions of what God says and feels about art and the making of it. Schaeffer gives an interesting, very intellectual perspective on where art stands in the Christian mindset and lifestyle.

Francis schaeffer art