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I’ve just finished reading and small, but insightful, booklet by Francis Schaeffer called Art and the Bible. Over the past 10 years or so, I’ve developed a love and appreciation for art and have made it a goal of mine to visit as many of the major (and lesser known) art museums of the world as possible. In Art and the Bible, Schaeffer first presents a summary of scriptural teaching on art and argues for its place in modern Christian life. In the second part of the book, he seeks to develop a Christian perspective on art. I found his remarks quite helpful and thought I would provide here his eleven distinct perspectives from which a Christian should evaluate or judge a work of art (not limited to only visual arts). In the booklet, Schaeffer, of course, provides much more clarifying content.

1. A work of art has a value in itself. It is to be enjoyed as a work of art.
2. Art forms add strength to the world view which shows through, no matter what the world view is or whether the world view is true or false. The effect of any proposition, whether true or false is hightened if expressed in art.
3. In all forms of writing both poetry and prose, it makes a tremendous difference whether there is a continuity or a discontinuity with the normal definitions of words in normal syntax. Totally abstract art alienates the viewer from the painter.
4. The fact that something is a work of art does not make it sacred.
5. There are four basic standards by which art is to be judged:
a. Technical excellence (the use of color, form, balance, texture, handling of lines, unity of the canvas, etc).
b. Validity (whether an artist is honest to himself and his worldview).
c. Intellectual content, the world view which comes through.
d. The integration of content and vehicle (correlation between the style and the content).
6. Art forms can be used for any type of message from pure fantasy to detailed history.
7. Styles of art form change and there is nothing wrong with this.
8. One must distinguish between style and message. (There is no such thing as a goldy style or an ungodly style).
9. The Christian world view can be divided into a major theme and a minor theme. The minor theme is the abnormality of the revolting world. The major theme is the meaningfulness and purposefulness of life.
10. Christian art is by no means always religious art, that is, art which deals with religious themes.
11. Every artist has the problem of making an individual work of art and, as well, building up a total body of work.