Revival and Renewal

As I’ve been reflecting on this week’s topic (regarding the idea of creativity and the construction of the Tabernacle), I realized I just couldn’t give it the time it needed this week. So, to hold you over until next time, I thought I’d share some of the quotes that I wanted to add to the previous posts, but ran out of room. Below you’ll find the quotes followed by their citations:

Traditionally, contemplation has been characterized as a knowing accompanied by amazement. In contemplation a mirandum is seen, that is to say, a reality which evokes amazement because it exceeds our comprehension even though we see it, and have a direct intuition of it. Amazement is possible only for one who does not yet see the whole; God cannot be amazed. One of the characteristics of earthly contemplation is this accompaniment of unease in the face of the unattainable. Quite aside from the distraction caused by the requirements of physical life – a distraction which is both inescapable and wholesome – there inevitably intrudes into the midst of the peace of contemplation the soundless call to another, infinitely profounder, incomprehensible, “eternal” peace. This is “the call of perfection to the imperfect, which call we name love.” — Josef Pieper, Happiness and Contemplation, 75

If you confess that the world once was beautiful, but by the curse has become undone, and by a final catastrophe is to pass to its full state of glory, excelling even the beautiful of paradise, then art has the mystical task of reminding us in its productions of the beautiful that was lost and of anticipating its perfect coming luster. — Abraham Kuyper, Lectures on Calvinism (Lecture 5)

No matter the piece or practice we prefer, we are always leading people toward something with our art. We must regularly ask ourselves, what are we leading them toward? What future are we making? We might hope it involves giving, thriving, and flourishing—rather than despair and dispassion. Our chosen aesthetic need not be overly cheerful or bright, but we ought to make in a way that ultimately orients our world toward restoration. Through our art, we show the possibility of what could be. Through our art, we stand on the frontlines of making and calling forth shalom. — On Beauty and Faith: Exploring Beauty and Its Implications for Our Lives, 16-19.

We should remember that the Bible contains the Song of Solomon, the love song between a man and a woman, and it contains David’s song to Israel’s national heroes. Neither subject is “religious.” But God’s creation – the mountains, the trees, the birds and bird’s songs – are also nonreligious art. Think about that. If God made the flowers, they are worth painting and writing about. If God made the birds, they are worth painting. If God made the sky, the sky is worth painting. If God made ocean, indeed its worth writing poetry about. It is worth man’s while to create works upon the basis of the great works God has already created. This whole notion is rooted in the realization that Christianity is not just involved with “salvation,” but with the total man in the total world.– Francis Schaeffer, Art and the Bible, complete works, Vol 2., 441.

In a true sense, Jesus Christ as the crucified God-man (cf. 1 Cor 1:23; 2:2) holds up a mirror that evinces and exposes the deprivation of glory that characterizes every human being qua sinner. — Jonathan King, For the Beauty of the Lord: Theology as Aesthetics, 222.

This last one needs some context. Makoto Fujimara notes how the Japanese word for beauty is the combination of two ideograms: “sheep” on the top and “great” on the bottom. He quotes aesthetic philosopher Tomobobu Imamichi about its significance:

 It connotes a greater sacrifice, a sacrifice that cannot be boxed in by rituals or self. This greater sacrifice may require sacrifice of one’s own life to save the lives of others. This sacrifice is not enforced by rules nor is it predetermined, but originates from self-initiative, a willing sacrifice. That is what is truly beautiful. — Silence and Beauty, 66.