I've begun a study of Presbyterian thoughts about art. This started when I bumped into the Westminster Larger Catechism's explanation of the Second Commandment:
". . . the making any representation of God, of all or of any of the three persons, either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature whatsoever."
Our associate pastor has gotten me going on this too with some articles about the absense of Puritan art and general discussions of art in the church.
Reading Calvin's commentary today on the second commandment was very helpful. A few points: 1) All representational art is not wrong. 2) Representations of God are wrong because they insult God - so there's the bite to chew on. 3) Calvin and Westminster might not be saying the same thing.
Anyway - here's a link to Calvin on Commandment #2: http://www.ccel.org/c/calvin/comment3/comm_vol04/htm/iii.htm
Some comments from our associate pastor:
http://twosons.blogspot.com/2005/02/packer-pictures-of-christ.html#comments
If Calvin is right, what should we do with the Sistine Chapel? I can do without El Greco, and I still haven't seen Mel Gibson's Passion, and Monte Python's "Brian" was already blaspheme, and those laquered Jesus pictures always weirded me out, but Giotto and the Pietà Rondanini will be harder to let go.
This discussion will be continued on Peace Arts - www.peacepca.org/arts
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment