Religious Dichotomy

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According to Genesis 1, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” God created everything and everyone in order to glorify Him, in fact, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” God expects us to acknowledge Him as creator and artist and therefore magnifying Him by pursuing Christ-likeness in order to further His gospel. Furthermore, Francis Schaeffer concludes that “art forms add strength to the world view which shows through, no matter what the worldview is.” (Art and the Bible, p.57). As God commanded us to show His light in Matthew 5:14-16, we must show our differences through every instrument. Thus, The Body of Christ, the Church, must acknowledge the arts, as …show more content…
Historically, there exists a great dichotomy concerning the biblical premise regarding art within the church. In fact, During the Medieval Age the Romanesque Era encouraged visual representation and communication within the church. For example, the Cathedral of Saint-Lazare at Autun houses one of the most monumental religious sculptures of the age. The artist, Gislebertus, spectacularly “depicts Christ after his Second Coming as he separates those who will be eternally saved from those who are dammed.” (Art History, p.362) This marble tympanum located on the west facade of the Cathedral has been acclaimed to be “the sermon in stone” by St. Bernard of Clairvaux (Art History, p.362) and served as a great witness to the illiterate people of the age. On the contrary, approximately 300 years earlier following the reign of Emperor Justinian (527-565) religious imagery was viewed as idolatry and thus was banned from the church. This animosity toward artistic communication labeled the Iconoclastic Controversy “began with an edict promulgated by …show more content…
The Psalmist writes, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day to day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun.”(Bible) God created the material universe in order to show His glory and act as a universal witness of His love and power. Therefore, Christians must be open to purposeful design within the church and in all areas of life. According to Philip Ryken, an associate of The Gospel Coalition, “The gospel is about the Creator God, who is an artist, who is trying to communicate. And his art is the church…. If we don’t realize that fully, then the gospel itself is truncated and art itself suffers.” (TGC). One of many such instances recorded in scripture include the designing and building of the Tabernacle in Exodus 25-40. The Tabernacle was to be designed in order to encourage worship among God’s people, much like the present church. According to Francis Schaeffer, “Some people say that the Jews had no interest in art because of what the scripture says in the Ten Commandments (Art and the Bible, p.19), similar to the conviction of Byzantine Emperor Leo III, however Scripture suggests the opposite. When the Lord
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