Friday, February 2, 2007

Worship Notes 2 February

• Beauty is an attribute of God and is therefore a theological issue. God is the standard of beauty as well as its source; therefore, there is an objective standard for what is beautiful. Aesthetics is the study of beauty and the ability to apprehend it. From a theological perspective, the Word of God is the rule by which we make aesthetic judgments. God speaks to the role of artists in the description He gives of the artists for the tabernacle: filled with the Spirit, ability, intelligence, knowledge, craftsmanship, and able to teach others. Good art and music should be the product of these types of characteristics.

• The cultural mandate to take dominion over and subdue the earth has direct application to the arts. Music, poetry, literature, dance, painting, sculpture, etc. are manifestations of dominion over sound, time, language, movement, color, etc.

2 comments:

AJ Harbison said...

Brilliant insights, as always.

I heard someone point out recently (it may have been an R.C. Sproul talk) that Bezalel and Oholiab, the two craftsmen for the tabernacle, are the first people in the Bible to be described as being "filled with the Spirit." Very interesting.

AJ Harbison
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Gregory Wilbur said...

AJ:

Gene Edward Veith also makes that point in The State of the Arts--as well as explaining the specific areas in God gifted them. Philip Ryken's book, Art for God's Sake, also covers some of the same ground but in a short format.

Blessings!