Art and Evangelization
In this Unit, after a brief Introduction on all types of art (painting, sculpture, architecture etc) in relation to Evangelization, we will consider in more detail the topic of “Music and Evangelization” and “Music and Christian Liturgy”.
I. Art and Evangelization
In this part we will follow the outline of the letter to artists by Pope John Paul II, 4 April 1999. We will briefly consider the relationship between all forms of art and Evangelization. In the following section we will consider in more detail the topic of Music and Evangelization.
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Without going into the complexity of a complete definition of art, in this Unit we will consider “art” as “creation of beauty” and the artist (poet, writer, sculptor, architect, musician, actor, Mass Media artist and so on) as “creator of beauty”.
Ancient cultures thought of art as a gift from the gods to mankind. Christianity sees in art a sharing of the divine Artist’s power , who passes on to the human artist a spark of His own surpassing wisdom, calling him to share in His creative power. |
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The theme of beauty is decisive for a discourse on art. In Greek there is one adjective “kalokagathía” to mean both beautiful and good, beauty-goodness. Beauty is always good, as Plato says : “The power of the Good has taken refuge in the nature of the Beautiful”. The Book of Genesis says that after finishing His work of creation “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good and beautiful”. (Genesis, 1:31)
The Book of Wisdom adds: “God is the original source of beauty that fashioned created things. From the greatness and the beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen.” (Wisdom, 13: 3,5) |
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Through artistic works, the artist not only summons his work into being, but also in some way reveals his inner life and vision, speaks to others and communicates with them.
The artist’s consciousness of having received God’s gift of creativity and his inner urge to share it with others, constitute the artist vocation and mission. |
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Art is communicative. Art invites the viewer or listener to go beyond the material element of the image or sound and reach the realm of infinity, where the source of all Beauty and Goodness is. The artistic masterpiece reveals both the beauty of the subject-matter and the artist’s personal vision of it. A Buddhist sculptor, who portrays the subject matter of the beauty and serenity of the Enlightened, will inevitably add his own personal vision and angle.
The Annunciation by Beato Angelico reveals the beauty of the subject matter, but has a very different spirituality and vision than the Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci. Each artistic work has a message, an inspiration to be shared. |
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Artists offer a great contribution to the “art of education”. Taking examples from Christian history in the West, at a time when few people could read or write, and the printed word was not so common, paintings, sculptures, songs etc remained the teaching aids for many generations.
Each Church was like an open book (rich with artistic masterpieces) to be understood and loved by the faithful. Artists not only enrich the cultural heritage of each nation and of all humanity, but they also render an exceptional social service in favour of the common good. |
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The “beautiful” thus wedded to the “true” can lift our spirits up from the world of the senses to the eternal.
Along this path there were troubled moments. Precisely on the issue of depicting the Christian mystery, there arose in the early centuries a bitter controversy known to history as “the iconoclast crisis”. Sacred images, which were already widely used in Christian devotion, became the object of violent contention. The Council held at Nicaea in 787, which decreed the legitimacy of images and their veneration, was a historic event not just for the faith but for culture itself. The decisive argument to which the Bishops appealed in order to settle the controversy was the mystery of the Incarnation: if the Son of God had come into the world of visible realities—his humanity building a bridge between the visible and the invisible— then, by analogy, a representation of the mystery could be used, within the logic of signs, as a sensory evocation of the mystery. The icon is venerated not for its own sake, but points beyond to the subject which it represents. |
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Christian art played a very substantial role both in the Evangelization of Europe (including the Oriental part of Europe: Greece, Russia, Turkey etc) and in the formation of the newly baptized.
The Cathedrals and monasteries scattered all over Europe are a concrete sign of the deep roots that Christianity took in Europe. Something similar happened in Asia through all the Buddhist monuments scattered all over the Continent.
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Even in the changed climate of more recent centuries, when a part of Western society seems to have become indifferent to faith, religious art has continued on its way. Sacred art has a message for all, even those, who profess to be atheists.
Sacred music composed not for liturgical use but simply as art has become even more popular. |
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At the end of the II Vatican Council the Fathers addressed a greeting and an appeal to artists: “This world, in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair. Beauty, like truth, brings joy to the human heart and is that precious fruit which resists the erosion of time, which unites generations and enables them to be one in admiration!”.
In this spirit of profound respect for beauty, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy calls sacred art, the “summit” of religious art, and artists as having “a noble ministry” when their works reflect in some way the infinite beauty of God and raise people's minds to him. Thanks also to the help of artists “the knowledge of God can be better revealed and the preaching of the Gospel can become clearer to the human mind”. (GS, 62) |
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The sense of beauty stirs wonder in face of creation. From this wonder there can come enthusiasm. People of today and tomorrow need this enthusiasm if they are to meet and master the crucial challenges which stand before us. Thanks to this enthusiasm, humanity, every time it loses its way, will be able to lift itself up and set out again on the right path. In this sense it has been said with profound insight that “beauty will save the world”.
Beauty is a key to the mystery and a call to transcendence. It is an invitation to savour life and to dream of the future. That is why the beauty of created things can never fully satisfy. It stirs that hidden nostalgia for God which a lover of beauty like Saint Augustine could express in incomparable terms: “Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you!” |
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Conclusion:
Art can not be used as a means to achieve some predetermined plan or as a publicity ad. We can not use art to publicize Evangelization. Whenever art is used as a means to publicize something else, it ceases to be art and becomes propaganda. The artistic masterpiece is the free and inspired expression of the artist’s vision of reality. By itself it has a message and it can arouse strong feelings and emotions of beauty, truth and goodness in the viewer’s or listener’s heart. It is this message and these feelings that can lead the way to Jesus’ Gospel and its values.
The history of Christianity has been always linked to art in all its forms. Christian shrines, Churches of all artistic styles, monasteries and libraries, museums guarding precious artistic treasures of the past, literally dot the territories where Christianity spread and bear witness to a continual artistic activity of the Church. The sacred melodies of Christian worship have been transmitted for centuries from one generation to another. Christian art has given deep cultural roots to Christianity.
Tourists of all races and religions are attracted by the beauty of Christian art. Artistic masterpieces continue to proclaim the message of Christianity to all generations. |
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A pilgrim in Rome: a witness.
A weary pilgrim walks into St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Exhausted from the trans-Atlantic flight, she wanted to be sure she saw this holy shrine as soon as possible. No sooner does she enter the Basilica than she notices a large group of Asian tourists standing to her right. Their attention is transfixed on something behind a large wall of glass. The pilgrim pushes her way closer. Suddenly, quite unprepared, she finds herself confronted by Michelangelo's Pietá. The exquisite beauty of the sculpture stands in stark contrast to the horror of the reality depicted: a mourning mother holding her only son, dead after a tortuous three hours. Almost unaware, the pilgrim finds her thoughts pulled into the scene. The sculpture has become something of a window, enabling her to enter into a new world. St. Peter's seemed noisy as she first entered, but now it is somehow quiet. Nothing exists but this scene. She is quite simply awed. The pilgrim is herself a mother of but one child, and in this new world she finds herself identifying with Mary, the sorrowful mother. She discovers that her thoughts have become Mary's. She can almost feel the dead weight of the lifeless body resting in her own arms. Why have they done this? How can this be, that this son of mine, conceived so miraculously, could end so ignobly? The memory of a refrain from a liturgy now long passed rises to the fore: Come this way and see if there is any sorrow that can rival mine. The sound of a camera crashing to the floor abruptly brings the pilgrim back from that other world. She is aware that tears are running down her cheek. Such is the power of art.
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