One of my most memorable birthdays was a special gift from my wife. Although she was worn down from health challenges to our one-year-old son while living in Moscow, she gifted me with a whole day to spend at my favorite art gallery, the Tretyakov Gallery. Unfortunately, like most things in Russia, its marketing today is fueled by the incessant ideological drumbeat of Russian Nationalism (one of the now advertised exhibits is Children of the Great Patriotic War). Thus, you must look closer to find its treasures.
For students of Russian history and Christians, it contains numerous such riches. Vasily Perov’s Troika and Iilya Repin’s Barge Haulers on the Volga make you feel the plight of poor Russians before the 1917 Revolution in ways that reading about their plight never will. One of the most famous paintings of Jesus likely to be known by many Americans, is Nikolay Ge’s “What is Truth?” Ge’s “In the Garden of Gethsemane” is also magnificent. My favorite though, Ivan Kramskoi’s “Christ in the Wilderness,” must be experienced in person to appreciate it truly. It was also one of Pavel Tretyakov’s favorites. On a computer screen, the painting is moving, but in person, it is even more so. It took him five years to paint it.
According to the Main Story Gallery website, whose purpose I will recount later, Kramskoi’s goal was to “place a mirror in front of people’s faces, by which their heart would be awakened by the sound of an alarm.” I can attest that he accomplished his purpose.
You sense the barrenness of the wilderness as if it is all around you. There is absolutely nothing living on which to fix your eyes for nourishment. Amidst the rocky and grey wilderness, one is drawn to Christ’s hands clenched in prayer, the center of the painting. They look taut and worn, but they still have their strength.
But it is the face that haunts you. As anyone who has experienced extreme bodily pain knows, it is the face of someone seeking to endure the torture of the moment. Yet, Christ’s expression shows a robust resolution within the pain and suffering. Nothing will break Christ’s resistance to the devil’s temptations.
This painting has shaped my view of this passage (referring to the account given in Matt. 4:1-11 or Luke 4:1-13) more than the dozens of sermons I have heard on it. I would have loved to have read a book by Henri Nouwen after a day spent contemplating this painting (as he did with Rembrandt’s Prodigal Son at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg). I have been inspired, shaken, and enraptured by art, but rarely have I been awestruck and overwhelmed by a painting in the way that I repeatedly was when visiting this one on more than one occasion. One cannot argue with such profound beauty. One must simply behold it.
A love for art and beauty often is produced by the experience of great pain, and that may be why Russians love beauty and love to talk about beauty. It is one of the things I miss most about Russia. Their love for the fine arts is contagious. It points one to God.
The Fine Arts in Christian General Education
Unfortunately, I do not find evidence that many fine arts gen eds at Christian colleges and universities are doing the same. In my study of general education at 534 institutions, I found only 14 institutions that required a fine arts class that mentioned Christianity.
We only found three fine art course descriptions required of all students that mentioned music and Christianity. This finding is why I roll my eyes at the constant cheerleading for how Christian institutions support the ancient liberal arts tradition. The reality is that tradition no longer exists. Music was one of the original liberal arts listed by Christians such as Augustine and Cassiodorus. Now, it is gone from the general education curriculum of almost every Christian university, or if required, its course description is secularized. The only three exceptions we found were Faulkner University, Grove City College, and the Master’s College. The Grove City College course was described as follows:
HUMA 301. CIVILIZATION AND THE ARTS. An examination of outstanding works of visual art and music that represent the major periods in the history of Western civilization. The course examines the nature of God, the ways people have expressed their understanding of God’s nature in the arts, the ways people have seen themselves throughout Western history, and the purpose of life.
Interestingly, our findings reveal that conservative institutions appear to care the most about Christ-animated approaches to the fine arts. The other eleven required fine arts courses (that did not mention music or made it one option among others) were found at institutions such as Bob Jones University, Dallas Baptist University, Franciscan University, and Thomas More College of Liberal Arts. Franciscan offered students a choice between “Visual Arts and the Catholic Imagination,” a “Survey of Sacred and Religious Music,” and “Theatre and the Catholic Imagination.”
While most course descriptions talked about learning to view art through a Christian or Biblical perspective or worldview, we found some other important themes that should be considered. Simpson University’s course noted that emphasis was placed on the course on “the role of art in the imagination and the Christian life.” I once again found George Fox University’s description the most inspiring and comprehensive. It described its Art and Global Culture requirement in this way:
This interdisciplinary, core curriculum course centers its intellectual and artistic queries around the enduring question, “How do the arts reveal God’s love for beauty, empathy and creativity across global boundaries?” Using the framework of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-10), students will explore how global cultures both celebrate and critique their communities through the artistic disciplines of art, music and theatre. Throughout the course, students will cross boundaries of difference to investigate how God’s creative spirit manifests itself in artistic expressions of beauty, dissonance and the celebration of the human spirit.
What I found fascinating is that the course celebrates both artistic creation around the world but also the ways it can be both fallen and redemptive. I would want my sons to take a general education fine arts requirement like this one.
Looking to the Church
If I were encouraging students to develop a love for the arts informed by Christianity, I could only point them to these few general education course descriptions that hint such love will be cultivated. The good news is that there are examples of churches taking up this task as well. While doing some research for this article, I came across the website for the Main Story Gallery. Not surprisingly, it is sponsored by Russian Christians who come from a culture with a deep appreciation for the fine arts. What I find amazing is that this little Slavic Baptist Church in Washington is doing more to educate Christians about how to acquire theological insight from fine arts than most general education requirements of Christian universities.
The neglect of the Christ-animated fine arts among some Christian circles reminds me that one of the things for which I am extremely thankful is that I was raised in a family that loved music. My dad grew up with a piano in his home, which his sister often played. My mother loved listening to worship, and my dad introduced me to all kinds of musical genres through his collection of 45s, 33s and 8 tracks. Some of my treasured memories are listening to music with family on long road trips. The playlist might include a mix of jazz, early rock, Christian, country, Latin brass, gospel, and comedy.
Today, in the evenings, I usually trade my computer screen or white pages of books for music. I have read most of the day and need something different to feed my soul. I need more than simply church worship music or Christian praise. I need the fine art of music in all its various expressions to help me see God and God’s creation in new and different ways. To experience the full range of emotions that accompany humanity on our journey with God and God’s creation. Our students need these things as well. Unfortunately, few Christian institutions signal in their course descriptions that they provide students with explicit Christian guidance through these soul-nourishing domains of human creation.
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Dr. Glanzer: Thank you for the reminder of yet another reason why Christian higher education should embrace our full calling, not yielding to the temptation to join the status quo…What should make us unique is that we are indeed unique in our rich menu of course offerings on Christianity (the most impacting movement in the history of mankind).
I agree that college students (and anyone, for that matter) would benefit from an increased interest and appreciation of Fine Arts. I also agree that Christian institutions leading the way in this endeavor would be ideal. I could imagine that many of the institutions that are not explicitly Christian in their language are doing what they can to stay relevant in an increasingly competitive market. Is abandoning faith integration the solution? I don’t think so, but I also recognize that Christian institutions are fallible and swayed by culture and financial pressures, much like the people who participate in them.
I also wonder if many of these institutions have evidence of the mission of faith integration in other documents associated with their courses. For example, while my institution does not have explicitly Christian language in the course description, we do require all students to take one of three Fine Arts courses (Art, Music, or Theatre) as part of the “Discovering Creation” outcome category of our General Education curriculum. This outcome’s goal is as follows: “Students learn and interpret information from creation, both as one who is created and one capable of creatively engaging their world.” This statement is in the syllabus of each class within the Discovering Creation (which also includes required courses in general science and the behavioral sciences). Additionally, all General Education course instructors/leads need to show how they practice faith integration in their courses during the regular evaluation cycle of the General Education curriculum.
I would love to hear more about your methodology of finding and evaluating these institutions and their documents in order to better understand the conclusions drawn about the utter dearth of Christ-centered Fine Arts education.
Side note: I think the word you’re looking for is “taut” not “taught” when describing Jesus’ hands. I tried to find a way to email this, but couldn’t find one on the website.
Great thoughts Natalie. I think you’re right that other documents might show evidence (e.g., syllabi). Perhaps in the future I will be able to undertake a study of general ed course syllabi to get a more in-depth picture. The method for this study simply involved looking at the course descriptions for all the general education requirements in every Christian college (unless the requirement was just a category with three or more options). We then coded for theological language. Also, you’re right. “Taut” is the word I wanted.
“Interestingly, our findings reveal that conservative institutions appear to care the most about Christ-animated approaches to the fine arts.” OR, conservative institutions are more concerned with “virtue signaling” their Christian commitments in documents like the course catalog. I’ve chimed in to critique this method of using the course catalog description to adjudicate the integration of faith and learning, so I’ll keep it short. Wheaton College uses the integration of faith and learning as a promotable strength. We require EVERY course to include the integration of faith. Courses like our (required) Visual and Performing Arts courses all include considerable Christian integration. We do not, necessarily, put all this into the course descriptions. First, many of our students will go on to secular graduate schools, and this parochial Christian language could be confusing or biasing. Second, they may need to use the course description in gaining credit at another institution. Again, the Christian-ese doesn’t help. But most of all, our students know they will encounter this in all their classes. We don’t have to put it in the catalog. It’s well understood by all.
When I joined the faculty of the Templeton Honors College at Eastern University in 2012, I asked the then-dean why the curriculum lacked any courses in and references to arts–music, literature, art, poetry. Over the next eight years, THC’s curriculum was revised so that it now includes a two-term course in music, and a one-term course in aesthetics (“Beauty and the Arts”), both of which are required of all students (and amount to one-eighth of the THC curriculum), and both of which are explicitly Christian, although this is not mentioned in the course descriptions.
I deeply appreciate the questions that you are asking, and wish that more Christian institutions would address them. Course descriptions, however, are not written in order to answer your question(s)–course syllabi, including their reading lists, pedagogy, assignments, and even their “tone” would lead to conclusions that are more valid.
Sincerely,
fred putnam
Professor, Bible & Liberal Studies (retired)