This article is part two in a series on the intersection of Christian apologetics and the arts.
The general approach to Christian apologetics has been to provide verbal and written arguments for the truth of Christianity. So, some have asked the question, “If Christian apologetics involves giving a defense for our beliefs, is art able to do this effectively?” The answer to this requires that we first explain what we mean by “effectively.” If by effectiveness we mean winning an argument or converting someone to Christianity, then we have missed the point of apologetics. Apologetics is the handmaiden of evangelism, it is an instrument by which Christians can help a non-believer to consider the truth of Christianity. Further, apologetics should never be about winning an argument for then the focus is not on caring for the other person.
Certainly, there is a place for academic debates to demonstrate the overwhelming mountain of evidence for Christianity, but this does not usually happen in our day-to-day interactions with people. Also, the real work of drawing people to Christ is accomplished through God’s Holy Spirit. Therefore, for the Christian artist, we need only be faithful in presenting truth in our work and allowing the Holy Spirit to do the rest.
Not everything a Christian artist makes has to be solely religious but to quote Francis Schaeffer, “the body of the Christian artist’s work should reflect the Christian worldview.”[1] Schaeffer also argued that the Christian worldview that is represented in our art needs to include both the law and gospel. The law and the gospel represent the total picture of the human condition, which includes both human failure and sin, and the good news of salvation in Christ. Granted, art forms that include words (theatre, cinema, lyrical music, and literary works) are able to provide a more sophisticated and logical apologetic for the Christian faith whereas it can be more challenging to accomplish this in the visual arts like in drawing, painting, ceramics, and sculpting. However, while visual artists are not able to give a traditional defense of Christianity in their work, they can, in a sense, argue for Christian truths like human depravity and evil in what they depict, such as in Last Judgment (the painting we reviewed in the first article in this series). Visual artists can effectively depict both the law and gospel in their work and it can compel non-Christians to reconsider their worldview.
Overtly religious art can also compel viewers to consider the claims of Christianity. For instance, consider Caravaggio’s painting, Doubting Thomas (below). This interaction between Christ and Thomas is a great apologetic for Christianity because we know from Scripture that Christ did not deter Thomas from questioning whether He had really risen from the dead. Thomas desired to see proof of Jesus’ resurrection and Jesus did not scold him for needing evidence. It is precisely because of the witness of Thomas, and others that saw the risen Christ, that Christians today can know that their faith is well placed. So, in this painting, Jesus is inviting Thomas to touch his side where he was pierced by the Roman spear—to obtain the evidence he needed to believe. This painting reiterates that a Christian’s faith is not based on the absence of evidence but because there is evidence.
Let us also consider Caravaggio’s The Conversion of St. Paul.
Like the previous painting, this piece also depicts a great apologetic for Christianity because of the dramatic conversion of the Apostle Paul. Let’s review the story in Acts 9:1-19 (NIV):
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands onSaul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Paul’s dramatic conversion is a great apologetic to believe that Christianity is true because no plausible explanation can be given to explain the transformation other than that he really did meet the risen Christ. The Apostle Paul goes on to be one of the greatest figures of the early Christian church and died for Christ.
Finally, let us look at another of Caravaggio’s paintings, The Crucifixion of Peter.
This painting can compel us to consider why the disciples were willing to die for Christ if His resurrection was just a lie. Their martyrdom is a great apologetic for belief in Christ because His followers went from being cowards, shut up in a house after Jesus’ crucifixion, to being bold proclaimers of His resurrection! Just like Paul’s conversion, no adequate reason has ever been offered that can explain their dramatic transformation other than that they really saw the risen Christ! They were willing to die for their belief because they knew it was true.
There are other messages Christian artists can focus on but these are some great examples of how we can give an apologetic through the visual arts and compel others to consider the Christian message. It may be challenging to give a logical defense in the visual arts but it shouldn’t deter a Christian artist from depicting the Christian worldview or Biblical history that can spur someone to consider the truth.
[1]. Francis Schaeffer, Art and the Bible: Two Essays (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 55.