ART AND FAITH AND INTEGRITY
ART, C.S.LEWIS AND SOME REFLECTIONS
Thirty years ago I loved reading the Narnia stories to our daughters and I gained some profound insights about life as a result. I recently saw the current Disney film and was once again deeply moved by the account of Aslan’s death and resurrection.
Why then am I so disturbed by the way in which some Christians overseas are using the film as a tool for evangelism, preparing study material to explicitly link this superb fantasy with the Christian faith?
I suspect it’s something to do with the authentic role of the artist in the culture. I have a brother-in-law and a wife who are both artists and Christians. While their work is an expression of who they are, they would both be uncomfortable to be asked what a painting means, for they would want to emphasise the role of viewers in finding their own meaning from the painting.
So it is with literature. The great value of Lewis’ Narnia stories will be experienced as people read the book or view the film, but as soon as others with a vested interest begin to intrude and to direct the reader or viewer to a particular meaning there is a great danger that the power and beauty of the work will be lost.
I am uncomfortable that some Christians are trying to capitalise on Lewis’ work rather than standing back a little and allowing the story to speak for itself in a variety of ways. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is not a substitute for Lewis’ renowned book Mere Christianity and I fear that the attempt to make it so does an injustice both to Lewis and to the Christian faith.
We have already seen newspaper articles pointing out, with some validity, that Lewis’ stories can be seen as sexist, monarchist and racist. This sort of criticism, although it ignores the cultural context, is what happens when we begin to conscript art for some ulterior, even if noble, purpose.
Lewis was one of the finest Christian apologists of the twentieth century and his writings continue to engage people. By all means let us promote his work but let us beware lest we exalt his writings to the status of Holy Writ and somehow therefore rob them of their power to charm and inspire today’s readers.
Mac Nicoll
A postscript or two
A friend who is both an artist and a Christian sent me this quotation from Susan Sontag’s book AGAINST INTERPRETATION [Vintage, 1994]
“Real art has the capacity to make us nervous. By reducing the work of art to its content and then interpreting that, one tames the work of art. Interpretation makes art manageable, comfortable.”
Sontag’s comment reminds me of a memorable statement in Thomas Howard’s autobiographical CHRIST THE TIGER. [Shaw, 1967]
“In the figure of Jesus the Christ there is something that escapes us. He has been the subject of the greatest efforts at systematization in the history of man. But anyone who has ever tried this has had, in the end, to admit that the seams keep bursting. He sooner or later discovers that he is in touch, not with a pale Galilean, but with a towering and furious figure who will not be managed.”
Mac
19/02/2006
Thirty years ago I loved reading the Narnia stories to our daughters and I gained some profound insights about life as a result. I recently saw the current Disney film and was once again deeply moved by the account of Aslan’s death and resurrection.
Why then am I so disturbed by the way in which some Christians overseas are using the film as a tool for evangelism, preparing study material to explicitly link this superb fantasy with the Christian faith?
I suspect it’s something to do with the authentic role of the artist in the culture. I have a brother-in-law and a wife who are both artists and Christians. While their work is an expression of who they are, they would both be uncomfortable to be asked what a painting means, for they would want to emphasise the role of viewers in finding their own meaning from the painting.
So it is with literature. The great value of Lewis’ Narnia stories will be experienced as people read the book or view the film, but as soon as others with a vested interest begin to intrude and to direct the reader or viewer to a particular meaning there is a great danger that the power and beauty of the work will be lost.
I am uncomfortable that some Christians are trying to capitalise on Lewis’ work rather than standing back a little and allowing the story to speak for itself in a variety of ways. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is not a substitute for Lewis’ renowned book Mere Christianity and I fear that the attempt to make it so does an injustice both to Lewis and to the Christian faith.
We have already seen newspaper articles pointing out, with some validity, that Lewis’ stories can be seen as sexist, monarchist and racist. This sort of criticism, although it ignores the cultural context, is what happens when we begin to conscript art for some ulterior, even if noble, purpose.
Lewis was one of the finest Christian apologists of the twentieth century and his writings continue to engage people. By all means let us promote his work but let us beware lest we exalt his writings to the status of Holy Writ and somehow therefore rob them of their power to charm and inspire today’s readers.
Mac Nicoll
A postscript or two
A friend who is both an artist and a Christian sent me this quotation from Susan Sontag’s book AGAINST INTERPRETATION [Vintage, 1994]
“Real art has the capacity to make us nervous. By reducing the work of art to its content and then interpreting that, one tames the work of art. Interpretation makes art manageable, comfortable.”
Sontag’s comment reminds me of a memorable statement in Thomas Howard’s autobiographical CHRIST THE TIGER. [Shaw, 1967]
“In the figure of Jesus the Christ there is something that escapes us. He has been the subject of the greatest efforts at systematization in the history of man. But anyone who has ever tried this has had, in the end, to admit that the seams keep bursting. He sooner or later discovers that he is in touch, not with a pale Galilean, but with a towering and furious figure who will not be managed.”
Mac
19/02/2006
posted by ledingham at 11:22 AM
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