The Artist Prophet

Isaiah traversed naked and barefoot for three years. Ezekiel lay on one side for 390 days. Jeremiah smashed a perfectly good clay pot in front of Israel's elders, buried a nice linen belt (thereby ruining it), and fastened a yoke around his neck.

Perhaps some of the earliest examples of performance pieces recorded in history.

These artist-prophets performed their works to express a warning to their respective cultures. God chose for these messages artistic positions, albeit uncomfortable ones. (I prefer the shoulder cramps I get from hunching over a keyboard to living with a yoke around my neck any day.) Throughout history, artists have not only served as priests but as prophets--voices in their respective cultures decrying the evils of their societies. Our rich heritage includes artists such as Goya, Charles Dickens, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Stravinsky, and Keith Green. They have worked subversively sometimes. Other times, they've slapped their patrons in the face.

Notice I didn't entitle this post "The Artist Profit." Being a prophet is tough business and can often be at odds with making a profit. Society generally frowns upon it. The comfortable don't enjoy being informed that their comforts were built on the broken backs of the disadvantaged. Because of this, performing the function of a prophet requires a special calling, or a spiritual gift, if you will.

While all Christians are called to be priests, not all are called to be prophets. Paul said, "It was [Christ] who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:11-12). Prophecy means "to speak before." A prophet speaks for God to her society. While we tend to connect ideas of foretelling with this, more often, prophecy is simply forthtelling. It concerns the present more than the future. Usually, the messages don't require secret decoder rings. They're simple doctrine reminding us to act justly and walk humbly before our God.

Not every prophet is an artist, and not every artist is a prophet. Or perhaps not every work that an artist creates or performs is prophetic. Prophets see the truth, the spiritual reality, of life around them, and they stand boldly to proclaim this reality. In the case of the artist-prophet, he reveals the reality he sees through his art.

The future for the artist-prophet looks ominous. Tradition tells us that Isaiah was sawed in half. Keith Green boarded a plane that crashed. Stravinsky and Prokofiev were exiled from their homes. But be of cheer: some, like Dickens and Goya, enjoyed great popularity. Of course, Goya went insane. Another option for the artist-prophet. But that's another story.

Heather A. Goodman is on her way to insanity. But she knows she's in good company.

Comments

[Miz Melly]

Heather - LOVE this. Yes, the OT prophets were the first performance artists - I've always thought that.Thank you for this - great to be reminded!

[Jeanne Damoff]

Isaiah is also one of my favorite poets. Chapter 55. Dang.

I'm not insane, but several of my other personalities may be. I'll send them over to your house to play.

Love,
Jeanne

[Nicole]

Good word, H.