Art, Faith, and Justice

Note from Jeanne: I met Jonathan Assink last week in Seattle, when I had the delightful privilege of attending an organizational meeting Curtis and Grace hosted for local artists interested in working with Arts Aftercare. Jonathan is currently pursuing a masters degree in International Care and Community Development at Northwest University in Kirkland, and Arts Aftercare recently recruited him to research overseas shelters that use art therapy for victims of human trafficking. After chatting with Jonathan about his research and passion, I asked him to guest post for The Master's Artist.

Artistic mediums and styles are as varied as the people who identify themselves as artists. My goal here is to add to the existing discussion about the role of artists in the Church and greater society, rather than attempt a definitive statement on what is art and what is not. As Christians we are called to be creative beings; as artists our faith should inform our creations; the concept of justice is a central part of our faith; our art then should reflect the Biblical concept of justice.

In the beginning God created. Importantly, he didn’t do it all at once. God took his time, paused after each stage of creation and saw that his creation was good. We see God as a creative being delighting in his creation. Among everything he made, God uniquely created humanity in his image. Being created in the “Imago Dei” we have our own inherent desires to create. But just as God was intentional in creating humanity for relationship, our creative intentions should reflect God’s. True art is communal and narrative. It is created in community for a purpose.

The central narrative of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is the relationship between God and His creation. In the Garden, God and humanity lived in perfect communion with each other. However, in the Fall the relationship was severed. God desires a relationship with his creation and is moving through time to the eventual restoration of that relationship in the completion of His Kingdom. The nature of the Kingdom of God is the restoration of relationships; between people and God and between people and each other.

Jesus stands as the ultimate proof of God’s love for creation and desire for relationship. Jesus’ ministry was at its heart about reconciliation, restoration and relationship. The Kingdom-oriented life Jesus modeled redefined justice not as retribution as it had been under the old covenant, but now as restoration under the new covenant. Justice in the Kingdom of God is people living in right relationship with each other and with God. It is in the light of this Kingdom-oriented life we as artists are called to create art for our community calling people into the narrative of relationship, restoration and justice.

Most artists I know rightfully harbor suspicion of anyone who tries to tell them what or how they should create. A long history of manipulation and sanitation of the arts in Church has sadly hurt many artists. Just as artists create for the community, the community needs to support them. My intention in laying out this argument is not to say artists should or shouldn’t work with any particular medium or subject matter. Artists will create art for all seasons of life—creating sometimes out of a spirit of joy and celebrating the goodness of God but other times creating out of the pain and suffering of the human condition. My hope rather is to provide artists with a framework for and understanding of how their art can help build the Kingdom of God.

No matter what its form, true art draws people into a conversation about something deeper. True art challenges individuals and communities to rethink their understanding of the world as they know it and to instead consider the world from a new perspective. In creating art that is accessible, in creating art that is meaningful, in creating art that is genuine artists help their community ask the right questions, leading us from a worldview centered on conflict and materialism to a Kingdom orientation of justice and reconciliation. This is our calling as artists: To create works, inspired by faith, calling people to right relationship with each other and God.

Jonathan Assink is a photographer, writer, and graduate student in Seattle, WA. You can find him on Twitter at @jonassink and his blog at http://resonantimages.net.

Comments

[Miz Melly]

Cool! Amen and amen!

[Jeanne Damoff]

Thanks, Jonathan. I love the thoughts you've expressed here. Blessings on all your efforts to advance "a Kingdom orientation of justice and reconciliation."