A Brief History Of The Visual Arts In Worship

The history of the visual arts in worship can be traced from biblical times to the present. The twentieth century has witnessed a virtual explosion of the visual arts in worship. Understanding the use of visual arts in the past helps us understand their proper use today.

Worship is a way of experiencing the truth about life and gives insight into the meaning of life. It is concerned with a religious interpretation of the world—with creation, fall, redemption, and the fulfillment of the universe. In worship these truths are not only said, they are sung, danced, dramatized, and seen through art. Therefore, visual art in worship functions as means of proclamation of the gospel. Visual Art and Worship During Biblical Times Although the second commandment prohibited the people of Israel from making a graven image of God, there was no lack of artistic symbolism in the worship of Israel. For Israel, God was a spirit who could not be imaged. Nevertheless, the prohibition against imaging God in no way detracted from the creation of artistic symbols that communicated the presence of God in worship. These symbols, particularly those commanded by God to adorn the tabernacle, are described in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The instruction regarding the ark of the covenant is representative of the symbols of Hebrew worship:

They shall make an ark of acacia wood; two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, within and without shall you overlay it, and you shall make upon it a molding of gold round about. And you shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. You shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark by them.

The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. And you shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you. Then you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end; of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark; and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are upon the ark of testimony, I will speak with you of all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel. (Exod. 25:10–22)

These symbols belonged to the worship of Israel and were the context for a meeting between God and God's people—"there I will meet with you" (v. 22). These symbols were not to exist outside of worship as art objects, but inside worship as the symbols of God's presence. Consequently, they became the essential link that expressed the meeting of Israel with God.

In subsequent years, the people of Israel developed a variety of symbols to communicate God's presence in worship—the table for the offering of bread, the seven-branch lamp stand, the tabernacle made of cloth, the veil across the Holy of Holies, and various priestly vestments. A substantial change occurred in the Christian era. First, the church recognized Jesus as the image of God (Col. 1:15). The God who could not be imaged—who was literally unimaginable—became human, a real, living icon of God who visited the earth and lived among the people. The glory of God had become incarnate, born of a woman, had lived, died, risen from the grave, and ascended into heaven, and was now seated at the right hand of God (Eph. 1:19–23). Second, the primitive church, recognizing God's presence in Jesus, retained the symbols he had ordained as their links with God through him. The symbols of his teaching, such as the parables and sayings, were collected and incorporated into the writings of the early church, which were read and taught in worship. Jesus had also used common elements of life as objects of his actions and signs of the gospel; these too—bread, wine, oil and the water of baptism—were retained as signs of his continued presence. Unlike the Jews, then, Christians believed God had been imaged in the face of a human person. And, like the Jews, Christians continued the practice of expressing the presence of God through symbolism in worship. A powerful example is found in Hebrews, where Christ is portrayed as the fulfillment of all the Old Testament symbols—the covenant, the sanctuary, the sacrifice, the curtain of the temple, and the sacrificial victim on the altar. Visual Art and Worship in the History of the Church Although much of the art from the first three centuries of the church has been destroyed, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that early Christians were active in symbol making. The fish, the loaves of bread, and the Chi-rho monogram appeared frequently in worship places throughout the empire. The most important evidence of symbol making is found in the Christian house church at Dura Europa, which is believed to be typical of the kind of worship structures existing throughout the Roman empire in the first three centuries of the church. Here is a description of the wall paintings found in that house:

Next to Adam and Eve hiding their nakedness we see Christ carrying the lost sheep on his shoulders. Further on, the holy women are making their way to the tomb carrying torches.… Then some miracles are depicted: the paralytic, healed by Christ, carrying away his bed; and Jesus walking on the water in the storm, stretching out his hand to St. Peter. We also find the woman of Samaria at the well, and David, who has just slain Goliath.

After the conversion of Constantine, a new flurry of artistic activity arose within the church. Eusebius was so impressed with the architectural changes that he wrote, "the cathedral is a marvel of beauty, utterly breathtaking." He went on to say, "the evidence of our eyes makes instruction through the ears unnecessary." This was the beginning of the idea that arts in the church could be a form of communicating the gospel and the history of salvation to the people, even those who were illiterate.

This "insight of the eyesight" of which Eusebius speaks stands in continuity with past developments of art in worship, but the content of the art changed dramatically. Whereas the art of the catacombs and early churches saw Christ as the good shepherd, the emphasis in depictions of Christ shifted to express the new relationship of the church to the state, a relationship of power not service, of strength not weakness. Christ was now the Pantokrator, the ruler who reigns over heaven and earth. Enthroned in the apse of the newly consecrated basilicas, the ascended and exalted Lord brings order to heaven and earth. Both types of imagery had biblical bases and warrants, but the older imagery was overshadowed by the new because of the new political reality. The embracing of artistic imagery by the church was challenged significantly during the iconoclastic controversy of the eighth century. Led by emperors of the eastern empire, a party in the church opposed—sometimes violently—the veneration of icons of Christ, the Trinity, the Virgin Mary, and the saints as idolatry. The opinions of bishops, popes, theologians (especially John of Damascus), monastics, and the people, however, weighed heavily against the iconoclasts, and at the last of the ecumenical councils (Nicaea, 787) veneration of icons was restored and defended. The theological argument behind the decision was that iconoclasm amounted to a denial of the Incarnation, and that veneration of icons was not worship of them as God. Thus the centrality of Christ to both the heavens and the earth is aptly depicted in the art, architecture, and worship of the post-Constantinian church, the development of which extended through the medieval era. In the worship of post-Constantinian Christianity, Christ is seated on the throne in the heavens and, as in the depiction of Revelation 4 and 5, the heavenly throng is gathered around him in worship and praise. When we earthlings gather to worship, we join the heavenly throng. This theme was and remains the keynote of Eastern Orthodox liturgies, which has always seen worship as a participation in and anticipation of the heavenly banquet, the supper of the Lamb. In the West this imagery was somewhat countered by preoccupation with penitential themes. But eucharistic liturgies in both east and west began with the command to "lift up your hearts"—to the eternal sacrifice of the Lamb in heaven, which is also his wedding feast. Consequently, the art and architecture of worship from Constantine through the medieval period, took on the symbolism of heavenly worship. This included:

1. Architectural symbolism (the church is often laid out in the form of a cross; high domes and arches raise the perception upwards and evoke a sense of awe)

2. Mosaics (depictions of biblical scenes or of the saints assembled around the triumphant Lord) 3. Icons (images of the heavenly reality, especially in the East; Jesus, Mary, saints, prophets, apostles; scenes of the annunciation, death, Resurrection, Ascension, exaltation, judgment) 4. Minor arts, such as: "¢ glass, gold, silver, and ivory carvings "¢ stained glass windows "¢ wood and stone carvings "¢ elaborate altars and pulpits "¢ flaming candles "¢ ornate tapestry "¢ artistic objects such as chalice, patens "¢ artistically decorated books, often the texts of the gospel "¢ elaborate vestments based on imperial models

Whatever the particular theological theme of the art work—art of the church in this period was never arbitrary, but always had a recognizable theological point—these objects were seen as expressions of the gospel and the history of salvation in concrete form. Many of the people in the Middle Ages were illiterate, and the services were in ancient languages that the people no longer spoke or understood. Consequently the works of art in the church became a major means of instruction in biblical history and theology for the people. Medieval apologists called the stained glass windows, sculptures, and paintings of a church the biblia pauperum, the "bible of the poor." The development of art and architecture in worship was suddenly changed with the emergence of Protestantism in the sixteenth century. While Anglicanism and Lutheranism retained a sense of the importance of symbolism in worship, Calvinists, Zwinglians, and Anabaptists, and their modern successors, pietists, revivalists, evangelicals, fundamentalists, and charismatics largely neglected art in worship and continued to do so until recently. In the sixteenth century some Reformers went so far as to smash altars and sculptures, to remove carvings, candles, and artistically designed books, to throw away vestments, and to whitewash mosaics, frescoes, and other wall paintings. As worship lost the "insight of eyesight," it gradually became either more intellectual (as in worship where the sermon predominated) or more emotional (as in worship where feeling predominated). Visual Art in Worship Today Today there is an equal concern among Catholics and Protestants to recover the arts in worship, although they are coming from different cultural contexts. Since the medieval era, Catholics have tended toward use of ornate secondary arts, a use which has nearly obscured the primary symbols of pulpit, Table, font, and the assembled body. On the other hand, most Protestants, by their neglect of both primary and secondary symbols, have created a style of worship that is bare of visual imagery, resulting in intellectualized worship. Today both Catholic and Protestant Christians seek a worship environment that emphasizes the centrality of primary visual symbols and allows secondary symbols to act as servants of the primary symbols. This mutual concern to recover the rightful place of the primary and secondary symbols in worship grows out of the recovery of the meaning of symbol in worship. All Christians—Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant—are gradually recognizing the revelatory nature of symbols. They see that the purpose of art in the church is to serve as signs that relate faith to the history of salvation and evoke true insight, just feeling, and genuine worship. As such, they disclose the hidden meaning of reality and create the possibility for encounter with that meaning. They act as signs, symbols, and images that develop a sense of community, a sense which has always belonged to the whole church around the world throughout history. There are also common rules for the use of art and symbolism in worship. The first is that major attention must be given to the primary symbols of the worshiping environment—the arrangement of the worshiping assembly and the placement of biblical symbols such as the Table, the pulpit, and baptismal font or pool. The second rule is that secondary symbols should flow from the congregation rather than be imposed upon it. Symbols such as banners, vestments, furnishings, windows, and the like should reflect the common experience of a particular local congregation. Finally, visual symbols must be within sight of everyone in the congregation in order to be effective. If "eyesight is insight," all art which either directly refers to God's acts of salvation or which assists in the communication of these truths must be seen.