1 AESTHETIC PERSPECTIVALISM AND THE NATURE OF ART: TWO PROPOSALS ATTEMPTING TO DEVELOP A THEOLOGY OF THE ARTS

This paper is one of the winners of the “Hall of Frame ” award given by Professor John Frame at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, FL. Third Millennium is proud to add this paper to our online archive and give it special mention as a work worthy of emulation. The church has been fighting over the arts since the time of Constantine. The Protestant tradition, following the path of the early Iconoclasts, has been very prone to destroy and downplay art. What is the nature of art? Can art provide any sort of knowledge? How should the arts be viewed? This paper is a proposal of concepts I believe could be beneficial to Christians in approaching the arts. I strongly believe that with the correct understanding of what art is and how to interpret art, Christians will be able to enjoy art to the glorification of God and use art to proclaim the gospel. Nature of Art The definitions of what art is, or should be, seem to be as numerous as the sand on a seashore. Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus saw art as an imitation of reality. Plotinus also believed that art should be beautiful. Joshua Reynolds held that art was an enlargement, not an imitation of nature. Ernst Cassirer proposed art was symbolic form. The definition I would like to develop belongs to Theodore M. Greene, who defined art as being an interpretation of reality expressed in a distinctive way.1 Artists attempt to understand reality in ways resembling, as Greene says, a scientist, philosopher, moralist and theologian. Artists not only try to understand reality they interpret their perceptions and express their interpretations in their work. True artists, Greene believes, never strive to copy or duplicate reality. Artistic interpretation of reality is s