Going to an art museum can remind us,
Art has its origins outside of us.
Follow our examples in this week’s Truth in Two (2 min vid plus text + link below).
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Pictures: Josh Collingwood, Snappy Goat
FULL TEXT
When I taught at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, I created and taught a course titled, “Faith and Learning.” The course swung on the hinges of a biblical worldview, that all of life is sacred, and we Christian’s bear responsibility to think God’s thoughts after Him, in every subject of study. One of the active-learning experiences I built into the curriculum was something I called “art exegesis.” The point of the project was to interpret art based on the artist’s intention from a Christian worldview. At Moody we were within blocks of one of the greatest art museums in the world, the Chicago Museum of Art. Students chose, then studied, their selected piece of visual art. We spent a whole evening at the museum going from artwork to artwork, each student presenting their interpretation of the piece while standing next to it. The experience was so captivating to others that people began to follow us, listening while students presented.
I was reminded of my Moody days when I recently spent 90 minutes chatting with my publisher friend, Keith Ogorek. He and his co-author Mac Powell have just written a book helping people to capture their own “ah ha” moments in an art museum. Folks like Keith and I believe that we respond to a piece of art, but we can then interpret the artwork based on what it meant to the spiritual life of the artist who created it. You can find a link to Keith’s book in this Truth in Two.
In recent church teaching I used this slide over and over to point out that everything is sacred. Everything that is – while corrupted by human sin – has its origin in God. As Christians we can revel in every scientific discovery and each exploration of the humanities. And sometimes we can go to an art museum to do just that. For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, personally seeing Truth wherever it’s found.
The Soul Shine Through: The Surprising Spiritual Influences on Famous Artists https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Shine-Through-Surprising-Influences/dp/1665729252/