tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004197800618234561.post2737266374519029589..comments2023-04-02T03:07:27.930-07:00Comments on Reformed Academic: “The Arts and the Reformed Tradition” by William Edgar (Ch. 3)Reformed Academichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14744307133232033891noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004197800618234561.post-54490707676541869812011-02-21T08:09:48.683-08:002011-02-21T08:09:48.683-08:00Thanks, Harold, for reviewing William Edgar’s fine...Thanks, Harold, for reviewing William Edgar’s fine essay on the place of the arts in the Reformed tradition. I first became acquainted with Dr. Edgar’s work when I read his 15-page foreword to Cornelius van Til’s <i>Christian Apologetics</i>, 2nd ed. (P&R, 1976, 2003), which he edited. While I have been much instructed by Van Til, I have always found his writing on apologetics rather forbidding – mainly because of his heavy emphasis on dogmatics and philosophy (especially Greek and Idealist philosophy) and his lengthy polemics with Roman Catholicism and Arminianism. What I appreciated in Edgar’s foreword was that, although a VanTillian himself, he did not hesitate to mention these and other weaknesses and to urge Van Til’s followers to work <i>critically</i> with his heritage. (<a href="http://covenantteacherscollege.com/iap/file2.pdf" rel="nofollow">Here</a> is my review of the book; it is accessible on this blog under Helpful Links – International Apologetics Project: Annotated Bibliography, p. 28.) I was grateful for Edgar’s willingness to deal appreciatively but also critically with the heritage Van Til left us, and I note the same thoughtful, balanced approach in the essay which you reviewed.<br /><br />In spite of space restrictions, you managed to give an excellent summary of the essay. Thanks also for showing us that the type of Protestant creativity which, as Edgar shows, we encounter in Calvin’s followers is found not only in the Netherlands but also elsewhere, and most strikingly so in the work of the Japanese-American Makoto Fujimura. It was good to be reintroduced to this world-renowned Christian artist and to be given an illustration of his work. (Perhaps some day you can, by way of sequel to the present review, tell us a bit more about Fujimura’s work in the context of the Reformed tradition.)<br /><br />Back to Dr. Edgar. Rereading the essay, I noticed interesting similarities with a number of points raised in our discussion of Darryl G. Hart’s essay (reviewed on this blog by George Alkema). I am referring specifically to the question Edgar raises whether Christian artists should aim at portraying their subject matter in what may be called a “positivist” manner (much as in photographs), or attempt to give a theological interpretation, but without sacrificing exactitude. Edgar points out that Rembrandt was able to do the latter: he portrayed reality and at the same time rendered meaning by the way he used light and by compositional and psychological means (pp. 62f.). Edgar concludes,<br /><br /><i>…The subject matter will need to reflect the worldview that our Dutch forebears taught us. It is easy to say the words creation, fall, redemption, but if these are to be more than a mantra we will have to apply them diligently in our work…. The aesthetic world desperately needs artists who can reject both sentimentality and nihilism, and show a third way, one that articulates our misery but also our hope in the Lord (p. 68).</i><br /><br />I believe that this goes not only for Christian art but also for Christian historiography, and for all Christian cultural endeavours. It is indeed not a matter of <i>whether</i> it should be done, but of <i>how</i> it is to be done.<br /><br />F.G. Oosterhoff<br />Hamilton, ONFrederika Oosterhoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06340388418031783192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004197800618234561.post-65277299610221134292011-02-17T09:31:28.414-08:002011-02-17T09:31:28.414-08:00Thanks Harold
I am currently writing an essay (ma...Thanks Harold<br /><br />I am currently writing an essay (may turn into a book, it keeps growing on me!) on Emily Dickinson. One of the chapter is seeing her as a daughter of Calvinism. She struggled and wrestled (may be "bristled" is a better word) against the Calvinist tradition and faith, and yet, at the end of it all, her words are "inherited" from her Calvinist family and Amherst. While I adhere to the TULIP (Emily did not) I am enthralled by the gospel reality of going to the margins, and understanding our liminal spaces in culture as a key element in experiencing God's grace.<br /><br />By the way Dr. Edgar is a good friend and mentor; I took a seminary class with him, and very much appreciate his theological grid. <br /><br />Makoto Fujimura<br />Manhattan, NYMakoto Fujimurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01365776807310585452noreply@blogger.com