The task of the Christian Artist is to portray human life, not to illustrate a list of doctrines."
~Leland Ryken~
The Liberated Imagination: Thinking Christianly about the Arts (212)
I've spent a lot of time assessing the effectiveness of Human Videos. What strikes me immediately is how little most of them have to do with the human struggle at large. They have more to do with a physical representation of a number of loosely connected Biblical stories than with the everyday life of a human being. Notice I did not say a "Christian," but “Human Being.” Our goal as Christians is not to speak merely to those within the Church’s walls, but to bring the “good news” to all.
So what's wrong with dramatizing the bible literally? Nothing. It is a fine pursuit. There are those who should be engaged in it, but, as Ryken points out elsewhere in his book, " Art that deals with specifically religious subjects--Stories form the Bible, God, worship, Christian doctrines, prayer, the church calendar-- is only one kind of Christian art... The Christian faith has something to say about all of life, and Christian artists must subject all of life to the light of their faith," (210-emphasis mine).
The problem with trying to cram the entire Bible into one song for a Human Video is two-fold: firstly, it is most often confusingly and poorly done, and secondly, it confines the "Christian perspective" in the arts to a narrowly defined quarter; it limits creativity.
When I say that these dramas are “poorly done,” I mean that their ideas are not properly actualized. They might be fine if they were used as a kind of illustrated sermon, but that is not the same as "drama." Usually they begin with a very creative idea. Somewhere in the process, however, this very creative idea it gets lost, either in struggle to shove too much information in, or it gets lost in "Christianese."
When a group of people come together to discuss a set of beliefs or to share common experiences, they very quickly develop a vernacular or jargon. You can see examples of this everywhere at large gatherings of people: doctors, trekkies, 'scapers, browncoats, retailers; each group has their own particular vocabulary. Some are even adept at moving between two or more of these "worlds" freely.
In the Christian experience this jargon manifests itself not only in vocabulary but it also in stories and "verses" (or portions of scripture) that people are "supposed" to know. Some assume that everyone will know that when an audience sees someone kissing "Jesus," it means that that person is Judas, and that Judas is betraying Jesus.
While in Bible College a close friend helped me realize how imprudent these assumptions can be. He told me how out of place he felt when people would say during chapel," you know the story, I don't have to tell you." He hadn’t grown up in “the Church”, in fact, he had only become a Christian a few days before coming to Bible College. He didn't know the stories and felt quite alienated when he was expected to already have committed them to memory. His hurt feelings serve as a warning to me never to assume knowledge of any subject, especially Biblical ones.
Some people are aware of the alienating effects of “jargon” (or even these symbols used in Christian Theatre and Art) and have tried to combat they symptom rather than the disease. They add in scripture verses as voice over, to explain what they mean. Quoting other sources is not usually a convention of powerful drama. Rather than quote things directly, theatre convention would encourage us to make "allusions" to other works.
Quoting other works then, leads to a heavy-handed type of narrative. The “Christian artist” leaves nothing up to the imagination of the audience. For fear that they will be misinterpreted and misunderstood, they steal from the audience the ability to put the pieces together on their own. This is one of the great taboos in modern dramatic theory and criticism. Examples of the pervasive use of this kind of clumsy oafish commentary can be found in Christian fiction, songs, and plays. The Author, rather than letting the audience come to a conclusion on their own or “worry” about the outcome, they spell it out for them from the start.
What seems to be a superior way of dealing with this difficult problem is to begin breaking down the "Christianese" in order to study it. What does it really mean? How is it a universal concept? What part of life could be used as an illustration of this concept? By attacking the “disease” rather than the “symptoms,” you avoid creating a whole other set of symptoms and instead deal with the very heart of the problem.
The second area in which this “bibliocentric” (Bible focused) way of dealing with subject matter becomes problematic is when it limits the ability of Christians to comment on the broad spectrum of life. Ryken puts it this way, “ [doing] That would be tantamount to turning over to non-Christian artists the other great areas of human experience,” (210). This is also un-natural to the artist. Ask any artist and they will tell you that they want to crate art that comes from inside of them. A Christian’s life cannot be encapsulated merely in a Bible story. Corollaries will exist to be sure, parallels, parts that will be applicable; but there is more involved in the world now that was involved in the lives of people in the pre-Christian era, or even in the first Century. Things exist now that did not then.
The goal then, should be not merely repeating stories and scripture (which is a noble job to be sure, but really falls under the “job description” of preachers and teachers) but to assume the role of artists and envision the world “through the lens” of Biblical interpretation. That is, we are to imagine how the scripture applies to real life. We are to creatively generate art that brings an abstract concept (or list of doctrines) into the “real” world. I am speaking specifically about The Christian dramatist, but I think the goal is applicable to all Christian arts.
What does it mean to do as Jesus said and, “take up your cross daily,”? Rather than act out the carrying of heavy wooden beams, we are to illustrate what this figurative language means. Jesus gave us a perfect example in the way that he related to those around Him. Rather than give them a listing of the Ten Commandments over and over again, he told parables that illustrated a difficult concept. How do we love God? How do we honor Him? How do we “keep the Sabbath?” How do we honor our father and mother properly? Each one of the commandments from which these duties come is illustrated perfectly in the parables, which Jesus told.
This is, I think, one of the best things about God. He does not leave us to flounder around; He has given us all the tools we need. He not only gave us rules to follow in the Ten Commandments, but an example in Jesus. He not only gave us philosophies, but the ability to make them understandable. He has given us artists, with great minds capable of creating and an example (again Jesus) in artistically making those difficult concepts “come to life.”
I have heard that to Christian Doctors God is “The Great Healer,” to Christian lawyers “The Great Law Giver,” and to each vocation he is something different. To me, I can see how he is all of those things, but He is especially “The Great Artist, the great “Story-teller.” We, as Christian Artists must remember that we are who we are. The best imaginative picture the bible gives us for this concept is that of the “Body of Christ.”
To illustrate the differences of people within the church (and their necessity, their validation for being different) Paul likened the Church to a Body:
“For the body is not made up of one part, but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it does not for that reason cease to be part of the body.” And if the ear should say, “because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.”
As Christian Dramatists, then, we ought not try to be preachers, or do the job of preachers. Voice-overs, narrative, narrow subject matter are not natural to the artist. As artists, we ought to do the job to which God has assigned us; the job which we love, the job which we were made for. If, after studying the conventions of drama and theatre, you do not love them, then it is possible that you are an ear trying to be an eye.
If you are not a dramatist, don’t be sad! Keep looking for your place in the body. Perhaps you are a preacher or a teacher. Whatever you are, when you find it you will enjoy being in that place!
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