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Theology
Why we write what we write
An examination of Christianity and the arts
Why we write
Inner compulsion
W Somerset Maugham said, “We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.”
There are words deep inside that nag and claw and fight to get out. They become too big to contain and they must become something outside, something separate.
We are like God
If we believe God created us, then perhaps it is that belief that gives us the desire also to create. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. John 1 v1.
We want to be like our father. Painters, composers, architects, designers as well as poets and writers have all tried to use his or her own gifts to declare God’s creativity in a physical form.
To communicate
“Christian fiction can bring the Gospel to people who have no interest in reading the bible or who are so hostile toward God that the mere mention of the bible send them into tirade or flight.” Francine Rivers
We follow the precedent set by Jesus, the great storyteller, who used allegory to show a glimpse of something that defied description - the kingdom. He used scenes, characters and situations that were familiar to those who heard him. Some, like the lost sheep and the wayward son, had a bottle of Bollinger ending; others such as the greedy farmer who dies at the point of achieving his desire are call for a box or two of Kleenex. For storywriters, there is no greater argument in favour of the case for fiction.
What we write
Explicitly Christian?
“In the bible, when art is seen to be good, it is nearly always involved in religious activity. In our age, art is deemed ‘good’ when it sells for a lot of money, or wins the approval of a few critics.” Mc Ivor/Brand
Much art, up to the 19th Century could be classed as “religious”, Mystery plays, Michael Angelo, Pilgrim’s Progress, Handel’s, church music, cathedral architecture.
As culture has changed and we no longer have a common faith, art has tended to be secular. McIvor/Brand warn, “In the modern world, we are in danger of simply creating a ghetto mentality. If Christian artists spend all their time working in the Church, they resign themselves to communicating with one small section of society.”
Steve Turner, in his book “Imagine”, writes “Evangelical Christians traditionally had taken redemption as their starting point to anything.” He goes on to say, “This perspective confirmed what I had instinctively felt for some time – that a lot of art created by Christians was bad and a lot of art created my non-Christians was good. It was possible for a well-loved hymn to be bad art and a painting by an utter reprobate to be good art.”
Implicitly Christian
Christian writers need to use our work as more than a kind of “back door evangelism”. As artists, bad art should not be propped up by its “worthiness”.
How we write
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men… (Col 3v 23)
We should aim to do the best we can with what we have. God does not drop stories, ready for publication, into our lap (or not very often). We need to learn our craft. Read, talk, go to classes, above all, write.
Oscar Wilde put it best when he said, "All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling."
In her book “How to Write for the Religious Markets”, Brenda Courtie laments, “In religious writing, more than in any other writing sphere, there is a tendency to think that there is no need to learn the rules and apply the skills of commercial published writing.”
Daunted by this, how can we ever be good enough? We can’t! We have a choice; to give up or to keep striving to do the best work we can. Going back to Maugham “…we write because we have to”.
So What…?
We have an obligation to produce the highest quality of work we are able but that is where our obligation ends. We cannot compress God, force him into the tiny area of our meagre words. We should not try. He is too big. The only way we can write him is by telling the story and giving him the room to speak by allowing him to occupy the spaces between the words.
"it's the tension between pain and hope, between ugliness and beauty, despair and love - or loneliness and love. It’s that tension of existence. God is the creator and we have this massive opportunity to express all of it, and we don’t." Charlie Mackesey (artist)
References
Art for God's sake by Claire Shelley
Divine Inspiration Nick McIvor & Hilary Brand
Courtie, Brenda - How to Write for the Religious Market. Allison and Busby 1993
Turner, Steve – Imagine, A Vision for Christians and the Arts, IVP 2001
Foreward to “Sit Back and Relax” Francine Rivers
by Penny
To read an article about Christians that write, that Annie wrote for 'thewalk' (a Christian youth magazine), click here.