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Art for God's Sake: A Call to Recover the Arts
The creation sings to us with the visual beauty of God's handiwork. But what of man-made art? Much of it is devoid of sacred beauty and is often rejected by Christians.
Christian artists struggle to find acceptance within the church.
Encourages Christian artists in the pursuit of their calling and provides artists and non-artists alike a short introduction to thinking Christianly about the arts.
Christian artists struggle to find acceptance within the church.
Encourages Christian artists in the pursuit of their calling and provides artists and non-artists alike a short introduction to thinking Christianly about the arts.
64 pages, Paperback
First published April 3, 2006
78 people are currently reading
845 people want to read
About the author
Philip Graham Ryken
112 books72 followersPhilip Graham Ryken is Senior Minister of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, where he has preached since 1995. He is Bible Teacher for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, speaking nationally on the radio program Every Last Word. Dr. Ryken was educated at Wheaton College (IL), Westminster Theological Seminary (PA) and the University of Oxford (UK), from which he received his doctorate in historical theology. He lives with his wife (Lisa) and children (Joshua, Kirsten, Jack, Kathryn, and Karoline) in Center City, Philadelphia. When he is not preaching or spending time with his family, he likes to read books, play sports, and ponder the relationship between Christian faith and American culture. He has written or edited more than twenty books, including Bible commentaries on Exodus, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Galatians.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 135 reviews
January 21, 2008
A favorite quote:
"The problem with some modern and postmodern art is that it seeks to offer truth at the expense of beauty. It tells the truth only about ugliness and alienation, leaving out the beauty of creation and redemption. A good deal of so-called Christian art tends to have the opposite problem. It tries to show beauty without admitting the truth about sin, and to that extent it is false--dishonest about the tragic implications of our depravity...Such a world may be nice to imagine, but it is not the world God sent his Son to save."
-- from Art for God's Sake: A Call to Recover the Arts by Philip Graham Ryken
"The problem with some modern and postmodern art is that it seeks to offer truth at the expense of beauty. It tells the truth only about ugliness and alienation, leaving out the beauty of creation and redemption. A good deal of so-called Christian art tends to have the opposite problem. It tries to show beauty without admitting the truth about sin, and to that extent it is false--dishonest about the tragic implications of our depravity...Such a world may be nice to imagine, but it is not the world God sent his Son to save."
-- from Art for God's Sake: A Call to Recover the Arts by Philip Graham Ryken
October 25, 2023
Principii bune, la mintea mea au ajuns, la inima mea nu s-au suit.
May 21, 2019
I care about the premise of this book. And I don't disagree with anything here, per se--but it's hard to disagree with something that says so little. The takes are all lukewarm at best, and nothing particularly fresh is presented either theologically or in terms of creative theory. In the group of people taking up critical writing in an area where they have no skin in the game--that is, people who write about creative work without actually doing any themselves--there are two kinds: Helen Vendlers, who can somehow pull it off at the annoyance of the rest of us, and then everyone else. This book goes in the second category. Sorry to B.
One more thing: I say I care about the premise, and I do. But I also disagree with part of it--that is the idea that the arts need to be, as the subtitle says, "recovered." I'm not sure why evangelical christianity is so insistent on seeing the state of the arts as somehow more polluted or devoid of christian influence than other areas. Maybe because the nature of art is such that *good* art will rarely be explicitly apologetic? Maybe because we just aren't paying attention? If you spend any time immersed in the world of creative work, it should be obvious that there is plenty of contemporary work of serious relevance to issues of faith and spirituality. Unsure that we really need these sort of manifestos in defense of being christian artists.
One more thing: I say I care about the premise, and I do. But I also disagree with part of it--that is the idea that the arts need to be, as the subtitle says, "recovered." I'm not sure why evangelical christianity is so insistent on seeing the state of the arts as somehow more polluted or devoid of christian influence than other areas. Maybe because the nature of art is such that *good* art will rarely be explicitly apologetic? Maybe because we just aren't paying attention? If you spend any time immersed in the world of creative work, it should be obvious that there is plenty of contemporary work of serious relevance to issues of faith and spirituality. Unsure that we really need these sort of manifestos in defense of being christian artists.
December 6, 2021
review: At the very least, this book will reassure Christian artists that they aren’t sinful or deluded, despite what the church may have them think.
I wouldn’t describe myself as a Christian artist. Then again, that may be because of the stigma. I opted to study writing instead of music as a child, but all the other churchgoing children were studying music. Music could be played in services, but only piano, mind you, or guitar if you were feeling brave, and “God forbid” that you played the drums. Novel writing didn’t fit anywhere in the order of service, so a fat lot of good that would do anyone.
The “Art” in the title refers to all creative pursuits, not just painting. Still, I only met one painter in my 20+ years at church. Painting was sinful and idolatrous and a waste of time. Unless, of course, you were commissioned by the church elders to paint a grossly saccharine mural of three pristine crosses (conspicuously free of bloodstains) upon on a grassy knoll bathed in sunlight. And when I say commissioned, I mean that the pastor expects you to do it for free, out of the goodness of your heart and your love for your local church. My mother was a painter. She painted nihonga (a style of Japanese painting). So does Makoto Fujimura, who uses the style to portray Biblical symbolism, and whose art is on the cover of this book.
I shouldn’t be this shocked that there are artists like Fujimura out there, but I’ve seen the “kitsch” and the cringe of the evangelical industrial complex. This is an industry that commodifies Christianity and enables nominal Christians to proclaim their “faith” by wearing bad quality religious parody t-shirts. Needless to say, it does not lend itself to artistic excellence. Your Christian content doesn’t need to be excellent—it can be mediocre or downright terrible, as long as it evangelises and saves lost souls. This rose out of the “Left Behind”-era of evangelicalism, wherein premillennialism was the dominating eschatological view. In other words, Christians were scrambling to evangelise and get the heck off this rock before it burned (leaving Nick Cage and Kirk Cameron behind to land their respective jet planes). It didn’t matter if the tracts were unattractive and the children’s book covers were badly drawn. Excellence was jettisoned for the sake of urgency.
This book points out that if art must have a function, it is not just to evangelise, but rather to reflect the glory of God. The introduction offers a much-needed corrective to the unhealthy evangelical subculture discussed above, as is summarised in the quote below:
I would agree. The church is suspicious of art, and their overall ignorance of it is doing Christian artists a great disservice. Still, the church has their reasons, some of them valid. Art has an inherent beauty, which can be corrupted (this is in line with the Christian view that the whole world has been corrupted by sin). Art can be pornographic (which doesn’t mesh well with imago Dei doctrine, which essentially states that we are to treat other people like image bearers, not sex objects). Art can be idolatrous, as it is primarily image based (hence the iconoclastic shift of post-Reformation church history).
Speaking of which, as much as I dislike Martin Luther, he does have an oft-quoted and good point about Christian arts:
The arts have suffered in the church for many reasons, and there is one that I have forgotten to mention so far. There is an unhelpful separation between ministry and normal life that nearly rivals the rift between sacred and secular. It arose out of a well intentioned effort to boost funding for overseas missions. Churches put missionaries on a pedestal, practically idolising them in order to encourage more missions tithing from the churches that sent them out. As Phil Vischer said once on his podcast, all Christians should aim to be missionaries and be eaten by cannibals. They could be regular missionaries if they had to, or get involved in regular ministry if they didn’t make the cut. All that the others could do was keep giving and feel ashamed that they had “normal” jobs. (Yes, he was being sarcastic, and yes, I am paraphrasing). This idolisation of ministry has created a vocational equivalent of the sacred and secular divide, which has done a lot to devalue laypeople in congregations. It has also disproportionately impacted Christian artists, because their vocations and interests almost never line up with the commercialised, industrialised structure of our modern churches.
I found this to be encouraging, and another good title from the Rykens (and thereby from Wheaton College by affiliation). It is very brief, however, and not as substantive as some people may like or require. I would have liked more refutation for the arguments that stemmed from extreme, exclusionist application of the Bible, e.g., “We have the Bible, so we don’t need any more literature! The classics can rot! Fiction can burn! Romantic fiction is the kindling for the fires of hell!” Then again, knowledge of common grace (a doctrine allowing that the truth of God’s goodness is reflected in all art, no matter the artist, because all art is based on his creation) would counter some of these more inane arguments. The scope of the book doesn’t cover some of these more complicated issues. I am encourage to see more books coming out on Christian arts, though, and this wasn’t a bad first foray into the topic.
…That being said, I find myself being less enthused now that the dust has settled. The arguments were less than concrete and less than compelling. Even for something so short, I would have liked “more,” I just don’t know what of.
…Upon revisiting this review, I’ve finally worked out why this book bothered me. I thought it was going to be about reclaiming Christian art after it had been ignored and demonised by the church. Instead, it’s about reclaiming art from the secular culture. If the author was actually an artist, then maybe he would know that the arts are not much more (if any more) grossly depraved than other sectors of society, such as education and politics. At the very least, there is a lot of art that engages with topics of religious and spiritual significance, even today. If the author was an artist (as the book defines it) and actually had a horse in the race, then maybe he would have known.
TLDR: A theologically orientated and somewhat brief introduction to thinking Christianly about the arts. Would recommend as a starting point.
★★★☆☆ | 3.00 stars | Reviewed
I wouldn’t describe myself as a Christian artist. Then again, that may be because of the stigma. I opted to study writing instead of music as a child, but all the other churchgoing children were studying music. Music could be played in services, but only piano, mind you, or guitar if you were feeling brave, and “God forbid” that you played the drums. Novel writing didn’t fit anywhere in the order of service, so a fat lot of good that would do anyone.
The “Art” in the title refers to all creative pursuits, not just painting. Still, I only met one painter in my 20+ years at church. Painting was sinful and idolatrous and a waste of time. Unless, of course, you were commissioned by the church elders to paint a grossly saccharine mural of three pristine crosses (conspicuously free of bloodstains) upon on a grassy knoll bathed in sunlight. And when I say commissioned, I mean that the pastor expects you to do it for free, out of the goodness of your heart and your love for your local church. My mother was a painter. She painted nihonga (a style of Japanese painting). So does Makoto Fujimura, who uses the style to portray Biblical symbolism, and whose art is on the cover of this book.
I shouldn’t be this shocked that there are artists like Fujimura out there, but I’ve seen the “kitsch” and the cringe of the evangelical industrial complex. This is an industry that commodifies Christianity and enables nominal Christians to proclaim their “faith” by wearing bad quality religious parody t-shirts. Needless to say, it does not lend itself to artistic excellence. Your Christian content doesn’t need to be excellent—it can be mediocre or downright terrible, as long as it evangelises and saves lost souls. This rose out of the “Left Behind”-era of evangelicalism, wherein premillennialism was the dominating eschatological view. In other words, Christians were scrambling to evangelise and get the heck off this rock before it burned (leaving Nick Cage and Kirk Cameron behind to land their respective jet planes). It didn’t matter if the tracts were unattractive and the children’s book covers were badly drawn. Excellence was jettisoned for the sake of urgency.
This book points out that if art must have a function, it is not just to evangelise, but rather to reflect the glory of God. The introduction offers a much-needed corrective to the unhealthy evangelical subculture discussed above, as is summarised in the quote below:
Ultimately this kind of [substandard] art dishonours God because it is not in keeping with the truth and beauty of his character. It also undermines the church's gospel message of salvation in Christ. Art has tremendous power to shape culture and touch the human heart. Its artefacts embody the ideas and desires of the coming generation. This means that what is happening in the arts today is prophetic of what will happen in our culture tomorrow. It also means that when Christians abandon the artistic community, we lose a significant opportunity to communicate Christ to our culture.
I would agree. The church is suspicious of art, and their overall ignorance of it is doing Christian artists a great disservice. Still, the church has their reasons, some of them valid. Art has an inherent beauty, which can be corrupted (this is in line with the Christian view that the whole world has been corrupted by sin). Art can be pornographic (which doesn’t mesh well with imago Dei doctrine, which essentially states that we are to treat other people like image bearers, not sex objects). Art can be idolatrous, as it is primarily image based (hence the iconoclastic shift of post-Reformation church history).
Speaking of which, as much as I dislike Martin Luther, he does have an oft-quoted and good point about Christian arts:
“The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”
The arts have suffered in the church for many reasons, and there is one that I have forgotten to mention so far. There is an unhelpful separation between ministry and normal life that nearly rivals the rift between sacred and secular. It arose out of a well intentioned effort to boost funding for overseas missions. Churches put missionaries on a pedestal, practically idolising them in order to encourage more missions tithing from the churches that sent them out. As Phil Vischer said once on his podcast, all Christians should aim to be missionaries and be eaten by cannibals. They could be regular missionaries if they had to, or get involved in regular ministry if they didn’t make the cut. All that the others could do was keep giving and feel ashamed that they had “normal” jobs. (Yes, he was being sarcastic, and yes, I am paraphrasing). This idolisation of ministry has created a vocational equivalent of the sacred and secular divide, which has done a lot to devalue laypeople in congregations. It has also disproportionately impacted Christian artists, because their vocations and interests almost never line up with the commercialised, industrialised structure of our modern churches.
I found this to be encouraging, and another good title from the Rykens (and thereby from Wheaton College by affiliation). It is very brief, however, and not as substantive as some people may like or require. I would have liked more refutation for the arguments that stemmed from extreme, exclusionist application of the Bible, e.g., “We have the Bible, so we don’t need any more literature! The classics can rot! Fiction can burn! Romantic fiction is the kindling for the fires of hell!” Then again, knowledge of common grace (a doctrine allowing that the truth of God’s goodness is reflected in all art, no matter the artist, because all art is based on his creation) would counter some of these more inane arguments. The scope of the book doesn’t cover some of these more complicated issues. I am encourage to see more books coming out on Christian arts, though, and this wasn’t a bad first foray into the topic.
…That being said, I find myself being less enthused now that the dust has settled. The arguments were less than concrete and less than compelling. Even for something so short, I would have liked “more,” I just don’t know what of.
…Upon revisiting this review, I’ve finally worked out why this book bothered me. I thought it was going to be about reclaiming Christian art after it had been ignored and demonised by the church. Instead, it’s about reclaiming art from the secular culture. If the author was actually an artist, then maybe he would know that the arts are not much more (if any more) grossly depraved than other sectors of society, such as education and politics. At the very least, there is a lot of art that engages with topics of religious and spiritual significance, even today. If the author was an artist (as the book defines it) and actually had a horse in the race, then maybe he would have known.
TLDR: A theologically orientated and somewhat brief introduction to thinking Christianly about the arts. Would recommend as a starting point.
★★★☆☆ | 3.00 stars | Reviewed
December 9, 2022
This was a great short read about how God created art and gives people artistic abilities (in music, art, dance, writing and other forms of creation) for His glory. The Christian church has historically been wary of art and often dismissive of those who seek to make a career out of it, but this book highlights the truth that art is a blessing that should be used to the glory of the greatest Creator.
The book speaks about God’s glorious attributes, and I think this paragraph in it summarizes it best:
“What kind of art would be worthy of such a God? Only good art: art that works within the potentialities of creation to reflect the goodness of God’s being. Only true art: art that tells the truth about sin and is sensitive to the tragedy of suffering in a fallen world. Only beautiful art: art that incarnates the hope of our redemption and refuses to allow despair to serve as the ultimate perspective on human existence. And only glorious art: art that anticipates the coming of God’s glory in the person of Jesus Christ.”
This motivates me to be mindful of my motives when creating art, and I highly recommend this to Christian artists and creatives. However, it serves more as an introduction to the topic and not a comprehensive look at the topic.
The book speaks about God’s glorious attributes, and I think this paragraph in it summarizes it best:
“What kind of art would be worthy of such a God? Only good art: art that works within the potentialities of creation to reflect the goodness of God’s being. Only true art: art that tells the truth about sin and is sensitive to the tragedy of suffering in a fallen world. Only beautiful art: art that incarnates the hope of our redemption and refuses to allow despair to serve as the ultimate perspective on human existence. And only glorious art: art that anticipates the coming of God’s glory in the person of Jesus Christ.”
This motivates me to be mindful of my motives when creating art, and I highly recommend this to Christian artists and creatives. However, it serves more as an introduction to the topic and not a comprehensive look at the topic.
September 6, 2025
Thin and wooden. I respect Ryken and his heart is in the right place, but the only stirring passages in this book are the quotes from others.
A few thoughts:
- He opens with a depiction of the misunderstood artist, labouring unrecognised. It's a trope that can be true, but neglects many forms of art that are financially stable (from animation, game design, and film scores, to traditional crafts of all sorts). I'd have loved the table to be set for all creatives.
- He struggles to hang abstract art on anything (he mentions fabric and the shape of the rooms in the tabernacle?) We serve the God of sunsets, cloudscapes, wave, and wind. The God who gives us dreams. And the God who hangs each tree with ten thousand variations of line and colour. Our world overflows with abstract art.
- He claims beauty as a necessary component of Christian art, and then struggles to make a place for depictions of ugliness. And he fails to ground his claim on anything.
- There's an unnecessary us/them-ing in the book, re secular vs Christian arts. Makes the whole thing feel small, cramped, and lacking in love for lost image bearers. I wish he'd gone the Schaeffer route and seen dialog as vital.
- Despite maintaining that the purpose of art as bigger than evangelism, the frame of the book shoehorns art back into the Gospel as narrowly the cross.
- I love that he wants to return art to the high calling of glorifying God, but his chapter on the subject was soulless and mechanistic. I felt like I was in an austere Pressie church, under the heavy yoke of the regulative principle. The wonder of your 4yo son holding up his drawing as a gift, that should be the overflowing joy of doing art for God's glory. "Look Dad, I made this for you!"
I'd love a re-write of this book, doing a 'creativity' line edit to inject each sentence with life and soul.
A few thoughts:
- He opens with a depiction of the misunderstood artist, labouring unrecognised. It's a trope that can be true, but neglects many forms of art that are financially stable (from animation, game design, and film scores, to traditional crafts of all sorts). I'd have loved the table to be set for all creatives.
- He struggles to hang abstract art on anything (he mentions fabric and the shape of the rooms in the tabernacle?) We serve the God of sunsets, cloudscapes, wave, and wind. The God who gives us dreams. And the God who hangs each tree with ten thousand variations of line and colour. Our world overflows with abstract art.
- He claims beauty as a necessary component of Christian art, and then struggles to make a place for depictions of ugliness. And he fails to ground his claim on anything.
- There's an unnecessary us/them-ing in the book, re secular vs Christian arts. Makes the whole thing feel small, cramped, and lacking in love for lost image bearers. I wish he'd gone the Schaeffer route and seen dialog as vital.
- Despite maintaining that the purpose of art as bigger than evangelism, the frame of the book shoehorns art back into the Gospel as narrowly the cross.
- I love that he wants to return art to the high calling of glorifying God, but his chapter on the subject was soulless and mechanistic. I felt like I was in an austere Pressie church, under the heavy yoke of the regulative principle. The wonder of your 4yo son holding up his drawing as a gift, that should be the overflowing joy of doing art for God's glory. "Look Dad, I made this for you!"
I'd love a re-write of this book, doing a 'creativity' line edit to inject each sentence with life and soul.
July 3, 2023
If you haven’t read much about God and the arts maybe this book is for you, or even if you’re just interested in the topic, it’s only 58 pages long. It won’t take much of your time. That said, this book was just “fine” for me. I’ve read about God and the arts from L’Engle, Lewis, Sayers, and others so much of this just felt like reiterating things others have already said. He did base all of this booklet around Exodus 31 which was interesting. The last paragraph of the book was especially good, “As Christians, we should lead the way in reclaiming the arts and restoring them to their true purpose. We are living in a fallen and broken world; yet for all its ugliness, this world was made by God and will be saved by his grace. Therefore, we should devote our skill to making art for the glory of God, and for the sake of his Son - our beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ.”
July 9, 2019
A great, short, biblical overview of the arts. I would highly recommend for anyone studying the arts or working in the arts. Also, a great book for students of all interests.
August 12, 2024
The tenuous relationship between art (in all its forms) and Christianity has always fascinated me. Especially American Evangelical Christianity. I’m someone who is a believer in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and have attempted my entire adult life as a Christian to reconcile my love of art (as a writer & storyteller) and faith. It has been a lonely road. Nevertheless, I’ve delved into books such as Art and the Bible: Two Essays by Francis Schaeffer, Art and Faith: A Theology of Making by Makoto Fujimara, Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts by Steve Turner, and Scribbling in the Sand: Christ and Creativity by Michael Card to bridge the perceived gap between art and contemporary American Christianity.
I recently came across Art for God’s Sake by Philip Graham Ryken and read it to see if it adds to the ongoing discussion I mentioned in the previous paragraph. It does. Ryken sets up his premise on four principles: (1) The artist’s call and gift come from God; (2) God loves all kinds of art; (3) God maintains high standards for goodness, truth, and beauty; (4) Art is for the glory of God.
The rest of the book expounds on those principles and Ryken does a good job of making his case of the importance of art to God. Exodus 31 provides a biblical context for the author’s premise and is a place that Christian Artists can turn to know that God appreciates and loves art in its proper place to Him.
Art for God’s Sake adds nothing new to the discussion of the relationship between art and modern American Christianity. However, it provides a primer for Christian Artists who are struggling with reconciling their art with their faith. It is a must read to get a basic framework on how they should navigate this very narrow road.
I will end my review with this passage: “The artist glorifies God by making good art, whether it contains an explicit gospel message. This does not mean that all our art has to be evangelistic in the sense that it explicitly invites people to believe in Christ.”
Amen. Ryken nails home an important truth for all Christian artists. I have written and published four novels, (a fifth one is coming next year) and anyone who has read them can clearly see that I have an American Christian worldview. I grew up with that worldview and have embraced it as an adult. But (and it’s a big one), I’m not trying to proselytize or evangelize with my stories. I’m trying to tell stories with characters that have faith in their lives and how they interact with other characters who don’t have the same faith or none. To me, that is where the interesting stories lie and I want to explore that through fiction. Unfortunately, a lot of Christian art (in all its forms) still leads with evangelism first instead of art. Art’s purpose is not to be a tool for evangelism, but to provide a mirror into human life in all its facets.
Christian Artists do not need to be burdened with evangelism. However, their art should reflect their beliefs and show how one can navigate the gray areas of life through story, song, or visual art. God does not remove the gray areas of life for his believers and as long as we lean on him, he will guide us through them. And art can be a tool to help us do it.
I will recommend Art for God’s Sake as a starting point for Christian Artists and other Christians who want to understand art’s role in God’s Kingdom. My hope is a book like this one will bridge the divide that still exists between art and faith.
I recently came across Art for God’s Sake by Philip Graham Ryken and read it to see if it adds to the ongoing discussion I mentioned in the previous paragraph. It does. Ryken sets up his premise on four principles: (1) The artist’s call and gift come from God; (2) God loves all kinds of art; (3) God maintains high standards for goodness, truth, and beauty; (4) Art is for the glory of God.
The rest of the book expounds on those principles and Ryken does a good job of making his case of the importance of art to God. Exodus 31 provides a biblical context for the author’s premise and is a place that Christian Artists can turn to know that God appreciates and loves art in its proper place to Him.
Art for God’s Sake adds nothing new to the discussion of the relationship between art and modern American Christianity. However, it provides a primer for Christian Artists who are struggling with reconciling their art with their faith. It is a must read to get a basic framework on how they should navigate this very narrow road.
I will end my review with this passage: “The artist glorifies God by making good art, whether it contains an explicit gospel message. This does not mean that all our art has to be evangelistic in the sense that it explicitly invites people to believe in Christ.”
Amen. Ryken nails home an important truth for all Christian artists. I have written and published four novels, (a fifth one is coming next year) and anyone who has read them can clearly see that I have an American Christian worldview. I grew up with that worldview and have embraced it as an adult. But (and it’s a big one), I’m not trying to proselytize or evangelize with my stories. I’m trying to tell stories with characters that have faith in their lives and how they interact with other characters who don’t have the same faith or none. To me, that is where the interesting stories lie and I want to explore that through fiction. Unfortunately, a lot of Christian art (in all its forms) still leads with evangelism first instead of art. Art’s purpose is not to be a tool for evangelism, but to provide a mirror into human life in all its facets.
Christian Artists do not need to be burdened with evangelism. However, their art should reflect their beliefs and show how one can navigate the gray areas of life through story, song, or visual art. God does not remove the gray areas of life for his believers and as long as we lean on him, he will guide us through them. And art can be a tool to help us do it.
I will recommend Art for God’s Sake as a starting point for Christian Artists and other Christians who want to understand art’s role in God’s Kingdom. My hope is a book like this one will bridge the divide that still exists between art and faith.
December 24, 2017
While very brief, this book is a terrific treatise on the importance of the arts from a Biblical worldview, God's design for us to use the arts (both as humans created in His image, and as Christians re-created in the new birth), and our need to reclaim the arts from the secular culture.
The aim and accomplishment of the book is really all right there in the title.
I definitely recommend it to all Christians.
The aim and accomplishment of the book is really all right there in the title.
I definitely recommend it to all Christians.
October 6, 2025
absolutely loved this. "but God wants all of the art to flourish in all the fullness of their artistic potential, so that we may discover the inherent possibilities of creation and thereby come to a deeper knowledge of our Creator."
March 5, 2025
Wonderful! Encouraging!
February 6, 2020
Want to read a book that lays the foundation for a Christian view of art? This is a book worth reading concerning this topic. It is written by Philip Graham Ryken. Ryken is the president of Wheaton College which has been compared to as the Evangelical Harvard. In under a hundred pages Ryken establishes a Christian worldview of art. I read this aloud with my wife as part of our night’s devotional read and we both enjoyed it. In addition I enjoyed it enough that half way through the book I had to order it online as a gift for an artist in our church.
There’s a lot of good discussions in this short book. Ryken lays our four fundamental principles for Christian theology of arts and among them is the principle that art is for the glory of God. This of course is the title of this book. The author examines Exodus 31 through various chapters in the book to extrapolate a biblical worldview of art and the calling of being an artist. This chapter is the one in which God worked through Bezalel and Oholiab to artistically construct the Tabernacle. I enjoyed the author’s study of the Scriptures.
I also learned a bit about art as a result of reading this book, being a non-artist myself. I also appreciated the book’s explicit call for God’s aesthetic standard include goodness, truth and beauty and while we cannot sugar the dark reality of sin around us nevertheless a focus on darkness and evil can also shortchanged what is reality (grace, hope and love). There’s also a helpful discussion about how artistry can become an idolatry and how to avoid idolizing art. Overall I appreciated the nuances in this book. It also make me appreciate art more (which I was hoping to experience as a result of reading this book) but happily it also made me appreciate the artists’ calling and challenges they face as well. The conclusion of this work also preached Christ; love that! Overall I recommend it for people to read and also to give to the Christian artists you know.
There’s a lot of good discussions in this short book. Ryken lays our four fundamental principles for Christian theology of arts and among them is the principle that art is for the glory of God. This of course is the title of this book. The author examines Exodus 31 through various chapters in the book to extrapolate a biblical worldview of art and the calling of being an artist. This chapter is the one in which God worked through Bezalel and Oholiab to artistically construct the Tabernacle. I enjoyed the author’s study of the Scriptures.
I also learned a bit about art as a result of reading this book, being a non-artist myself. I also appreciated the book’s explicit call for God’s aesthetic standard include goodness, truth and beauty and while we cannot sugar the dark reality of sin around us nevertheless a focus on darkness and evil can also shortchanged what is reality (grace, hope and love). There’s also a helpful discussion about how artistry can become an idolatry and how to avoid idolizing art. Overall I appreciated the nuances in this book. It also make me appreciate art more (which I was hoping to experience as a result of reading this book) but happily it also made me appreciate the artists’ calling and challenges they face as well. The conclusion of this work also preached Christ; love that! Overall I recommend it for people to read and also to give to the Christian artists you know.
March 3, 2015
Art for God's Sake is a manifesto for artists of all types to do what they do for the glory of God, basically debunking the addage that art needs no reason for being, i.e, It's just "Art for art's sake." Not only is the book meant to encourage artists in their calling, it is also meant to give non-artists a short introduction to thinking Christianly about the arts.
Some reviewers said it was too simplistic, but for someone like me (with no art background), the simplicity was a huge plus. I underlined something on almost every page, but will try to include just a few of the most salient quotes:
"As Christians we should aspire to high aesthetic standards. All too often we settle for something that is functional, but not beautiful. . . . . Sometimes we produce what can be described only as kitsch-tacky artwork of poor quality that appeals to low tastes. The average Christian bookstore is full of the stuff..."
"When we settle for trivial expressions of the truth in worship and art, we ourselves are diminished, as we suffer a loss of transcendence..."
"The problem with some modern and postmodern art is that it seeks to offer truth at the expense of beauty. It tells the truth only about ugliness and alienation, leaving out the beauty of creation and redemption. A good deal of so-called Christian art tends to have the opposite problem. It tries to show beauty without admitting the truth about sin, and to that extent it is false - dishonest about the tragic implications of our depravity. Think of all the bright, sentimental landscapes that portray an ideal world unaffected by the Fall, or the light, cheery melodies that characterize the Christian life as one of undiminished happiness. Such a world may be nice to imagine, but it is not the world God sent his Son to save."
Some reviewers said it was too simplistic, but for someone like me (with no art background), the simplicity was a huge plus. I underlined something on almost every page, but will try to include just a few of the most salient quotes:
"As Christians we should aspire to high aesthetic standards. All too often we settle for something that is functional, but not beautiful. . . . . Sometimes we produce what can be described only as kitsch-tacky artwork of poor quality that appeals to low tastes. The average Christian bookstore is full of the stuff..."
"When we settle for trivial expressions of the truth in worship and art, we ourselves are diminished, as we suffer a loss of transcendence..."
"The problem with some modern and postmodern art is that it seeks to offer truth at the expense of beauty. It tells the truth only about ugliness and alienation, leaving out the beauty of creation and redemption. A good deal of so-called Christian art tends to have the opposite problem. It tries to show beauty without admitting the truth about sin, and to that extent it is false - dishonest about the tragic implications of our depravity. Think of all the bright, sentimental landscapes that portray an ideal world unaffected by the Fall, or the light, cheery melodies that characterize the Christian life as one of undiminished happiness. Such a world may be nice to imagine, but it is not the world God sent his Son to save."
October 8, 2022
I ordered this thinking that I would have a nice size book treating art within the biblical framework. I got a knock on the door and behold… a pamphlet. Oh well. The gist: Art is for the glory of God and displays the good, the true, and the beautiful. It was not bad, but just not what I was looking for. I am thankful for this Jonathan Edwards quote Ryken gave me to chew on: "All the beauty to be found throughout the whole creation, is but the reflection of the diffused beams of that Being who hath an infinite fullness of brightness and glory; God... is the foundation and fountain of all being and all beauty." Jonathan Edwards
The footnotes and bibliography will be a help to have on the bookshelf.
The footnotes and bibliography will be a help to have on the bookshelf.
May 1, 2012
Good, but not quite substantial.
My favorite quote:
"Christian Art is redemptive, and this is its highest purpose. art is always an interpretation of reality, and the Christian should interpret reality in its total aspect, including the hope that has come into the world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Rather than giving in to meaningless and despair, Christian artists know that there is a way out."
My favorite quote:
"Christian Art is redemptive, and this is its highest purpose. art is always an interpretation of reality, and the Christian should interpret reality in its total aspect, including the hope that has come into the world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Rather than giving in to meaningless and despair, Christian artists know that there is a way out."
January 25, 2018
Lovely booklet on art and calling. Introductory and encouraging without being exhaustive.
"Even if we are not artists in our primary vocation, there is an inescapably artistic aspect to our daily experience."
"Art is an imaginative activity, and in the act of creating, we reflect the mind of our Maker."
"Even if we are not artists in our primary vocation, there is an inescapably artistic aspect to our daily experience."
"Art is an imaginative activity, and in the act of creating, we reflect the mind of our Maker."
May 30, 2017
Delightful essay with some great reflections on Art, the character of God, and human calling.
Read it for some reflection as I preach through Exodus.
Read it for some reflection as I preach through Exodus.
July 27, 2017
Short and simple, yet right on the money. Ryken nails this one - a beautiful defense for a Christian reclamation of the arts.
June 8, 2017
It always comes back to truth, beauty, and goodness.
Some modern/postmodern art tells the truth at the expense of beauty. Christian kitsch wants to be beautiful, but it's a shallow and simplistic, ignoring the reality of a disordered world. This essay is meant, I think, as a guide for Christian artists who want to create art that "incarnates the hope of redemption."
I appreciate Ryken's warning not to dismiss abstract art: Yet abstraction has God's blessing as much as any other art form. He backs this up with a Makoto Fujimura piece, Trinity, on the cover. I've looked at it for two minutes without inspiration. (Should I give it twenty?) To me, it resembles the flag of Belgium. Sigh...
Some modern/postmodern art tells the truth at the expense of beauty. Christian kitsch wants to be beautiful, but it's a shallow and simplistic, ignoring the reality of a disordered world. This essay is meant, I think, as a guide for Christian artists who want to create art that "incarnates the hope of redemption."
I appreciate Ryken's warning not to dismiss abstract art: Yet abstraction has God's blessing as much as any other art form. He backs this up with a Makoto Fujimura piece, Trinity, on the cover. I've looked at it for two minutes without inspiration. (Should I give it twenty?) To me, it resembles the flag of Belgium. Sigh...
February 27, 2023
Picked this little book up off our shelves on a whim and read it in one afternoon/evening. If you are looking for a quick primer on Christians and the arts, this is the best I’ve found. Drawing heavily from Exodus 31, Ryken outlines basic principles for how Christians and the church can practice and appreciate the arts “for God’s sake” and with joy. I underlined so many more truths this time through, and recommend this book to anyone wanting a basic intro to these ideas — there’s also an excellent list of books “for further reading” and I already started a collection of essays that was also already on my shelf! I plan to hand this to my teenagers next to hear their thoughts, and hope it will encourage them to pursue their gifts in various media. It has been such a book for me.
August 7, 2025
This a short booklet that overviews the 'why' of art, specifically for Christians. It's a great little refresher if you are feeling stuck or unclear about your purpose for creating. I appreciated the deeper look at the biblical account of Bezalel and Oholiab, as they were divinely called - and gifted - to create artistic furnishings for the Tabernacle (Exodus 31). While I wish the book had gone deeper at points, sometimes it's nice to have something short to stimulate the little grey cells.!
October 18, 2022
This was an excellent book which explains what we as Christian’s artists must understand and apply regarding our profession.
Through the last couple of years I’ve personally struggled with different aspects of my callings, being my gift as a musician one of them. This book helped me crystallize some realistic aspects of the whole picture, re-directing me to Scripture at all times.
I really recommend this book as an introduction to the Christian view on the arts, or if you are currently struggling with your artist calling.
Through the last couple of years I’ve personally struggled with different aspects of my callings, being my gift as a musician one of them. This book helped me crystallize some realistic aspects of the whole picture, re-directing me to Scripture at all times.
I really recommend this book as an introduction to the Christian view on the arts, or if you are currently struggling with your artist calling.
January 19, 2026
"All the beauty to be found throughout the whole creation, is but the reflection of the diffused beams of that Being who hath an infinite fullness of brightness and glory; God... is the foundation and fountain of all being and all beauty." - J. Edwards
“In a world that has been uglified by sin, the Christian artist shows the plausibility of redemption by producing good work that is true in its beauty.” - P. Ryken
“In a world that has been uglified by sin, the Christian artist shows the plausibility of redemption by producing good work that is true in its beauty.” - P. Ryken
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February 5, 2026Ryken tired to tackle a lot in a very little book, with no time to reflect or dive into the deeper ideas he brings up. Nearly all of his points felt like they were taken straight out of Fujumura’s book “Art + Faith,” but less detailed. Wasn’t really worth my time.
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December 30, 2021A needed reminder.
Ryken recognizes the constant struggle of Christian artists and offers comfort and solid encouragement.
Ryken recognizes the constant struggle of Christian artists and offers comfort and solid encouragement.
September 5, 2025
Eh. I didn’t get much from this. I felt like it was saying you could only make a certain type of art – then it said, no God inspires all types of art – but then only art that fits these criteria are glorifying God. Like…. Not helpful.
February 9, 2026
This book was very short and insightful, but didn’t leave any room for further interpretation on what Christian art should be.
November 29, 2025
read for prof benson it was fine lol
July 13, 2025
Very interesting discussion. I appreciate the author leaning more on scripture and less on opinion. Nice, inspiring, short read. Would recommend to artists, writers, and those who question the role of the Arts in Christianity.
[4 Stars= Great]
[4 Stars= Great]
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