Christianity and the arts; Christianity in the arts. One
of the germinal influences in getting Evangelicals to pay attention to the
cultural world in faithful, obedient ways, was the Dutch critic Hans
Rookmaaker.
Rookmaaker influenced Francis Schaeffer, among many
others, and from there influenced subsequent generations of Christians in
thinking about and participating in the world of culture. Rookmaaker did not
intend to make dilettantes out of Christians. He loved Jazz and modern
painting, for instance, because he felt that these forms of art spoke deeply
about ultimate matters and that Christians needed to learn the tools for
discerning their cultural situation, not just to evangelize efficiently, but to
love God’s creation as it is unfolded historically.
His most important and influential work, Modern Art and the Death of Culture, is
still worth investing in and studying.
