Art and the Bible, Francis Schaeffer

A really quick, easy read (2-4hrs) that provides some good background to the historical issues surrounding faith and art. While the conversation has moved way beyond the concerns Schaeffer is answering, and while his answers occasionally reflect the Modernist context out of which he was writing, the book is certainly worth the effort. It looks at biblical examples of art as permission for art today – art that is representational (including by implication art that is representational of God), art that holds no ‘function’ other than to be beautiful (even in church). He writes out of a holistic view of the lordship of Christ over all elements of humanity (not just the ‘spiritual’) which would have been radical when he was writing.