“Good theology requires great imagination.”

Why make art at all? Who is it for? Professor Hendrix explores the why of art and provides some practical examples of how Christians can engage with art and better understand the character of God through participating in art-making.

Key Terms

Offices of personality: Three entities you engage with as Christian—yourself, others, and God.

Play: The act of doing something simply for the sake of enjoyment, with no desired outcome and no “wrong” way to engage.

Main Points

• God, in art, made a vessel that is able to communicate something to humanity that can be said in no other way.
• God is a maker, and because we are made in his image, we are makers (or, in Tolkien’s words, “sub-creators”), too.
• Art can be seen as one or all of three things: artifact, process, and experience.
  • Artifacts are what the art is; a painting, a sculpture, a drawing, etc.
  • Art as a process is a way of making things, often called design thinking.
  • Art can be an experience, such as an installation, that captures the imagination of those going through it

Content Questions

• How have you seen art connect God, others, and yourself?
• Professor Hendrix says that humans are designed to be makers. How does this manifest in your life?
• Have you found yourself in the pit of despair? Did you come through? If yes, how? How can we encourage others that the pit is normal?
• What do you enjoy making? Does your day-to-day work reflect that?

Application Questions

• What space, if any, does your Christian community make for play? How could you lead others to engage in God’s “secret Elvish,” as Professor Hendrix puts it, in a way that engages all three offices of personality?
• Consider keeping a sketchbook! Start with a week. Maybe encourage some others in your Church to join you and talk about how the experience of drawing changes your perception of things.