Art In The Bible: Painting Pictures With Words: “A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words” By R. Alan Woods c2007 Rhema Rising Art in the Bible? You may well say, “ I didn’t know there was any art in the Bible!”. You would be right if you were meaning art to be a painting, a sculpture, a mosaic, or a fresco. However, art can a picture that is painted with words as is the case with Hebrew rhetorical and conventional poetry as illustrated throughout most of the canonized books of the Old Testament- the Torah- and New Testament. We can most especially and readily see these word pictures and the images they produce in the Books of The Prophets, The Writings, The Wisdom Books, and The Five Fold Books of Moses- The Pentateuch. The images produced by these sacred writings as it relates to active human agencies have inspired the creative imaginations of countless artists since The Renaissance.
However, in the ancient world of Hebrew culture creative expression in the context of active human agency was limited to the use of prose and poetry steadily amassing a body of inspired work- the Books of the Old Testament. Visual creative art in the ancient Hebrew culture and the early Christian Church did not exit. Up until the 5th century the visual representation of Biblical themes were confined strictly to the passive human agency of scribes and craftsmen/artisans.
In the beginning God created the Cosmos, all matter and energy, from nothing. the Godhead pre-purposed to create us in His tripartite image- mind, emotions, and spirit. He gave us the gift of creative expression. He limited us to the re-arrangement of that which He had already created- lest we get in trouble and begin to delude ourselves into thinking we are God’s. “The unified-field theory of Christian theology is: Jesus is God” (Woods)- the making of that which is invisible to be visible and in expressing that which is unknowable, or at least recognizable, by utilizing that which is known or familiar to us.
Not only Is there art in the Bible, but as “art inspires art”, our intrinsic drive to express ourselves creatively- “like father, like son”- has been given a rich and profoundly varied ability to do just that. We- homo sapiens- are the ultimate expression of creative art brought into being by the Ultimate Creator/Artist- God.
