Maori Baptismal Font

I just came across this article about an interesting Maori-carved baptismal font in an Anglican Church in New Zealand.  Although it was created for a western-style church, the meaning of the carvings is an interesting attempt to use Maori spiritual motifs for a Christian context.  I'm not sure if it is a successful example of contextualized art or not.  I'd be inclined to say not, because it wasn't created for a Maori Christian context and seams to be more syncretistic than contextualized.   But it looks really cool, and I think it was a noble attempt.  Take a look and let me know what you think!

Book Review: Aboriginal Church Paintings

I recently came across a couple of articles on the web (here and here) that mentioned a new book called Aboriginal Church Art: Reflecting on Our Faith by Eugene Stockton and Terence O'Donnell.  So, of course, I immediately emailed the publisher (no online ordering site) and ordered a copy by check.  The publisher's representative was very helpful and sent a copy from Australia straight away.

The Tree of Life

I'm working on a review of a book on Aboriginal church art, and am trying to get images from the book to include in the review.  In my search I came across this image, which can be found here (scroll to the bottom of the page).  I think it's a great painting with some wonderful Gospel symbolism.  Here's the description:

This painting in the Cathedral is by Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Bauman.  She was asked to paint a picture to go with her talk called 'Dadirri', meaning silence or stillness.  It was the time when the saltwater crocodiles lay their eggs in the mounds they have prepared along the river banks or in the swamps amongst the cane grass.

The painting is in three parts.  The upper part depicts nature, which is our calendar.  It tells us when to hunt for fruits, yams, animals, reptiles, fish or birds.  By looking at certain flowers that are blossoming, or which way the wind is blowing, we know what to look for and gather.

The bottom of the painting is ourselves.  The circles and lines mean that we have been washed with Jesus' blood coming from the paperbark chalice.  The yam under the cross is Jesus' body.  The cross means that Jesus died for our sins and rose to life again.  At the top of the cross there are flames coming from fire sticks.  Jesus is the light of the world.

The tree in the middle represents the Aboriginal people.  Pope John Paul II said to them:  'You are like a tree standing in the middle of a bushfire sweeping through the timber.  The leaves are scorched and the tough bark is scarred and burned, but inside the tree the sap is still flowing and under the ground the roots are still strong.'  When the wet season sets in and the rain comes, the tree grows and blossoms.  The storm winds come too.  The white lines on each side of the tree are the water and wind representing the Holy Spirit.

God as Artist: Expressions of Goodness « Cross-Cultural Impact for the 21st Century

Here is an interesting blog post from Mark Naylor at Cross Cultural Impact in the 21st Century, on the topic of God as artist. I think the last paragraph has some subtle implications for contextualization of the arts (as well as for us as we represent Jesus to everyone we meet). I like the paraphrase of John 1:14 that he includes from The Message towards the end of the post: "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood."  With that in mind, here's something for visual artists to think about vis a vis the contextualization of the Gospel in indigenous art forms: what would it look like if, when the Word moves into a neighborhood (within the heart of you or me), he/she is an artist instead of a carpenter?  What it look like to "speak" through the artistic language of the people there?  How would Jesus do it?  Food for thought.

The Son and the Crescent

While I work on future blog posts, take a look at this interesting article in Christianity Today. It explores the debate over whether or not to use the phrase "Son of God" in Bible translations for followers/potential followers of Jesus among Muslim populations:

The Son and the Crescent | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

And along those lines, in June the Presbyterian Church of America (one of which I attend) is going to be discussing/debating this very topic, within the larger subject of "insider movements" and contextualization in missions:

http://jonesiv.com/2011/05/17/contextualization-in-foreign-missions/

This blog post also contains links to pro and con views of insider movements.

Indonesian Christian Shadow Puppets

Today I'd like to discuss the Indonesian art form of Wayang, or shadow puppetry, and its use by Christians to express the Gospel.  Much of my information for this post came from an article by Marzanna Poplawska for the Asian Theatre Journal.  In order to download a copy of the article, I signed up for a free trial account on Questia, downloaded the article, and then cancelled the subscription.  It's well worth a read.

Sorry for the delay...

I haven't been very a very productive blogger for the last couple of weeks!  Unfortunately, I've had to postpone a couple of potential topics for various reasons, which has left me empty-handed for today's post.  Not to mention that I've had spring fever since my last post and have been spending a lot of time working on the shade garden!  I will try to redouble my efforts in the coming week and hopefully generate a new post in about a week.

In the meantime, here's a great audio link from the Anglican1000 website that was sent to me by my friend Marcia.  It's a lecture by Tim Keller on contextualization, where he discusses why contextualization (of preaching, in his case) is necessary in expressing the Gospel and reaching those who need to hear it.  Although he doesn't deal specifically with the arts, what he discusses would apply to them also.  So I hope you will enjoy listening to it while I'm working on another post!

Here's the link: http://c808066.r66.cf2.rackcdn.com/04_2011_A1K_Keller_P3.mp3
To download the mp3, right-click on the player itself and select "Save video as...".

You can also access the lecture through iTunes here (Lecture #12).