Tomorrow evening we’ll be having a split session with our teens on the topic of modesty and self-control. As I perused various resources, I came across an interesting article by a pastor. After confessing his love for surfing but his dislike for modern swimwear, he makes this interesting point:
We have done with clothing the same thing we have done with art. It is exempt from biblical evaluation. For example, most everyone reveres the artistic contributions of Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci, who are arguably the most talented painters and sculptors in the history of mankind. … Their works were primarily influenced by pagan Greek philosophy which glorified and exposed the naked body. … We call it art.
Somehow, in the evangelical community, art and fashion have become exempt from biblical evaluation. Call naked sculpture “art”, and modern swimwear “fashion”, if you will, but let’s just be honest and give it the other label it deserves: public nakedness. [article]
I’ve always found this odd as well.
Catholic painters of the Middle Ages and early Christian Age painted Biblical scenes in order to find acceptance and continued sponsorship of their work by the church leaders. It is well known that they purposely chose scenes that depicted nudity (e.g., Adam & Eve)in order to have the opportunity to indulge their prurient interests.
To quote Jaz Coleman (of the punk band Killing Joke), “Anyone can make noise and call it art.” In his case, he was dismissing poseurs in the punk era, but the statement can be applied here — “art” doesn’t mean that something is “right” or “acceptable”, it may still be noise.
Robert Maplethorpe proved that for all of us.