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Art In The Bible: Painting Pictures With Words: A Picture is Worth A Thousand Wor ds

by

R. Alan Woods San Diego: Rhema Rising Press Copyright 2007

Art in the Bible? You may well say, I didnt know there was any art in the Bib le!. 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 througho ut most of the canonized books of the Old Testament- the Torah- and New Testamen t. We can most especially and readily see these word pictures and the images the y 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 wr itings as it relates to active human agencies have inspired the creative imagina tions 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 cult ure and the early Christian Church did not exit. Up until the 5th century the vi sual representation of Biblical themes were confined strictly to the passive hum an agency of scribes and craftsmen/artisans. In the beginning God created the Cosmos, all matter and energy, from nothing . the Godhead prepurposed 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 Gods. The unified-field theory of Christian theology is: Jesus is God (Woods)- the m aking of that which is invisible to be visible and in expressing that which is u nknowable, or at least recognizable, by utilizing that which is known or familia r to us. Not only Is there art in the Bible, but as art inspires art, our intrinsic dri ve to express ourselves creatively- like father, like son- has been given a rich a nd 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- G od.

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