The arts and apologetics

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vla3

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This my first post on CAF!
I was a devout Protestant for 30 years before entering the Catholic Church 11 years ago. I brought my family and a few friends with me (by God’s grace of course). I love Catholic Answers and Christian/Catholic apologetics in general.
As professional musician and someone who is surrounded by artistic minds, I have found that there is a very large segment of the population that would look at a large, complex apologetics article addressing bible/Church doctrines as merely a sea of words. Because of this, I often wonder if there is a branch of apologetics that has yet to fully emerge- but really needs to…
If I want to effectively express an idea to someone, especially if it is a complex one, I always try to use visuals, analogies, or stories. However, the apologetics scene seems to be dominated by wonderfully knowledgable writers that often seem to be of the ‘lawyer’ type. This written, detailed, and sometimes log-winded style of communication appeals to only a limited segment of the faith inquirers. I am proposing, for example, that an animated or illustrated version of ‘the Catholic Doctrine of Justification’ would be highly effective. Imagine a beautiful yet common analogy of salvation, i.e. the plant: the initial seed is faith, the stem is hope, the fruit is love, illustrated or animated, with the scripture verses involving salvation and the fruit required scrolled up one after the other, clearly narrated and explained. And then, that would be compared that with the relatively plain (and unbiblical) Protestant version of a courtroom ‘declaration’ of righteousness–all in imagery. When I think of the Papacy (Matt 16:18, the Rock, and the authority structure of king/prime minister/along side other ministers), or apostolic succession (and how those who disconnect with it disconnect from each other and the historic Church), or Marian dogmas-and on and on–other analogies or images come to mind. What would happen if the Church began employing great artists, poets, storytellers, and philosophers (guided by apologists and theologians) to tell the divine story of God’s love and illustrate the doctrines Christ’s Church? Would it not open up a whole new and needed branch of apologetics?
 
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I feel the same way as you, I would like that a lot. I hope as an artist I will be inspired to make something like that.
 
My daughter is an artist and my son is a composer…perhaps we all will give it a go this summer break. Thanks for the encouragement!
 
It was quite common in the 1950s and 1960s to have small pamphlets (about shirt pocket size) in the back of the Church along part of a wall in a series of racks. These covered almost every subject that was of concern to young and old. They were brief, used simple or simplified language and simple illustrations as needed. They weren’t long-winded and got their points across. There were also Catholic story books for children about Mary and Jesus that had simple, but well done, illustrations to help introduce children to the faith. Their messages talked about God’s love for you and presented some of God’s qualities. This was all fortified and explained further in Religion Class at my Catholic school. We also had calendars with religious images at home.
 
I think it’s been done. Artists through the ages have drawn on Biblical events and sacred characters for their masterpieces. Paintings come to mind of the Prodigal son by Rembrandt, multiple depictions of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. And there are graphic comics of the Bible such as this one.
The Church is renowned for using statues, art, stained glass windows, and music to convey her ideas to the illiterate. But there is always room for more.
 
The church has always done this. All the great cathedrals are adorned with works of art on biblical themes. Much of the greatest music ever written is devoted directly or indirectly to praising God and his creation. (even today) Only since Vatican II with its iconoclastic undertones are we (in America) subjected to a more “methodist” style of church architecture. Unadorned, bare walls, no icons or any decorations. I would be in favor of any movement that would utilize art and music to bring into focus fundamentals of our faith.
 
Reminds me of the conversion of Thomas Merton

And now for the first time in my life I began to find out something
of Who this Person was that men called Christ. It was obscure, but it
was a true knowledge of Him, in some sense, truer than I knew and
truer than I would admit. But it was in Rome that my conception of
Christ was formed. It was there I first saw Him, Whom I now serve as
my God and my King, and Who owns and rules my life. p142

These mosaics told me more than I had ever known of the doctrine
of a God of infinite power, wisdom, and love Who had yet become
Man, and revealed in His Manhood the infinity of power, wisdom and
love that was His Godhead. Of course I could not grasp and believe
these things explicitly. But since they were implicit in every line of the
pictures I contemplated with such admiration and love, surely I
grasped them implicitly-I had to, in so far as the mind of the artist
reached my own mind, and spoke to it his conception and his thought.
And so I could not help but catch something of the ancient craftsman’s
love of Christ, the Redeemer and Judge of the World. p. 143

 
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vla3 said:
the apologetics scene seems to be dominated by wonderfully knowledgable writers that often seem to be of the ‘lawyer’ type.
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The “apologetics scene” seems to be mostly targeted towards people who either were raised as Bible-interpreting Protestants, or logical scientist/ lawyer/ STEM types etc. who need some sort of convincing by way of logical argument that Catholicism is the true faith. That is why it has evolved that way.

I agree with the other posters that there is already tons and tons of religious art out there, some of it targeted towards children, but much of it dating from the eras prior to about the 19th or 20th century when the vast majority of the Catholic population simply could not read, and had to learn the truths of their faith through visual aids coupled with verbal explanation from the priest.

I would suggest you look through the history of religious art on whatever doctrine you are seeking enlightenment. You will probably find some wonderful things.

Having said that, there is always room for more. I’m a big fan of the graphic novel/ “picture Bible” / Christian comic approach. There is a lot of such material already out there, mostly done by Protestants, and while much of it can also apply to Catholicism, it would be nice to have more “picture Bibles” and graphic novels and such from a strictly Catholic view.
 
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vla3 said:
artists, poets, storytellers, and philosophers (guided by apologists and theologians) to tell the divine story of God’s love and illustrate the doctrines Christ’s Church?
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The Church is several steps ahead of you my friend.

Holy Mother Church has literally been doing this for centuries upon centuries.

Artists like Michaelangelo
Poets like Dante
Storytellers like the Evangelists
Philosophers like Blessed Duns Scotus and St. Thomas Aquinas
 
We need to constantly renew and refresh the images. The Bible and Jesus remain the same, but certain methods of getting Bible stories across have become available. In the 1940s, comic books titled Picture Stories from the Bible were produced by DC Comics and EC Comics. The art in the latter wasn’t very good. Art is being restored in Churches. I recently saw some beautiful, new painted icons. There are stories to be told that reflect our present but cast in a Bible-inspired narrative.
 
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Thanks so much for all the replies!
Because I was not as clear as I ought to have been, I was probably misunderstood a bit by some…
The idea I have in mind is a short, animated, and narrated video that makes use of creative imagery and the projection of statements, correlating scriptures, or other quotations to compellingly present otherwise hard to grasp doctrines such as justification, the incarnation, the papacy, etc. There are many who are simply not theologically inclined; they are not compelled to sit and read theological books or articles or listen to long talks. There are also many who just do not learn as effectively in those modes. However, a 5-8 minute video that is really well conceived and produced that could be seen on social media (Youtube, etc) might be one of the better ways to reach people today–particularly young people and skeptics. This would take a serious search for the right kind of talent up to the task and sufficient investment (by CA and its supporters?). Hopefully this post was a lot clearer!
 
Because I was not as clear as I ought to have been, I was probably misunderstood a bit by some…
The idea I have in mind is a short, animated, and narrated video that makes use of creative imagery and the projection of statements, correlating scriptures, or other quotations to compellingly present otherwise hard to grasp doctrines such as justification, the incarnation, the papacy, etc. There are many who are simply not theologically inclined; they are not compelled to sit and read theological books or articles or listen to long talks. There are also many who just do not learn as effectively in those modes. However, a 5-8 minute video that is really well conceived and produced that could be seen on social media (Youtube, etc) might be one of the better ways to reach people today–particularly young people and skeptics. This would take a serious search for the right kind of talent up to the task and sufficient investment (by CA and its supporters?). Hopefully this post was a lot clearer!
 
ChurchPop, a website designed for young people, has a lot of short videos. Some are more artistic than others, but the idea is to get basic concepts across to an audience with a short attention span who are not going to sit through a long presentation.

Again, I am not knocking the idea, the Church can always use more ways, and more creative ways, to get its message across. I get a lot more out of a succinct billboard or picture than i do out of some loooooong written thing myself. But if you look around - and not focus your search on the term “Apologetics” as many people don’t even know what that means or would think it involved someone apologizing for something - you will likely find that some of what you seek already exists.
 
@vla3

Aha! The Church is already a step ahead of you on this too! Lol, nothing new under the sun, verily!

Bishop Robbert Barron has an excellent series called “Catholicism” which does exactly what you just posted.

His Excellency also has tons of 5-10 min videos on his YT channel discussing things of a spiritual nature.

 
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vla3 said:
Because I was not as clear as I ought to have been, I was probably misunderstood a bit by some…

The idea I have in mind is a short, animated, and narrated video that makes use of creative imagery and the projection of statements, correlating scriptures, or other quotations to compellingly present otherwise hard to grasp doctrines such as justification, the incarnation, the papacy, etc
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Have you looked at Father Mike Schmitz’s videos?

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=father+mike+schmitz+

Although not video have you read Jimmy Akin’s book “A Daily Defense”? He takes 366 topics and addresses each within the confines of one page. It might give you some insight on what to address about the topics you want to cover.
 
Having been involved in animation work, traditional and computer generated, a few things to keep in mind:
  1. Before anything is done, lay out the animation in black white with all the key scenes. That way, the beginning, middle and end will become clearer to whoever is doing the animation.
  2. A lot of subtle things in animation need to be considered, aside from good drawing skills. Lighting to create mood and atmosphere, which also serves the dialogue in the story.
  3. Write out the story. Have a number of people read it and ask them if the message is clear and easy to understand.
  4. The finished animation looks easy, especially if it’s short, but too many don’t have good art or good writing skills. And, like a movie, to keep the viewer watching, you need to change ‘camera angles’ as well, which is a learned skill.
Hope this helps,
Ed
 
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You’re in for a treat.

Bishop Barron is one of the most powerful intellects in the English speaking Church. He’s incredibly erudite, pious, just very, very Christ-like. He’s a gift to the Church given by Christ Himself.
 
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