Visual Art: Visions of Glory in Eschatological Community

Félix-Jäger, Steven

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-67919-8_6

Steven Félix-Jäger⁴

Part of the book series: Christianity and Renewal - Interdisciplinary Studies ((CHARIS))

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Abstract

By assessing visibility and folk art, this chapter gives our pneumatological aesthetics a visionary eschatological component that is integral to one’s understanding of community. Pentecostals and charismatics are an eschatological people, and visual art can play a significant role in community formation and symbolic expression. This chapter overviews outsider and folk art, particularly focusing on the works of William Thomas Thompson, Sister Gertrude Morgan, and Howard Finster. Although the artworld recognizes the artists over against their actual artistic production, one can still glean important things about symbolic expression and authenticity from these artists. This chapter posits that artists can truly create visionary works when they come from a place of authenticity.

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Notes

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This should not be overstated, however, as Jonathan Anderson and William Dyrness offer a full account of Christian engagement in modern art in their recent book Modern Life and the Life of a Culture: The Religious Impulses of Modernism (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2016).
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It should be noted that Marion differs on this point. He believes that an authentic painting “escapes as much the one who signs it as the one who looks at it (35).” But I believe this loses the crucial point that context is needed to adequately understand a work of art. An artwork’s context includes both its creator and the viewer as components to its ontology. The crucial point is not who created the work, but rather that it was created. The author indicates the piece’s history and the viewer its function as an object of contemplation.
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56.
It should be noted that neither the Holiness nor Pentecostal movements began in the South. Holiness Christianity gained a southern audience following the postbellum era after originating in the North (Stephens, The Fire Spreads, 16), and Pentecostal teachings began in Kansas with teachings from Charles Parham , but were really set ablaze at the Azusa Street Revival beginning in 1906 under the leadership of William Seymour (227). Holiness and Pentecostal faith and practices, however, did find their way South, where they would grow exponentially in adherents and influence.
57.
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90.
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91.
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92.
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95.
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98.
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Southeastern University, Lakeland, Florida, USA
Steven Félix-Jäger

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Félix-Jäger, S. (2017). Visual Art: Visions of Glory in Eschatological Community. In: Spirit of the Arts. Christianity and Renewal - Interdisciplinary Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67919-8_6

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67919-8_6
Published: 02 November 2017
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-67918-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-67919-8
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