Christian Artists Are Not Priests
How the romantic view of the priesthood of artists is dangerous
The following might get me into trouble with some readers, but I think it’s worth saying because it’s true: Christian artists are not priests. They don’t belong to some special class of holy people set apart by God (as we see under the Old Covenant) from other believers to proclaim spiritual truths. They aren’t a higher form of Christian given unique insight into beauty and the calling to save the world through beauty. They are humans given specific gifts by God and called to use those gifts to glorify him and love their neighbor through excellence, just like everyone else.
With the rise of secularism comes the idea of the artist (broadly defined: poet, sculpter, designer, painter, novelist, actor, and so on) as someone who speaks with prophetic power that used to be restricted only to Scripture (if you were Protestant) or the Catholic Church. Through poetry, for example, we could gain access to spiritual truths about existence which ordinary speech could not grant us. For some Romantics, Nature was seen as a cosmic force (rather than God), and the poet was the priest to this force. Unfortunately, we’ve continued to carry on this view of artists as gnostic priests who have access to secret wisdom. Great directors, musicians, painters, and novelists are often viewed in cultic ways. And even among Christians, I’ve seen artists treated as a special, elevated class. We elevate artists above “regular” people as superior or enlightened or granted special (gnostic!) insights into the being of things.
Except when we don’t, of course. Except when we deny that artists have anything meaningful to say. When we assume that there is nothing beneath the surface. When we are suspicious of anything complicated, challenging, difficult, or reeking of “high-brow”ness. Except when we demand that our “art” be superficial, easy to swallow, highly digestible, never offensive, and overwhelmingly positive in tone. When that is our attitude toward “art,” we look at any artist who challenges us not as a “priest” or as belonging to a special elevated class, but as an elitist. And in Christian circles, we often view them as a secular-pleasing elitist.
And here’s the rub.
I think the following has taken place:
I think that in some evangelical circles there has been an unhealthy elevation of art and artists which has implied or openly stated that they are unique, set apart, special, or above other believers.
I think this has largely been an overcorrection to the lack of support for the arts in evangelical circles.
Growing up in the late 80s and the 90s under the influence and shadow of Francis Schaeffer, I’ve seen how so many evangelicals have come to react against the Christ Against Culture posture that defined my childhood. In my adulthood I’ve watched a dramatic shift away from opposing cultural works and culture building. I would go so far as to say that we’ve swung too far the other direction. We are too permissive in our cultural intake and not discerning enough about what we watch and listen to. But that’s a different article. My point is that people like me who grew up in this era experienced a hostility toward the arts when they were young and so they carry an urgency to advocate for the arts with them. Maybe even to the point of overcorrection.
In addition, I think that while there has been a shift and more evangelicals in general are open to cultural works and are less legalistic, that doesn’t mean they are supportive of the arts. If you are a Christian painter, you probably still feel isolated. If you are a Christian poet, you probably still feel isolated. If you are a Christian actor or film-maker, you probably still feel isolated and unsupported by your community. Now, the internet has helped by making it possible to connect Christians with shared interests from across the globe, but that’s not the same as embodied communities. And unless you live in Nashville, you’re probably not finding much of a Christian arts community.
The kind of cultural works that many evangelicals support are the kind that most Americans support, which tend to be popular culture. If you are a Christian who wants to write music with challenging lyrics, or a novel that isn’t YA (which has its place), or a dramatist, or a painter, where are you going to find support? Who’s going to come to your shows, buy your books or paintings, tell you to keep going? I fear that some fellow Christians will look at your work with suspicion and some others will be bored because their attention spans have been fried by smartphones.
And so it makes some sense to think of artists not as lonely people working out their gifts in isolation, but as a uniquely called class of believers, elected to save the world through beauty.
I just don’t think that’s true.
I think artists are just like the rest of us, including college professors. They are called to use the gifts God has given them to glorify him and for the common good of their neighbor. Now, as it so happens, those gifts do involve beauty, and this world does need beauty, desperately. And it’s also true that the arts are capable of speaking profound truths to us, truths which we may only hear in verse or in color or symbol. But these are not secret, gnostic truths. The truth of things has been revealed in Christ. What we come to understand in art should give us a richer appreciation for that truth, among many other truths, but it is not a secret spiritual truth that is the key to holiness. It does not initiate the hearer into the inner circle of the enlightened, but ideally good art does draw them closer to wisdom, faith, hope, love, understanding, kindness, compassion, and humility. And further, this art, like all gifts, must be pursued with excellence for God’s glory. The artists, just like the plumber and the car mechanic, owes it to their neighbor to pursue their giftings with a hunger for excellence so that all of us benefit from the fruit of their labor.
None of this belittles the role of the artist, when understood properly. It is still a high calling, as all of life is a high calling for each of us. As motherhood is a high calling. As teaching is a high calling. As ministry is a high calling. I just worry that sometimes evangelicals who support the arts think about callings in three categories: Ministry, the Arts, and everyone else. But I don’t think that’s biblical nor do I think it’s healthy for artists.
For the artist who thinks of himself or herself as a priest, I worry that they will either think too highly of themself and struggle mightily with humility or that they will put too much pressure on themselves to achieve perfection in order to live up to this role. When you learn that we’re all in the same boat, that we’re all just called to be faithful to the gifts God has given us no matter what they are, then I think that takes the pressure off and we are free to live in grace and pursue excellence with delight. The best cultural works are done by people who know how to not take themselves seriously, but that’s difficult to do if you believe you are in a special class above everyone else. When you learn that being a poet makes you just like everyone else, there’s a peace in that. You can write your poetry in freedom from ego. And it will still communicate wisdom and truth and be beautiful and profound and powerful, and you will still just be you. And that is beautiful.
As a child of the 90s and periodic artist who often found Christian culture hostile to any art that was not Christian or even sufficiently theologically accurate (I once had an argument with a pastor over whether it was ok, much less good, to read *Lewis*), this is a fantastic piece. Souls and societies thrive when they order themselves rightly. Make art and artists the be all and end all—the source of gnostic wisdom—and we suffer. Paint art and artists as fools and pitfalls to be avoided—dangers and temptations to sin and worldliness—and we suffer. We need art and beauty; we need things to help teach our hearts to love good things, and art is wonderful at training our hearts. But, if we forget the artist is also human and fallen, we risk dropping our guard and allowing our hearts to be taught to love the wrong things. I definitely have fallen into the liberal side of that fine line before. This is a great reminder to work to keep things in their proper places.
This problem compounds when you factor in the overlap of Christian artists as worship leaders.
The Great Worship Market Consolidation of the 2010s mostly flattened out the CCM industry to where separating the artist from the purpose and destination of their art (or the context where they performed it!) wasn’t a meaningful distinction anymore. Most of what you heard on Christian radio were songs you’d never hear sung during a Sunday service; now most of the songs you hear are songs intentionally meant for corporate worship. Worship artists were a subset of the industry, now they’re easily the majority of it.
I’m thankful to know a great group of leaders at my church who resist this dynamic, but for artists with a “priest complex” serving in a priest-adjacent ministry position within the church, there is an entire industry of inspiration and peers passively reinforcing the distinction that they’re different, elevated, special from other believers.