Durham E-Theses Calvinism and the arts: A re-assessment Joby, Christopher Richard How to cite: Joby, Christopher Richard (2005) Calvinism and the arts: A re-assessment, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2873/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Abstract Calvinism and the arts: A re-assessment Although many believe John Calvin had a negative attitude towards the arts, particularly visual art, my contention is that we find within his writings and the development of the Reformed tradition a more positive attitude to the arts than has hitherto been recognized. In chapters one and two, I look in detail at Calvin's own writings. I begin by examining exactly what type of visual art he rejected and what type he affirmed. I then look at how his eschatology and epistemology, particularly his use of the metaphor of mirror, allow us to argue for the placing of certain types of art within Reformed churches, notably history and landscape paintings. In chapters three and four, I consider music and architecture within Calvin's writings and the Reformed tradition. I suggest that the respective ontologies of metrical psalms and Reformed church-buildings both share something with those of history and landscape paintings and that it is inconsistent to allow for the former, but reject the latter. In the last three chapters, I focus on visual art. I examine the development of decoration and forms of visual art such as stained-glass windows in selected Reformed churches and suggest that it naturally follows that history and landscape paintings should be allowed for in such churches. I look at examples of these from seventeenth- century Netherlands, when Calvinism was the pre-dominant mode of religious expression, and argue that their form and content provide us with ontological and epistemological arguments which inevitably lead to the conclusion that their continued exclusion from Reformed churches is no longer tenable. In short, the use of appropriate works of art in Reformed churches is wholly consistent with the fundamental notions underpinning Calvin's theology and liturgical practices in the Reformed tradition, and their continued exclusion fi-om most of these churches is an anomaly. (300 words) Calvinism and the arts: A re-assessment A copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it Number of Volumes: One should be acknowledged. Name: Christopher Richard Joby Degree: Ph.D University: Durham University Department: Department of Theology and Religion Year of Submission: 2005 Contents Introduction IV Chapter One: Calvin and art. A detailed analysis of exactly what type of visual art 1 Calvin opposed and what he affirmed Chapter Two: Epistemology and Eschatology: How we can know of God's 36 activity in the world through works of art from within the theology of John Calvin Chapter Thi"ee: Calvin, music and visual art: Ontological and epistemological 65 similarities between Calvin's metrical psalmody and history and landscape paintings Chapter Four: The form and ontology of church in the Reformed Tradition 118 Chapter Five: Art and Identity: How we can argue for the introduction of history 152 and landscape paintings into Reformed churches by considering decoration and works of art already in them Chapter Six; Rembrandt's The Risen Christ at Emmam (1648): the 191 epistemological value of a history painting Chapter Seven: Jacob van Ruisdael's landscape paintings: a place where man 225 encounters God's activity in the world Conclusion 256 Plates 259 Bibliography 262 Declaration I hereby declare that no material in this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree in this or any other university and that this thesis is solely the work of myself, Christopher Richard Joby. Statement of Copyright: The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotations from it should be published in any form, including electronic and the Internet, without the author's prior written consent. All information derived from this thesis must be acknowledged appropriately. IV Introduction There has been a growing interest amongst theologians in recent years in the arts, particularly the visual arts. What some may find surprising is that much of this interest either comes from within the Reformed tradition, or considers the relationship between this tradition and the visual arts'. Although the tradition is a diverse one, which over time has been subject to a wide variety of influences, there is no doubt that the most important figure in its development is John Calvin (1509-1564). Calvin's influence on the tradition is clear. At the time of the Reformation, his relationship with figures such as John Knox, meant that his ideas spread far beyond the walls of Geneva. And during the history of the Reformed movement up to and including modern times, creedal statements such as the Heidelberg Catechism have been shaped by his thought. During the history of the Reformed movement, there is no doubt that there has been much opposition to the use of visual art, particularly within church buildings, and some of the responsibility for this must lie with Calvin himself However, in the last one hundred years or so, several groups of commentators from within the tradition have tried to argue for a more positive estimation of visual art than has hitherto been the case. One such group is the so-called Dutch neo-Calvinists, who include amongst their number Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck, Hans Rookmaaker and Calvin Seerveld^. However, typically these commentators only rarely address what Calvin himself wrote on * A seminal work in tliis regaid is the collection of essays; Paul Corby Finney (ed.). Seeing Beyond the Word: Visual Arts and the Calvinist Tradition (Cambridge; Eerdmans, 1999). ' For a fine intr oduction to the ideas of tire Dutch neo-Calvinists, see: Jeremy Begbie, Voicing Creation's Praise (Edinburgh; T & T Clark, 1991). questions of images and visual art in general, preferring rather to engage with other resources such as those of philosophy. Other commentators, notably the French writers Leon Wencelius and Jerome Cottin, do engage with Calvin's writing in their attempts to develop an aesthetic consonant with Reformed thought^. However, I suggest that neither of these is sufficiently critical of Calvin's vmtings, and also that they do not consider developments in the attitude towards visual art, as well as other forms of art, in the history of the Reformed tradition. ]n my approach to arguing for a more positive attitude towards visual art in this tradition, I, like Wencelius and Cottin, engage with Calvin's thought, but unlike them, am more critical of it, particularly that part of it which relates to the use of images. I also take seriously developments over time in the relationship between Reformed communities and the arts. I begin with a detailed analysis of exactly what Calvin said about the visual arts, reflecting both on what he did write as opposed to what it is commonly believed he wrote, and also on his use of sources, as I believe insufficient attention has been paid to this up to now. Having done this, I then ask whether there are other aspects of Calvin's thought which might allow us to argue for a more positive assessment of visual art. Here, I suggest that his epistemology, eschatology, understanding of music and ontology of church all provide " Leon Wencelius, L 'esthetique de Calvin (Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1979), and Jerdme Cottin, Le Regard et la Parole: Une theologie protestante del'image (Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1994). vi us with the opportunity to argue more strongly in favour of visual art. What I also argue is that if Calvin had been consistent in his application of these aspects of his thought, as well as others such as his affirmation of God's transcendence, then he might have recognized that his attitude towards certain works of visual art was anomalous. But, as well as considering Calvin's own thought, I also look at developments within the Reformed tradition in a variety of countries. What we find here is that, over time, Reformed communities have slowly adapted themselves to the arts. We see, for example, more diverse forms of musical expression, the ornate decoration of pulpits, organs and stained-glass windows and even some instances of depictions of Christ'*, something which Calvin himself strongly opposed. This leads us to reflect on whether the modern understanding of visual art is the same as that which informed Calvin and his fellow Reformers. I argue that it is not, and suggest that if we consider works of visual art, such as history and landscape paintings, as sets of symbols which aUnde to realities beyond themselves, then it would be more acceptable to place them in churches in the Reformed tradition. However, I recognize, and state regularly throughout what follows, that the ontology of a work of visual art depends to some extent on the viewer.