The Visual Arts In Worship

As worship arts, the visual arts include architecture, sculpture, painting, mosaic, and the crafting of artifacts. These arts create durable objects that may be seen and handled. Although of lesser importance in the biblical perspective than some other art forms, the visual arts may serve as effective windows into the holy. Static Nature of the Visual Arts With the exception of architecture and its associated furnishings, the visual arts are given lesser importance in biblical worship than are other art forms. The reason for this may be found in the character of Yahweh. The Bible associates his name with a Hebrew phrase meaning "I will be who I will be," and makes clear that he is known by his people through their experience with him in the ongoing events of redemptive history. In other words, Yahweh is not known statically, as a reality to be grasped only at one moment of time; no static image can represent him. Rather, he represents himself dynamically, as one known through his a…