By Father Robert Lauder
For years I have been reflecting on the nature of art, the power of art, what makes some art religious and several other topics related to art.
One reason that this is a preoccupation is that when I was in college I co-wrote my senior philosophy thesis with two other seminarians on the nature of art. Another reason is that in several philosophy courses at St. John’s University the students and I deal with the nature of art. One of my courses is on the “Catholic novel,” another is on film. Add to that the fact that for approximately 30 years, I have been conducting film festivals and also adult education courses on the “Catholic novel.” I also regularly encourage people to read “Catholic novels” and to see great films.
My views about art often have changed through the years. While I was writing a book about many years ago on the Catholic novelist Walker Percy, I tried to evaluate a statement Percy made explaining why he switched from writing scholarly philosophical essays to writing novels. He said that he believed he had something important say and that he wanted to reach a wider audience. Did Percy’s desire to communicate a message in his novels turn his books into proselytizing tracts or long homilies? I don’t think so.
Though I think that it is dangerous to create a work of art with the intention of communicating a message, I believe that Percy, because of both his insights and his skill, succeeded in writing six novels that are excellent works of art.
A few years ago, friends of mine sent me an essay by Russell Kirk on what Kirk calls the “moral imagination.” Kirk wrote the following:
“The moral imagination aspires to the apprehending of right order in the soul and right order in the commonwealth. The moral imagination was the gift and the obsession of Plato and Vergil and Dante. Drawn from centuries of human consciousness, the concepts of the moral imagination … are expressed afresh from age to age…
“What then is the end object, or purpose of humane letters? Why, the expression of the moral imagination, or, to put this truth in a more familiar phrase, the end of great books is ethical – to teach us what it means to be genuinely human.”
Mirroring Nature
Kirk has convinced me. I think the goal of all art is to hold the mirror up to nature. Great art, in one way or another, presents the human mystery to us, reveals to us what it means to be human. Of course, in doing this, the artist has to be skilled as an artist. The best intentions in the world may not be sufficient to create great work of art. A very poor film about Jesus is still a very poor film. A great film about a leader of the mafia is still a great film. The artist who tries to depict evil should depict that evil. So a film that, in one way or another, encourages people to join the mafia cannot be a great film in my opinion.
The Catholic novelist Alice McDermott claims that her Catholic faith colors every word she writes. Does that mean that she is proselytizing? I don’t think so. In her wonderful novels, she reveals the mystery of the human and I think, at least indirectly, the mystery of the divine.
Imitating God
Traditional metaphysics, the branch of philosophy that deals with the mystery of being, can shed some light on why great art is so important. Everything that God creates in some way imitates God. Every being that God creates is good, true and beautiful. The poets and the saints seem to be more aware of this than the rest of us. They seem to be more aware of the mysteries that surround us.
Some artists can depict the good, the true and the beautiful so well that they lead us more deeply into the mystery of God. I suspect that all of us have experienced this kind of illumination. That leads me to think of the poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, the novels of Graham Greene, the sculpture and paintings of Michelangelo, the paintings of Georges Rouault, the plays of Eugene O’Neill and the films of Frank Capra.
It is not only philosophy that calls our attention to the profound truth that we are surrounded by mystery. Our Christian faith tells us that the Risen Christ and His Spirit are everywhere inspiring us and inviting us to accept God’s love.
Is it possible that the Risen Christ and his Spirit are inspiring artists? Why not? If art can profoundly influence people, we can be certain that God – in some mysterious way – must be part of the artist’s life.
Father Robert Lauder is a philosophy professor at St. John’s University, Jamaica, and author of “Pope Francis’ Spirituality and Our Story” (Resurrection Press).
Father Lauder’s Film Festival
Father Robert Lauder’s 51st Friday Film Festival continues with Rob Reiner’s “A Few Good Men,” April 22, 7:30 p.m. at the Immaculate Conception Pastoral Center in Douglaston. The suggested donation: $6 at the door.