"The Diviners"

I recently attended a production of the play “The Diviners” at a seminary here in the South (I’ll avoid using names to protect the guilty.) My best friend of 20 years directed it (flawlessly, I might add) amidst some controversy over the content of the play and the appropriateness of performing it at a seminary (there is cursing in the play, which was toned down for this particular production.) What so frustrated me was that these characters, although portrayed by Christian actors, were not Christians in the play, yet the entire cast was being criticized by much of the surrounding community for a few (literally about 4 in a two-hour-long period) choice words. How can we expect Christian artists to perform honestly, with the kind of truth and tenacity to which we are called, without accurately portraying both Christian and non-Christian perspectives?

And I think perhaps this problem relates to more than just Christian art. I see Christian leaders lobbying in politics, trying to convince Christians and church-goers to vote for policies that will enforce “conservative Christian ideals.” But let’s think about this for a moment. When we start legislating morality, what happens to our rights? Do we honestly want non-Christians to be governed into behaving like Christians? We expect people who don’t know Christ to look and act just like people who do. And that completely goes against everything that we’re called to do as the people of God. We’re supposed to be set apart from the world, “in it, but not of it.” How are they supposed to recognize us if we all look the same?

Homogeny makes for boring art, whether it’s Christian or not. During the Renaissance chiaroscuro came into vogue, the marked contrast between dark and light, and it made for some stunning works of art. It’s that willingness to portray things in their true states, the dark as varied shades of shadow and the light as flickering values of luminosity, that allows true art to come to the forefront. It’s where we get the debate over whether art imitates life or life imitates art. True art is so real that it blurs the line between the craft and life itself. Where is the truth in our art now? The dark, ugly truths we’d rather hide beneath a mask, and the light, beautiful truths we put on display for the world to see... they both belong on the canvas, along with every shade in between.