RELIGIOUS ART AND SYMBOLISM

Since ancient times, religious beliefs have found expression in music, paintings, architecture, dance and ritual. Religion can even be said to have been the cradle of art, for both express complex ideas in ways that speak to the mind and the imagination. There is thus no natural hostility between religion and art. Hostility arises only when art distorts the essence of religion or misrepresents a religious concept.

Symbolism is an important element of religious art. For example, the cross is a symbol of Christianity and the crescent moon a symbol of Islam. Similarly, in Hinduism hand gestures convey meaning, whether represented on a statue, imitated by a guru or included in religious dances and dramas.

People sometimes use symbols such as markings, ornaments and special clothing to indicate their religious identity. For example, followers of Shiva may have three horizontal white lines on their forehead. Such symbols may also signal social status, as when a married Hindu woman applies vermilion to the parting of her hair and wears a marriage necklace, bangles and toe rings.

Over time, some symbols lose their association with one particular religion and become part of the wider culture. Thus in India, Jains, Roman Catholics, Muslims and some Protestant Christian women also wear a ring on their second toe to convey their married status.

This is a good example of how people adopt the religious art and symbols of the dominant religion in their region, while also making changes to suit their own religious affiliations. Such adaptation may be necessary if a minority group is to thrive within an area dominated by another religion.

Religious symbols can serve as symbols of power and domination or as an assertion about a religion’s place in a community, as when a mosque or temple is erected on a particular site. Politicians can also appropriate religious symbols. For example, a political party in India has taken the lotus as its symbol and saffron as its colour in an attempt to persuade the Hindu population to support its ideology.

Such political appropriation of religious symbols can cause miscreants to destroy symbols associated with other religions, thereby raising tensions within the community.

In reacting against the art and symbols of other faiths, some Christians miss the rich art and symbolism that is part of their Christian heritage. They fail to see that the Bible affirms the universality of art as a gift of God. In fact the very first chapter of the Bible can be interpreted as describing the “art” of God. He shaped everything that exists, and his “artwork” is a powerful symbol pointing to him as the creator (Rom 1:20).

As beings made in the image of the creator, we too are creative. Moreover God has confirmed that the material world is good. Not only did he create it, but he became incarnate in it and the Holy Spirit has come to be with us in it (Gen 1:31; John 1:14; 1 Cor 3:16). Thus we need not be hostile to all images and forms of art, for art (like human beings) only becomes sinful when it forgets its divine origin and begins to serve evil purposes.

Christians can and should engage with art and symbolism in their worship, living and witness. We should recognise these elements in the words of Scripture that we read, in the music we use in worship, and in the majesty of the ritual form of services in some traditions. We can meditate on what it means to say that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15) and that we are being transformed into his image (Rom 8:29). God’s spiritual nature is something that cannot be captured by any image of wood or stone (Acts 17:29), and that is why he forbade any worship of artefacts said to represent him (Exod 20:3-4). But in his grace he did send Christ as the perfect representation of himself (see also the article “Avatar and Incarnation”).

But what should we make of the art and symbols of the wider culture in which we live? First, we should recognise that the religious art and symbolism found in other faith traditions are not intentionally anti-Christian. They do, however, reflect the understanding of the nature of God and reality in each religion. Secondly, we should recognise that in many South Asian traditional cultures, religion and culture are inseparable. It is not easy to separate them or to isolate cultural elements and customs and Christianise them. Accepting certain symbols may be interpreted as accepting many of the beliefs of the religion from which they came. Yet without accepting them, we may not be able to communicate with people whose understanding of reality is bound up with such symbols. (That is also one reason why Christians should watch some movies and popular television shows.)

To the average South Asian non-Christian, Asian Christianity is a Western religion with Western art and symbolism. We should change this false perspective by using Asian art and symbolism. After all, Jesus Christ came from West Asia. The Western art left behind by the colonial powers is of religious and sociological significance, but the Asian church must develop its own religious art and symbolism.

What would such Asian Christian art look like? Here are a few examples to stimulate our thinking. The architects who designed the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS) in Bangalore adapted many of the outer structural features of Hindu temples. Some churches have also adopted elements of traditional South Asian worship; for example, the worshippers sit on the floor rather than on pews, and there are kuthu vizhakkus (lampstands), garlands and incense sticks. The worshippers sing Christian bhajans set to traditional Carnatic or Hindustani music and celebrate fellowship in new life by sharing the flesh and water of a coconut.

Above the entrance to the chapel of Dharmaram College in Bangalore, Christ is depicted sitting in the Indian cross-legged posture. This mosaic uses both South Asian symbolism and South Asian placement, for in Hindu temples images of the deity worshipped within a temple are placed atop the entrance to the temple. But while this image unabashedly honours Christ, it is not intended to be an object for worship. South Asian Christians should use more such art and symbolism to stress that the core kingdom values of Jesus Christ extend over all.

John Arun Kumar