How Should I Approach Art?

How Should I Approach Art? offers a concise introduction to the relationship between Christianity and the arts, exploring how Scripture grounds the concept of beauty in the character of God.

Dr. R.C. Sproul examines the biblical foundations of aesthetics, arguing that God is the source and standard of all that is good, true, and beautiful. The book traces the history of art in the Christian church—from the Spirit-filled artisans of the Old Testament tabernacle through the iconoclastic controversies to the debates of the Protestant Reformation—showing how the church has long wrestled with the proper place of art in worship and life.

Across nine chapters, Sproul addresses a range of artistic disciplines, including music, literature, drama, film, and architecture. He considers how philosophical shifts in Western culture have affected standards of beauty and created challenges for Christian artists seeking to engage the broader culture. Throughout, the book calls readers to recover an appreciation for beauty as an integral dimension of the Christian life, one that should not be severed from concerns for goodness and truth.

This booklet is part of the Crucial Questions series published by Ligonier Ministries.

Key Themes

• The biblical connection between beauty, holiness, and the glory of God
• The history of art in the church and the iconoclastic controversies
• The inescapability of art forms in corporate worship
• The crisis facing Christian artists in contemporary culture
• The unity of the good, the true, and the beautiful in Scripture

Featured Quotes

“The Scriptures are concerned about three dimensions of the Christian life: the good, the true, and the beautiful. But we have cut off the third from the other two.”

“There is no possible escape from art or from externals or from liturgy in corporate worship because corporate worship has to take place somewhere, and forms are involved wherever you worship.”