From a preschooler’s first scribble to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, art is a unique part of humanity. However, there have been many diverse opinions throughout history on man’s exercise of his artistic capabilities. The ancient Greeks and the Christians hold opposing views that are greatly impacted by their respective religions. This becomes evident when both the ancient Greeks’ beliefs and the ways in which those beliefs contrast with the Christians’ are examined. The Greeks believed that the practice of art was stolen from the gods. In his drama, Aeschylus puts these words into the mouth of the character Prometheus, “Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus”. The …show more content…
Furthermore, the fact that art was stolen from the gods created an interesting struggle in the Greeks’ view of the artist; the artist is either superior to the common man, partaking in the actions of the gods, or morally decrepit, attempting to deceive others into believing he is something that he is not. The former school of thought held to the view of the gods presented by Sailors, “The anthropomorphic nature of [the Greek] gods was, in part, a self projection, an idyllic form of what humans could be”. However, while in this world view the gods were something for which humanity should strive to be like, the Greek gods were not believed to support man’s assentation to god-like status. Conversely, in his book, Republic, Plato argues the latter of the two views, claiming that there are three levels to everything: the idea, the reality, and the image. Plato builds his argument on his idea of levels of reality declaring that the artist tries to convince …show more content…
While the Greek believed that man’s practice of the arts was a feeble attempt to become like the gods, antagonizing the gods to no end, the Christian believes that artistic expression is one of the many unifying factors between God and humanity, bringing joy to their creator. Using the first chapter of Genesis as support, Christians claim that humans are image bearers of God, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him”. Additionally, creativity is a defining characteristic of the Christian God. This can be seen throughout the entire creation account contained, once again, within the first chapter of Genesis, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep”. Furthermore, if Plato’s levels of realities are to be taken into consideration, this passage shows that the Christian God is the ultimate creator, creating the idea, reality, and image of all things. Therefore, due to the fact that humanity was created as a reflection of God’s characteristics, creativity is an integral part of being human. Furthermore, while to the Greeks art was stolen from the gods, to the Christian art is a gift from God as is seen in the book of Exodus, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the