Echoes of Eden:
Book on
Christianity
and the Arts

By: Kyle Werner

I recently read Jerram Barrs’ new book Echoes of Eden: Reflections on Christianity, Literature, and the Arts, and found it to be immensely inspiring.   Tim Keller hailed this book as “the most accessible, readable, and yet theologically robust work on Christianity and the arts that you will be able to find.”  I would agree.  In Echoes of Eden, Barrs examines the ways that the arts awaken our imaginations and raise our awareness of the basic truths of Christian theology: the original goodness of God’s creation, the contamination of sin brought about by the fall, and the future redemption of God’s Kingdom in the New Jerusalem.  Barrs discusses the ways that these doctrines are incarnated in the arts in general, and then looks specifically into a variety of examples in both classic and contemporary literature, including authors such as C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, William Shakespeare, and Jane Austen.

Barrs’ stance towards the arts is highly refreshing in that he draws heavily on the doctrines of common grace and general revelation.  Unfortunately, many Christians have taken a posture of critique or condemnation of arts and artists that do not bear an overtly Christian stamp or content, judging art by its content, and never by its craft, form, or beauty.  Thankfully Barrs demonstrates an ability to apply the doctrines mentioned above in order to see God at work throughout both Christian and non Christian artists, and in particular works they may or may not have an overtly Christian message.  The arts can be a place for both general and special revelation.  God’s natural creation consists of beauty, order, design, unity, and variety – not a series of tracts, rules, or doctrines.  In the same way, the arts reveal God’s greatness in myriad ways.

As a classical composer myself, I found this book very uplifting.  Many composers today are creating works of disorder and hopelessness, alienating their performers and audiences.  Abandoning past musical traditions and conventional concepts of beauty, they fall into an idolatry of the “new,” and compose music to dazzle and impress their colleagues rather than showcase performers and edify audiences.  Echoes of Eden encouraged me to seek out glimpses of the image of God in the midst of this darkness, and to create redemptive music, even when writing works that are not overtly “Christian.”  Whether we are the creators, or the audience of the arts, we should seek to engage with the arts in a way that glorifies God and serves one another.  In closing, I would offer four questions for us all to answer:

1. To what art forms and artists do I devote my time, attention, and money?
2. In what ways do they exemplify the original goodness of creation, the current 
brokenness of the world, and the coming redemption of God’s Kingdom?
3. Do these artists demonstrate excellent craft and ability, in addition to their content or message?
4. Do the answers to the first three questions show us any ways that God may be calling us to change our viewing/reading/listening habits?