Musings on Art, Stasis, Determinism and Hope

I've been reading Taking it to the Streets by Dr. Corbitt of Eastern University. The book is an inspiring introduction to arts-based community-development, a subject I've become recently fascinated in for several reasons. Just by way of background, I grew up as an art lover. I remember early childhood gifts of paint brushes and paint; I remember time passed over homemade easels and rolls of butcher paper. Throughout high-school I took as many art classes as I could. For parts of my Sophomore and Junior years I dreamed of studying at art school in the visual arts. Unfortunately, where I grew up there were no real examples of faith-integrated arts programs, or art-based evangelism. I had a hard time reconciling my love for drawing/painting and my desire to share the gospel to the unreached. I saw the two concepts in a false dichotomy, art or evangelism.

Stasis is stagnation. Stasis is things remaining as they are, unchanged. When something is static, it is cemented, fixed in stone. Stasis, in its essence, is a lack of change. When we see the world around us as static, we perceive the world as incapable of change. Seeing the world as static is a hopeless, cynical and desperate (full of despair) way of looking at life. It is also blatantly anti-Christian and anti-hope. Seeing people, churches and communities as static is seeing them as hopeless. We say it all the time in Aliquippa: the Christian faith is not compatible with hopeless people, hopeless churches, or hopeless communities.

I've often expressed to Joel and others that I have hard time believing in determinism of all kinds. In fact, I would go so far as to argue that determinism is evil and wrong. What do I mean by determinism? Determinism is the belief that our actions, lives, feelings, etc. are all somehow determined by something. We live in a society that embraces many forms of determinism. Anthropologists suggest our actions are governed by cultural determinism. Scientists suggest that our thoughts, moods and impulses are governed by biological determinism. Psychologists suggest that our thoughts and actions are governed by chemical determinism. Sociologists believe our reactions are governed by social influences, upbringing and demographics. Reformed theologians suggest our fates are theologically determined (predestination). I am not arguing that these different areas (biological makeup, chemicals, upbringing, etc.) do not have any effect on the way we think and act. What I am suggesting, however, is that when we limit these things to determinism, we are essentially believing in stasis. Determinism inevitably leads to a belief in stasis, a belief that things are determined and fixed. Determinism and stasis stand in direct opposition to hope. When we see the world as static, we see the world as beyond the hope of transformation.