Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
Theological Commitments
Here are my four theological commitments that I have developed and have become more
refined because of Luther Seminary. They are presented by four oil pastel pieces of artwork that
are shown on my website. The four theological commitments are labeled such as this: Saint &
Sinner, Hospitality & Love, Justified by Faith / Grace, and The Arts and Theology. Each
section explains my specific theological commitment along with an interpretation of the artwork
To start off with, the first art piece is called Saint & Sinner, which happens to be an
idea from Luther to be more exact. A lot of this Saint and Sinner idea has come from
professors at Luther Seminary who talk about Luther and from some of the class readings. I am
not one-hundred percent sure on where exactly this idea was quoted since I did not have to take
the more extensive Lutheran Confessions class, but I know that this idea pops up in other places.
For example, in The Bondage of the Will Luther talks about how sinfulness is found in everyone
and not by free choice.1 This would then be the Sinner side of the human. Obviously, Luther
goes on to talk about being justified by faith and not by works later on in this same writing and in
other writings of his, which I will talk more about for another art piece. This would then help
show more of the Saint side of the human, especially when faith is part of this whole thing in
the first place. Overall, this means to me that humans are both saints and sinners at the same time
because we are constantly not doing what we should be doing, but God has given us the grace
1. Timothy F. Lull and William R. Russell, Martin Luthers Basic Theological Writings,
3rd ed., (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2012), 141-147.
Here is then my interpretation of my art piece for this theological commitment to help
explain further. First of all, the art piece is supposed to overall represent an abstract tree where
the trunk is a human or human kind in general. The trunk is colored by two colors where the
golden brown is the Saint while the darker brown is the Sinner, so it shows humans are both.
The roots are there to show how embedded this is within us and that goes back to the very
beginning. Then the arms or branches reach upward in a praising formation in which it touches
the lush green that represents us still bearing good fruit or having the ability of being good
because of God. Along with that, the yellow ring around the green represents God in which we
are justified by faith and have God to help give us life for nourishment and growth.
The next piece of artwork is called Hospitality & Love. This theological commitment is
that we as Christians should be able to practice hospitality and love for our neighbors and for the
other. I believe in treating other people with respect and to give a helping hand out of love
instead of obligation. Thus, I follow Scripture that talks about loving the neighbor or showing
kindness to others. For example, it says in Luke, He answered, You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your
mind; and your neighbor as yourself.2 Obviously, there are multiple examples similar to this
passage in the New Testament in which Jesus commands us to do this. Along with that, even
Amos Young has suggested using Jesus as the paradigm for hospitality in which we must use
Jesus as the example of hospitality. 3 It would make sense to use Jesus as the main example since
interpretation Jesus when he does his hospitality work within the Bible text. Additionally, Luther
can be applied to this hospitality and love concept because in his writing called Freedom of a
Christian, Luther says, A Christian is perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is
perfectly dutiful servant, subject to all. 4 In other words, we are free in order that we may be a
servant to our fellow neighbors, which I believe should be out of love and is out of the love of
Christ.
Now, to interpret my artwork for this theological commitment a little more closely. There
is a red frame which represents an open door without a door because I believe that hospitality
should be open for all and open from the givers end. Also, there are multiple hearts within the
red frame to show that hospitality should be given out of love and in many forms since every
heart is not the same size or color. Lastly, there is a yellowish or golden glow coming from the
door frame with the shadow of the cross present. This then represents the light and it is possible
to practice hospitality and love because of Jesus Christ. This also means that Jesus/God/Holy
Spirit our always present within in our lives with whatever we do, especially in the face of the
other.
I have already mentioned a little bit about Luthers idea of justification by faith in a
previous artwork, but this one specifically displays that along with the idea of Gods grace,
which is called Justified by Faith / Grace. I have been hearing this idea a lot throughout my
time here at Luther Seminary, but I have learned more about it when it came to my Reformation
4. Martin Luther, Three Treaties, 2nd Rev. ed., (Philadelphia, PE: Fortress Press, 1970),
227.
history class. Once again, I do not have a specific place in which Luther says this exactly, but I
know it is mentioned in a lot of his writings. I found an example of this in The Bondage of the
Will again in which Luther states, The other kind of righteousness is the righteousness of faith,
which does not depend on any works, but on Gods favorable regard and his reckoning on the
basis of grace.5 In other words, we are not saved by good works alone, but I know Luther still
encouraged everyone to do good works, but not to expect to be saved by just them. Grace also
comes into place here, so they seem to intertwine with one another since Gods grace is given to
us freely and without us doing anything, which is usually the first step when it comes to Gods
righteousness. Even the Bible reads as this, yet we know that a person is justified not by the
works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.6 Additionally, I believe that everyone is
given this grace and cannot turn away from it in a sense, but faith is the ultimate way onto
justification. However, I am still figuring out what is means to have faith or to express my own
faith, but I know I am able to express it a little better through my artwork or through my theatre
work.
Thus, the interpretation to this artwork goes as such. I have represented Gods grace
coming down onto humanity like rain where humanity is represented by the multiply skin
colored umbrella. However, we cannot use the umbrella or anything else to avoid Gods grace
because it just goes straight through and onto us as if the umbrella has holes in it. Also, the rain
could also represent Gods righteousness raining down onto us in which we cannot stop it, but
will receive it with faith as we put down the umbrella in order to trust God.
5. Timothy F. Lull and William R. Russell, Martin Luthers Basic Theological Writings,
3rd ed., (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2012), 155.
6. Galatians 2:16
The Arts and Theology
One last art piece I have created is the one called The Arts and Theology. This is the
theological commitment of me believing that art can be theology or can express theology. I have
come to this to be true myself since I have taken a course on this and have expressed my own
theology throughout my various art and theatre work without really realizing it. I have various
sources that confirm this kind of theological thinking of art. For example, a theological idea that
could possibly come out of theatre is the incarnation where Todd E. Johnson and Dale Savidge
says, Live theatre, then, of all the arts, may best approximate the incarnational character of our
God because of its combination of narrative and performative qualities. 7 Theatre shows the
human experience or meant for the human experience, so it would make sense that it has an
incarnational quality to it. Obviously, there is a lot more that they say about theatre and how it
displays theology, but just watching a play or looking at a piece of art work could bring up many
ideas similar to this. Finding the Biblical themes in all kinds of art can be possible if you only
look since so many of us have been influenced by Christianity in the first place, even if you do
not believe it. It just takes a lot of seeing and interpretation work, which is very subjective, in
order to fully understand or to truly see any kind of art. Thus, making art and performance art a
For this last piece of art, the interpretation of it is a little more obvious, or at least it is to
me. I have set it up by framing four sections of art as if it were a window. The window is more
balanced out in order to see a cross to show that Christ or God is present within art. Along with
that, the pencil and paper represents creative writing, the eighth note represents music, the
7. Todd E. Johnson and Dale Savidge, Performing the Sacred: Theology and Theatre in
Dialogue, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009), 58.
comedy and tragedy masks represents theatre, and the painting easel represents the visual arts in
general. In a way, I am showing the importance of art and interpreting it through a theological or
Biblical lens because a lot of art can be interpreted in this manner if only we just see it in this