From “The Discipline of Inspiration: The Mysterious Encounter with God at the Heart of Creativity” by Carey Wallace
The idea that art comes from God raises another question: why does it emerge in bad places, and through bad people?
It’s a concern that’s especially urgent when art appears amid unquestionable evil or oppression: music played to accompany the sale of women and the nurture of addiction, buildings built to display excessive wealth or consolidate illegitimate power, the lust of Nazi officials for looted artworks even as they oversaw genocide on an industrial scale, the drawings one of America’s most prolific serial killers created to help police identify his victims – because he was also a gifted artist.
But we also face it every time we learn about a favorite artist’s weak, selfish, or even monstrous behavior.
The problem with this question is the assumptions it hides.
The first assumption is that God’s main concern is morality.
It’s an impression that’s often encouraged by religious authorities, because systems of morality are easier to understand and enforce than encounters with a living God.
But the life of Jesus describes a God who seeks to meet us, even at great cost, despite our moral failures and in the midst of them.
And this principle holds true both in our lives, and in our art.
The second assumption is that we are capable of telling good from evil – and that we stand on the side of good.
But good and evil, strength and weakness, are inextricably bound in all our hearts.
If art could only be made by perfect people, there would be no art.