What’s Art Got to Do With It?

Today’s entry is part of our Video Blog series. For similar resources, visit our audio/video section, or our full "Conversations" collection. Please note the views expressed in the video are those of the author, not necessarily of The BioLogos Foundation. You can read more about what we believe here.

Today's video features Mark Sprinkle. Mark Sprinkle is Senior Fellow of Arts and Humanities for The BioLogos Foundation. A painter, craftsman, and writer living in Richmond, Virginia, Mark received his master’s and doctorate from the College of William & Mary, studying how artworks are experienced and come to represent complex relationships within domestic environments.

This video features a discussion with Mark Sprinkle -- painter, educator, writer, and BioLogos Senior Fellow -- about the relationship between art and science. Art and creative expression, Sprinkle explains, are simply ways to give form to metaphor. Metaphor, in turn, is at the heart of two seemingly opposing entities: our understanding of God and our understanding of science.

While science is a data-driven pursuit, when we talk about what it actually means we almost always use metaphor. As an example, Sprinkle mentions the way we talk about atoms as tiny particles orbiting around other tiny particles. This description is based on data. It refers, however, to the metaphorical Greek idea that everything can be broken down into smaller and smaller particles or “building blocks”.

In a similar manner, spirituality and our understanding of God intrinsically include images. When Jesus describes the Kingdom of God, for example, he uses a variety of metaphors, implementing many layers of imagery to give his followers a more complete picture.

It is impossible, Sprinkle concludes, to talk about complicated things without reference to our senses. “Art”, he states, “is a language of description that connects both science and faith”.

Commentary written by the BioLogos editorial team.