Envisioning the Arts: Changing Attitudes Towards the Visual Arts in Canadian Conservative Protestant Christianity

Abstract

Conservative Christianity has not been known as a supporter of the visual arts. Recently, however, some communities of Canadian conservative Christians have explored the role of the visual arts in the practice of their faith. This paper provides an introduction to this social change through descriptions of how conservative Christian organizations have dealt with the religion/art relationship and through a survey of Christian visual artists associated with conservative Christianity. It concludes with a discussion of some of the reasons behind this change.