Thomas Kinkade Meets the Theology of the Cross
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| Oil on Canvas |
Thomas Kinkade Meets the Theology of the Cross
This is my painterly response/critique to Thomas Kinkade. He certainly does get a lot of flack for his work in the art world. Some call him a sellout and others despise his sentimentality or fantastical use of light. However, I should make a few comments about Thomas Kinkade before I go on. Artistically, we must admit that he is a technically accomplished painter as can be seen through the multiple thin layers that he applies to the canvas. What he does is not easy nor can anyone do it. I must admit that I cannot master his technique with a little practice. Furthermore, this painting is not intended to mock Kinkade, but it is a constructive critique. He confesses that he is a Christian. When it is all said and done, I must and do recognize him as my brother in Christ. It is ok if you like Thomas Kinkade paintings. But I ought to add a certain amount of caution to the mindset what can accompany his art.
Kinkade often attempts to portray serenity and peace by means of a quaint home or church nestled in a picturesque landscape. I can appreciate Kinkade’s desire to give people hope. It is something that we need today as we always have. But it is the kind of hope that I am addressing in this painting. He has said that he wants to give people the hope that they want (In that, the whole "sellout" argument is not something that I will deal with here). The hope that is portrayed in the typical Kinkade is a fantastical world that is devoid of all pain and suffering, all sickness, and all death. You might liken Thomas Kinkade paintings to a Joel Osteen book (Your Best Life Now). They both tend to give people what they want to hear or see. It comes from the hope that God will bless you with all of the things that you want, food and drink, house and home, friends and family if you just believe strongly enough or think positively.
Well, we only need to look around this world to see that this is not the case. The world is a broken mess. Denial of this is a delusion. What then is Joel Osteen-esque answer if you are not receiving all the blessings or are not happy? Well, there must be something wrong with what you are doing. If you have not achieved the peace and tranquility of a Thomas Kinkade home, you need to change something. This is the danger in this mindset. When people recognize their brokenness and the inability to achieve what they want, there is a danger of focusing on escape. Now, escape can be a good thing, such as a retreat for recharge. But it is only good, insofar as it allows reentry into the broken world with a renewed sense of purpose and hope. I am not saying that Thomas Kinkade’s paintings will lead you down the path of escape. But I do want you to be aware of how this mindset can apply to them.
So what does the Christian have to say to this? Ultimately, he or she can only point to the cross of Jesus. It’s there where God took the brokenness upon himself. We realize that we are helpless to explain the individual occurrences of death, disease, and accidents. We can only trust that God knows our suffering in Jesus. Jesus never promised that life would be perfect. "For [God] makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt.5:45). Jesus also says, “In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus does not promise his disciples a smooth road. If anything, Christians should expect more suffering. The answer is not escape. If anything, Christ pushes us into the world with a renewed sense of hope in love for others. We also have hope because of the Resurrection. If Christ is not raised, my faith is in vain. We have hope, not only the future hope of His return, but also at the present. This is no mere social gospel, as if God depends on us. Luther’s Small Catechism puts it well, “The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also.”[1] We pray that it will be worked through us in love and service to our neighbors while in waiting on the Lord. We are called sons and daughters, heirs of God's Kingdom that was started on earth. God's Kingdom is for the world. It is a calling that the Holy Spirit has and is working through the waters of Holy Baptism. Therefore, the goal for the Christian is not to escape. We hope for the day when death will be swallowed up in victory, something that is not yet manifested. We see a foretaste of that victory in Jesus’ Resurrection and are given hope that we too shall rise. But we live in the reality now. So we are in an "in between time" of Christ's resurrection and our adoption AND the hope of the Return of Christ and our own Resurrection (“now/not yet”). The Christian life is Sabbatarian[2]. We live and experience the time of Holy Saturday following Good Friday in expectation of Easter Sunday. It is not easy but we have a foretaste of what is to come in Jesus’ Resurrection.
This long critique is all to say that Thomas Kinkade's art, if viewed from a Christian perspective, fails to recognize the tension of the Christian life here and now. He conflates “now and not yet” into something else that ends up denying that the brokenness in the world is real for us today. Hence, desire for escape fails to be real hope. Real hope gives you the means to have it and live it in this world of brokenness. To give a Lutheran response, real hope is found in the Means of Grace (Word and Sacrament).
My response painting shows a body being carried over a stream to a Thomas Kinkade-esque church (Click here for the model that I used). What I want to show is that death is a reality for today. This is why I thought it would be ironic to have a body being carried in such a way that it does not neuter death’s sting for today still.[3] It is also a counter to a painting by Nicolas Poussin entitled, The Burial of Phocion (See Figure #2). In this painting, Phocion is being carried away from a majestic city, so as to say, “Death has no place in this city.” In my painting, I seek to show that Death is being brought into the serene Church scene.
I also want to show that Thomas Kinkade's desire for hope is not completely ill founded. However, hope in a broken world only comes by way of the cross. The time on the church is set to 3:00 (the ninth hour) to denote the death of our Lord. The first two stained glass windows from the right show scenes of the Passion. Those are the two main areas of focus to show that in times of death, we can only point to the cross where God makes himself and his love most known. The weakness of God is our strength. That is the theology of the cross.
Secondly, I believe that this painting can be read allegorically. God’s Word kills and makes alive in a broken world, not only for hope in the life to come but now as well. For the Christian, this happens in Baptism. "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him" (Romans 6:8). In this painting the body is being carried over the stream (note the intended Baptismal imagery) to the serene scene of the Church and is not expelled from it. A Christian theology of hope comes by the way of the cross. Denying yourself and take up your cross.[4] You must die to your notion of who you think God is supposed to be. Let God be God. The hope then comes only through seeing that God has taken our suffering upon himself. He beat death by death on the cross and won victory over the grave. Through the resurrection to newness of life that comes in Baptism, Christians are given the hope to live as the children of God now in the present. Yet it comes by way of the cross. In a broken world, we should expect suffering. This is what I was thinking of for the Resurrection stained glass scene that is obstructed by the tree. Christians have the hope of the Resurrection now,[5] but it comes through the tree, the cross. From that is found a hope and trust in the Lord’s providence that makes every theology of glory pale in comparison.
[4] This is not some exhortation to beat yourself up until you feel bad enough. Nor is it a desire to be a martyr. Those two views still fall into theologies of glory that, ironically, put yourself first in some attempt to exercise your control over and against God. It is to do something and then say to God, “Look at what I have done for you! You have to honor me for it.”
