Telling and Showing the Story: Reflections on David Brown’s Gospel as Work of Art

Brown’s Gospel as Work of Art has two main concerns. First, it seeks to show that the Bible is essentially an open text, that is to say, not a text designed to end discussion and provide final answers, but rather a text that invites discussion, reflection and even on occasion change of opinion on the various issues it raises. Gospel as Work of Art does this most notably by pointing to the ways in which such challenge, rethinking and revision are present and even formative elements within Scripture itself, so that to deny ourselves the right to treat it with the same openness as it treats itself is essentially to assume that our God must be different from the God of Whom it speaks and Who created it. Second, Gospel as Work of Art points to ways in which the arts, which by their nature tend to lead us from where we are in our thoughts or perceptions to somewhere new, can assist and encourage us in approaching the Scriptures as open text. The latter part of Brown’s volume illustrates this by offering an array of examples from the world of art wherein Scriptural traditions are directly addressed and fresh light thrown upon them.