Crystal Bridges - An Allegory for Biblical, Doctrinal Studies

Thomas Cole - The Course of Empire - Destruction

I volunteered with Chris to help out at Crystal Bridges. We had already visited there several times with friends.

This week we attended a lecture on art. Next I took a guided tour, one masterpiece per room, of the museum. Not knowing where the Thomas Cole Course of Empire paintings were, I found another enormous gallery for the traveling exhibit. When a museum is the ultimate collection of American art, the paintings come to the museum.

Visiting the museum is not at all like studying the paintings and the various eras of art. I saw Kindred Spirits quite a few times - and it gave me goose bumps again on the tour yesterday. The guide gave us the history behind the painting and connected it to the artists and patrons of the era.

This was Cole's last painting before he died at the age of 47.

The paintings themselves are so much more vivid that any graphic can indicate. In The Good Shepherd, the flock of sheep is clearly visible, down by the water and green pasture. The barren area is the foreground is also much clearer.

To understand and appreciate art, more is needed than a walk-through and a knowledge of the captions beside the masterworks.

Biblical, doctrinal studies are not different. Many clergy want no more than to gather the credentials they need at seminary and repeat them forever, always careful to please the synod and copy the current fads.

No one becomes a Doctrinal Pussycat by bucking apostasy or opposing false teachers. I remember Steve Spencer bragging that Jon Buchholz was shutting down Jeff Gunn's CrossWalk by cutting off the extra funds, etc. TWO committees were investigating and studying the issues, and that went on for four (4) years at least. The results were:

1. Jeff Gunn was appointed to the board of Wisconsin Lutheran College, one of three from CrossWalk.
2. Jeff Gunn was featured as a speaker at the Jeske youth conference, which was promoted by Doctrinal Pussycat Jon Buchholz.
3. Jeff Gunn and his Babtist congregation were welcomed into WELS, all criticism in the final (modified) report stifled.

In art and Biblical, doctrinal studies, anyone can become an expert. This fact is more true of the Christian faith than artistic endeavors. The Holy Spirit teaches us when we study the Word of God, as long as we make the Word primary, without filtering it through synodical slogans and warnings.


For a DP, the Bible is a way to make money and go on world trips at the expense of others. For the political pastors, in the majority, it is a way to make career advances and protect one's security. For many laity, it is a chance to be used as a synod minder and enjoy those fake-prestige positions on synodical committees. The laity know or soon find out that questioning one thing will mean immediate expulsion.

Thomas Cole, The Cross at the End of the Journey,
Pilgrim's Progress