Editorial: A Case for Craft

“And the Lord has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge …” Surely this is referring to a prophet, or a priest – maybe a judge, an apostle or some other kind of leader. Actually, this is referring to Bezalel, one of the two named craftsmen in Exodus 31 whom God set aside for the crafting of the tabernacle. We typically associate the Spirit’s empowerment for things like preaching the truth, gaining insight, producing faith, helping to pray or doing extraordinary deeds. The Old Testament rarely narrates people being filled with the Holy Spirit so it’s intriguing that God pours out his Spirit, wisdom and knowledge for the purpose of “craftsmanship,” metal work, masonry and wood sculpting (vv. 31-33), engraving, embroidery, weaving and design (v. 35), not to mention the ability “to teach” others their craft.

This issue of The Big Picture magazine and the next are devoted to the theme of “craft” – yes, two issues, in part because the response to this theme has been overwhelming. We have a veritable feast of contributions touching on many kinds and aspects of craft. In this issue alone, you will read articles on organ playing, photography, Japanese wooden boat building, mosaics, furniture making, the blues, a sunflower maze and more.

What is craft after all? First, as a noun, craft can be something you can make or hold in your hand – crafts are often made with love and given away as presents. (I can’t count how many times I’ve made with and received from my kids crafts of various sorts – I would put a recent mosaic project I did with my two daughters in this category.) Second, “craft” can be used as a collective noun – something like skill or trade. There seems to be a revival today of craft in this sense. Third, as an adjective, “craft” is often used to set a thing apart as made with care, skill, time, and quality materials, in contrast to cheap, mass-produced, inferior alternatives. Think here of craft beer, or craft furniture, or craft textiles. Fourth, “craft” is a verb used for making something with skill and care. In this sense one might craft a sentence, a business proposal, a musical composition or a piece of furniture.

As a theme for TBP 08 (and 09), we editors are especially interested in the third use of “craft” – as a collective noun – as well as the act of crafting things (as a verb). In a certain sense to be human is to be a craftsperson. (Do not overlook Lauren Mulford’s beautiful piece on parenting as crafting.) But what are we crafting, and to what end? I noticed an intriguing thread running through several contributions in this issue, namely that committing to the craft of something does something to us. Kristin Tovar, for example, explains a phenomenon that Peter Korn discusses (see Craig Bartholomew’s review): as she was sharpening her skill in photography, she found her heart being crafted and her outlook being reformed. Jason Fischer makes the bold (and compelling) claim that craft is a spiritual discipline and even has the potential to restore our humanity!

There may be many reasons for the strong response to this theme of craft. Avid readers of TBP understand the significant value of creation as a gift of God and an object of his redemptive work. As image-bearers we are interested in craft because God is the cosmic craftsman. We hope you enjoy this issue of TBP, carefully and lovingly crafted by the editorial team and contributors to the magazine.