I’m reading through Francis Schaeffer’s “How Then Shall We Live” and came across this quote from Martin Luther:

“I am not of the opinion that all the arts shall be crushed to earth and perish through the Gospel, as some bigoted persons pretend, but would willingly see them all, and especially music, servants of Him who gave and created them.” (from the preface to Wittenberg Gesangbuch, his choirmaster’s hymnbook)

Schaeffer makes the case that although many art objects were destroyed during the Reformation, the Reformation was not against art as art. The destruction of some of the religious art was not a backwards, hateful view towards art in and of itself, but was a reaction against the worshiping of the religious images in the place of Jesus. This was due to the recovery of the importance of the Bible (Sola Scriptura: Scripture Alone as final authority) and of the Bible’s emphasis on Jesus as the only mediator between God and man.

He then goes on to show the positive effects the Reformation had on the arts, even saying “there would have been no Bach had there been no Luther.”

“How Should We Then Live?” is a fascinating look at “the key moments in history which have formed our present culture, and the thinking of the people who brought those moments to pass.” (from the Author’s Note)

You can find Schaeffer’s complete works (5 vols) here.