Beauty, Culture, and Evangelicals

Do these things go together in your mind?

They ought to, but I'll bet they don't. They really haven't gone together since the Protestant Reformation took righteous pleasure in cleansing European cathedrals of their art.

In my two Seminary classes this term, there is much discussion of the relationship of Christians and culture. George & McGrath have a quote: "Christianity can survive without culture, but can culture survive without Christianity?" Now that may be an extreme viewpoint, but they are trying to make a point.

If Christians are called (by Jesus, no less) to be "salt" and "light" in the world, the preserving & seasoning functions of salt and the revealing & clarifying functions of light don't have any effect unless they are in direct contact with the world's culture. And when Christians are in contact with culture, unafraid of it, engaged with it, critically reviewing it, then what's good in culture has a chance to be revealed... and preserved. The Roman poet Virgil did this with Homer's articulation of Greek culture, just like St. Augustine incorporated into Christian culture what he found to be good in Virgil.

Virgil examined Homer's work, and without critiquing style, focused instead on his Greek worldview, seeing in it what did and did not fit Roman culture, preserving the best. Augustine explained where he thought Virgil was lacking, as well as where he was right, but he did not critique his use of language and verse. He critiqued his ideas. And so, when we engage culture in a critical way, we really should not evaluate the end product, but rather evaluate the worldview of the artist in question, since one's work is inseparable from one's worldview. Ravi Zacharias said this at a lecture at Penn State:

"We should never debate art at the point of expression, but at the point of understanding. If artists can successfully defend their worldview, they should never have to defend their art."

Speaking of popular culture, I'm going to spend some time critically engaging Mad Men, and (especially in the Season 3 finale) reliving my experiences with the serial infidelities of Corporate America: it says it loves you as an employee, cares about you as a worker, but at its core it is opportunistic, just using you and looking out for its own interests.

So... what is there that is good in Corporate America? What is there in its worldview that is worth preserving? I suppose if I try hard enough, I'll think of something. ;)