“Are we to be destroyed by ideas, mischievous, wrongheaded, debilitating, yet seductive because they are fashionable and promise so much on the cheap?” – Sir Keith Joseph
Conservatives, by definition but not always by practice, are curators of the good, the true, and the beautiful. In the popular arts, however, we have become champions of the tame, the trite, and the temporal. (See “safe for the whole family” radio stations, movie reviews that count body parts and swear words, and paintings of nostalgic sugarplum cottages.) Wrong-headed in our approach, seduced by fashionable (and profitable) trends, debilitated by our passion for the cheap and comfortable, our “vision” for popular art and entertainment – if one can call protests and boycotts a vision – is doing more harm than good in the culture.
The remedy is easier than one might think. It begins by identifying and admitting our errors.
Here are ten to start us off, no doubt there are dozens more: more here>
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
a new vision...beyond the tame, the trite, and the temporal
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5 comments:
Ron - I'm reading the great stuff you are posting on this and your weary pilgrim blog...and I'm thinking, "How is this guy content hanging out in a Pentecostal Church" That is totally not meant as any disrespect to Pentecostals, or any other church body here. Its just that I wonder, how far out of the mold can we get and still say we're part of that jello salad?
Chris, as somebody who works for the C and M Alliance Church of Canada, I hope the answer to your question is "pretty far"!
While I appreciated a lot of the points the article made, I sometimes get concerned when we paint 'conservatives' with the same brush--isn't that what we accuse conservatives of doing to 'liberals'? I know people who are very conservative, both theologically and politically, who are also great supporters of the arts and believe strongly in exploring mystery.
Chris, I was never in the mold, I've always been the stuff that is slopped all around the edges...the stuff folks really don't like to look at, but can't avoid...because it's always there.
I'm not a member of the Pentecostal Assembly, I've never confined myself to being a member of any " one " church...always seen myself of something much more radical.
As far as any Pastor, leadership...I've never disguised myself...my language, my thoughts never change. I don't know, maybe they have learnt to just tolerate me, the kid that has never grown up, the kid in the classroom always gazing out the window because he's more fasinated with the outside than the inside.
I would hope we could see this not as bashing " conservatives ", more towards conservative ( conservatory, preservative, unprogressive ) thinking in terms of art. I'm thinking terms of Christian art to have prophetic message, the artist should be able to push the envelope. Somehow as churches, we should be able to embrace that, and inverst in it.
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