Finishing "Saving Leonardo"

I've finally finished one of the books that I've been studying lately. I would say that I was merely reading it, but I feel like this is one of those books that you have to mull over again and again in your mind. I am terrible at explaining plots and why I enjoyed certain books, but with this one I will at least say that it's important for Christians to read, especially those in the arts. Those of you that have taken Philosophy or Art History probably know a good amount of what the author is going over in the book, but her perspective is a bit more unique. Her emphasis is on the importance of learning about worldview and where certain worldviews have come from. I definitely learned a lot about where many of my thoughts and reactions to life have come from, and how I am affected by the worldviews around me.  I was greatly encouraged to analyze my worldview and to see how that affects the things I do and the art I make. The author is very supportive of artists and the calling that God has on their lives. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone. Heh. 

Here's another quote:

"Sociologists tell us that every worldview requires a social base where it can be fleshed out in concrete ways. Ideas are very difficult to accept if they are solely abstract and theoretical. We need to see them lived out practically--made visible and tangible. To use a sociological label, we need a 'plausibility structure,' which means a social structure that renders an idea more plausible or believable. and what is the plausibility structure for the gospel? The church, the corporate life of the Christian community. Writing to the Corinthian church, St. Paul said, 'You show that you are a letter from Christ...written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God' (2 Corinthians 3:3). Every local church is a letter from Christ to the world. Outsiders will be drawn in when they see the beauty of relationships marked by grace and forgiveness, the beauty of justice for the oppressed, the beauty of creativity in every field of human endeavor. 

  As Dennis Hollinger puts it, the church itself is the best apologetic, 'Postmoderns can best understand a holy, loving, just, forgiving, life-giving God of grace when they see a holy, loving, just, forgiving, life-giving community founded on the grace of God.' The Christian community is the concrete reality where the transcendent reality of the gospel is made manifest--'a visible, corporate expression of the Christian worldview.' 

  This is a sobering though, because the other side of the coin is that the gospel is also most easily discredited through the church. What happens when nonbelievers hear preachers proclaim the importance of the family, but see churches full of workaholic parents with little time for their own children? When they see power relationships that are as exploitive as anywhere else? When they see Christians trapped in the same sexual addictions as the rest of society? When they see evangelical celebrities using the same dishonest spin tactics as the secular advertising world? Christians may preach passionately about the need for a biblical worldview, but unless they are submitting themselves to a continual process of sanctification, they will not have the power to live out that worldview--and they will discredit the very message they are seeking to communicate.

  The ancient Greeks thought virtue and truth were so interconnected that without virtue, a person could not even see the truth clearly. Scripture teaches a similar principle when it says that sin leads to a kind of blindness. Self-interest and personal ambition can so cloud our perception that we literally do not recognize certain spiritual truths. That's why Jesus said we must be willing to act right as a precondition to even recognizing what is right. 'If anyone chooses to do God's will, [then] he will find out whether my teaching comes from God' (John 7:17). In order to develop a biblical worldview, each person must first make a searching inventory of his or her own areas of sin, temptation, and weakness, and embark on a process of sanctification in every area of life." pgs 276-277

-Nancy Pearcey from: http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Leonardo-Secular-Assault-Meaning/dp/1433669277/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338432177&sr=8-1

Studying Worldview and Art

 I am still slowly but surely making my way through Nancy Pearcey's Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, & Meaning. I feel I've learned a lot about myself, the culture I live in, and the philosophies that have led up to today through reading this book. It's been much like taking an Art History and Philosophy course from a biblical perspective and I am very thankful for Pearcey's work. I have felt encouraged to think more deeply about the arts and what artists of all kinds (painters, writers, composers, directors, etc.) have sought to convey through their work. Pearcey calls Christians to take seriously the impact art has on people's minds and souls.

  Even though I've always been interested in art and creativity, I actually haven't taken it as seriously as I should. I've tended to think that I am untouchable in some ways (probably even moreso than I realize). I may recognize things about the world/culture/society I live in, yet somehow I've thought that those things don't really affect me. As if somehow my mind, my being, could resist enculturation. Yes, I am that naive. As I've been reading more though, I have been recognizing those things in myself that come from the society around me. Some of these parts of myself need to be changed by the Holy Spirit completely, other parts need to be refashioned to be more Christ-centered. This is part of the Christian life, being called out of our mindsets and ways of life into a new way of seeing. I admit it scares me in some ways. I don't like being uncomfortable, and learning to move forward into new territory is uncomfortable. Yet it is necessary and I will proceed even though I'm afraid. 

 Here's a section from Saving Leonardo that I just read this morning:

"Fujimura and Bomer

  Clearly artists like Rothko were struggling with ideas that have life-and-death consequences--ideas they were willing to stake their lives on. We must never treat worldview analysis simply as a way to slap a label on a work of art and pigeonhole it into some neat schema. Historically, artists were not just making pretty pictures but were wrestling with profound questions about life--not through words but through color, texture, tone, and composition. Art is a visual language, and Christians have a responsibility to learn that language. 

  All worldviews contain some grains of truth, simply because all people are made in God's image and live in God's world. Christians are called to identify what is good, and pour it into biblical wineskins (to adapt Jesus' metaphor). This explains why Christian artists are able to employ many of the same stylistic elements as secular artists--taking what is true and pouring it into the much richer, fuller wineskin of a biblical worldview. 

  Among contemporary Christian artists, one of the best known is New York City painter Makoto Fujimura who merges abstract and expressionism with an ancient Japanese technique called nihonga. In lieu of paint, Fujimura uses ground-up precious stones--gold leaf, lapis, and malachite. The results are works of shimmering color that communicate a sense of grace and hope. I am honored to say that Philadelphia Biblical University (where I have served as a research professor) was the first Christian institution to commission a painting by Fujimura. Many evangelicals are suspicious of any art that is non-representational. But Fujimura responds, 'Shall we be suspicious of fireworks spreading their abstraction over a summer sky? Or wave patterns created on the sand? What about classical music, or jazz? Life is full of abstraction.' To paint abstract pattern is to paint from life. 

Asheville artist Carol Bomer combines elements of both abstraction and realism. 'I believe that the Incarnation explains and resolves all dichotomies of artistic imaginative work,' Bomer says, citing Colossians 1:18 ('in him, all things hold together'). 'Christ is both God and man, Spirit and flesh, as well as Word and image. Through Christ and his Word, I attempt to join the tangible world and the spiritual world apprehended through the eyes of faith.' Thus she seeks to overcome 'the perceived dichotomy between abstraction and realism, form and content, and representation and non-representation.'

  Bomer uses collage to juxtapose text and image, alluding to Christ as the Word made flesh. Weep for the Wiping of Grace, from her Prodigal Series, uses an architectural blueprint as background, which is meant to recall the Scriptural principle that we look forward to the city 'whose architect and builder is God' (Heb. 11:10). From this heavenly home, grace descends to the body of the prodigal, who is curled up like a buried seed. The prodigal is following Christ, who descended into the darkness of the earth for us, thus fulfilling his own metaphor of the seed that must fall to the ground and die in order to produce fruit (John 12:24)."

- Nancy Pearcey 

from: http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Leonardo-Secular-Assault-Meaning/dp/1433669277/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336494703&sr=1-1