the value of the arts
Posted by Paul | Filed under uncategorised
I found myself dipping into Imagine by Steve Turner again recently. It’s a great book all through, but I found the following particularly interesting this time around…
A Christian doctor doesn’t normally feel the need to justify the medical profession even though it often provides little opportunity for presentations of the gospel. Medicine, we all realise, is on God’s side simply by relieving pain, healing damaged bodies, fighting disease and extending lives. It is for life and against death. It is for preservatin and against decay. It attempts to limit the effects of the Fall. Jesus practiced healing and not always, from what we can determine, in order that those that were healed would also be saved.In a similar way, the arts can act on God’s side by preserving beauty and drawing out the highest achievements capable by humans. Tha arts can help preserve and renew cultures and this is a good thing in itself. This must bring God pleasure. The arts can sharpen the vision, quicken the intellect, preserve the memory, activate the conscience, enhance the understanding and refresh the language. Poetry, for example, is a useful antidote for the poison of sloganeering, spin and double talk. It helps words retain their meaning because it acknowledges that corrupt language results in corrupt thinking. If the best words can no longer be said, the best ideas can no longer be thought. ” If a nations’ literature declines,” said Ezra Pound, “the nation atrophies and decays.”
Some triggered thoughts to follow…
Tags: art, culture, Imagine (Steve Turner)
A random walk over culture, art, christianity, etc. with occasional photographs...