Posted on 08/28/2018 3:05:09 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
“Man can live without science, he can live without bread, but without beauty he could no longer live, because there would no longer be anything to do to the world. The whole secret is here, the whole of history is here.”
So wrote Fyodor Dostoyevsky in his novel Demons. The Russian Orthodox novelist would find himself in agreement with a Polish Roman Catholic Pope, who more than a century later wrote of the Catholic Church’s need for beauty, and artists who could create that beauty.
"Beauty is a key to the mystery and a call to transcendence. It is an invitation to savour life and to dream of the future. That is why the beauty of created things can never fully satisfy. It stirs that hidden nostalgia for God…”
Himself an artist as an accomplished actor and poet--Pope John Paul II desired stronger collaboration between the world of art and the Church, once one of the world’s greatest incubators for the world’s greatest artists like Michelangelo, who created such enduring works as the Sistine Chapel and La Pieta.
Because of the power of art to lift people’s minds and hearts to God, good art should be something that the Church is willing to sacrifice for...
Emily Martinez received her assignment at New York University, one of the best art schools in the country. She had her bible study put on a show.
They each created pieces specific to their personal medium of art (acting, dance, fashion), based on the passage from the bible about the woman at the well, about a time that they encountered Christ, perhaps while looking for something different.
The show was a hit.
“You can do this all the time, you can ask God to be with you in your art.”
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicnewsagency.com ...
Hey, this world is filled with beauty all done to perfection by the Master Artist Himself.
Anything man creates cannot compare to a beautiful sunrise or sunset, a walk on the beach, a hike through the mountains, snorkeling in the reefs, looking at the night sky on a clear night, or whatever your favorite nature thing to do is.
And the really cool thing is, the rhythm of nature with its infinite variety provides stability without stagnation.
It’s better than watching someone nearly take someone’s eye out as they *flag* (yes, used as a verb).
The use of gaudy flags in Pentecostal circles for *worship* is about the worst I’ve seen for attention getting behavior.
And when someone gets their flags out and starts waving them around, be prepared to duck. They don’t care who’s around and don’t watch out for you.
Yes. In the full article, the writer addresses this predicament of Christian art.
She alludes to Michelangelo whose greatness even non-believers appreciate and attest to. One of many. Note also some of the greatest works of classical music. They may have been intended for liturgical purposes, but they stand on their own as setting the standards of excellence for the mainstream public as well.
Unfortunately, the neglect of artistic expression in the Christian world has led to both Evangelical and Catholic 'subcultures' of mediocrity. Part of it has to do with the advance of secularism in the modern age and the myth of dualism: the idea that one's Christian life is fully divorced from one's day to day reality. That in order for art to glorify God, it has to be explicitly Christian.
In reality: Good art is good art. It doesn't have to be blatantly about Jesus or have a Cross in it for it to glorify God...but the point is that this emphasis on greatness is so lost because of an overall loss of emphasis on art as a whole.
A mainstream Hollywood movie that is artistically well made and thoughtfully explores the facets of the human experience is something worthy of praise even by Christian standards.
But it is good to take a needed brake from current events from time to time.
you are right! sometimes it is easy to forget what the real end game is and get to focused on the problems in front of you. Thank you for the reminder
Bomb shelter?
I don’t know what that is (other than butt-ugly) ... it should be a bomb TARGET.
One is badly advised, who accepts advice from his enemies.
Did it ever occur to you that the outside perspective is often clearer than the inside one?
There’s no rose tinted glasses to see the situation with.
So you think the need for art in the church is more important than fixing the moral failings of Catholicism and bringing justice to the abusers?
Very telling.
And Catholics wonder why no one wants to *swim the Tiber* back into the *loving* arms of Catholicism.
Not those arms.
Tell me something, Madam:
Would you prefer to see:
A) The Catholic Church purified and reinvigorated, teaching and preaching the Gospel as she has historically understood it. See the Bible, Ecumenical Councils, and the Catechism of the Council of Trent for example.
B) The Catholic Church cease to exist.
Hard call cause there’s no precedent for a purified Catholic church preaching the gospel.
With the Inquisition as evidence of Catholicism in its heyday........
What I want to see is people come to Christ and be born again, born from above, and nobody needs a church to do that.
Churches have their place but are not necessary for people to find Christ and come into right relationship with Him.
So I reiterate:
One is badly advised, who takes advice from his enemies.
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