Christianity-Lite

I’ve just been to “school”.  I’ve just read ideas of which I have long sensed their reality, but have been unable to articulate.  I’ve just read Dick Staub’s Culturally Savvy Christian.

Not a book for the comfortable, the faint of heart, or the disinterested, in this book Staub lays out the frailty of American Christianity and its well meaning, but often misguided attempts to make a difference in America.

“In this intellectually and aesthetically impoverished age of Christianity-Lite, it is heartening to remember that for centuries, Christians were known for their intellectual, artistic, and spiritual contributions to society.  Bach, Mendelssohn, Dante, Dostoevsky, Newton, Pascal, and Rembrandt are but a few who personified the rich tradition of faith, producing the highest and best work, motivated by a desire to glorify God and offered in service of others for the enrichment of our common environment: culture. These were culturally savvy Christians-serious about the centrality of faith in their lives, savvy about both faith and culture, and skilled in relating the two.”   pg ix

Staub does not accuse.  He’s neither critical nor combative.   He’s direct and truthful.  The Tone of his writing suggests an urgency, a need for those who are serious about their faith in God through Christ to become culturally savvy and through culture, to make deep, positive, long-term differences.

He is, and in my mind rightfully so, deeply concerned about the general health and well-being of the Christian church in America, calling it Christianity-Lite; it’s “3,000 miles wide and two-inches deep”, and yet his intentions are, “not so much critical as corrective.” pg-43

[With this book] “I’d like us to examine together the cause-and-effect relationship between the quality and depth of our spiritual life and the richness of our cultural life. I’d like to explain my conclusion that today’s superficial spirituality is incapable of producing deep, rich culture. I’d also like to explore how a new generation of culturally savvy Christians-the old kind of Christian in the mold of Lewis and Tolkien, who today, will look like a new kind of Christian-can be the catalysts for transforming culture.” pg. xiii

Personally, I’m extremely encouraged for several reasons;

1) As an artist of faith, I am always exploring at how my art, whether performance or visual, can deepen and enrich our culture and, in the end, point to the cross of Christ.

2) As an artist of faith, I am deeply disturbed by the complete lack of any cohesive ethic of excellence in the offerings of so many artists of faith.

3) As a Christian in America I’m deeply disturbed by the hijacking of our faith by politicians, activists, and propagandists to forcibly change America’s values on the outside, while ignoring the inward transformation of the heart so central to the deeply effective Christian life.

4) Staub not only articulates what he sees as lacking, but offers sound counsel as to what each and every serious Christian can do to become culturally savvy, and make real, deep, peaceful differences in this nation we all love.

5) And finally, while all Christians in America can and should become culturally savvy, Staub reminds artists of faith in particular, that the art we’re endowed to create is an incredibly powerful tool for positive enrichment of our culture.

I encourage every thinking, concerned Christian to read it – all of it!

If you’re serious about your faith and this American culture we live in, I believe you’ll be engaged, and challenged to become a culturally savvy Christian.

He’s an author, commentator, and radio talk show host; for more about Dick Staub’s work, here are a number of his interviews from Christianity Today, and a YouTube video where he talks about The Culturally Savvy Christian.

Engage.  Enlarge.  Become.

Addicted to Mediocrity

20th Century Christians in the Arts

As an “artist of faith”, an artist who creates from a Judeo-Christian worldview, I have run the gamut of antagonism from both non-Christians and Christians alike, namely that my art is either “too religious” or not “religious” enough.

I am not alone in the least, but I have found a good number of wonderful writers & writer/artists of faith who have contributed to an understanding of the source of this criticism.

I will be sharing a number of these works with you over time because there is; 1) a need for relief and release for so-called Christian artists, and 2) there is a wonderfully powerful movement in faith & art gaining daily momentum, and in future posts I will be sharing much with you about what is happening.  First  however, let’s have a look at the source of the problem.

Franky Schaeffer is the son of the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer (How Should We Then Live), and Edith Schaeffer (L’Abri Fellowship); two of the most important apologetists of the twentieth century.

Himself a painter and filmmaker, Franky has also run headlong into a dense criticism of the arts and creativity in the church and the resulting mediocrity.  He writes this book to identify the source of this on-going problem, and offers a good deal of sound encouragement to bring about positive change.  Published in 1981 – twenty-eight years ago, Addicted to Mediocrity remains a very important treatment of the subject.

Chapter 2: Bitter Fruit

“…one could sum it up by saying that the modern Christian world and what is known as evangelicalism in general is marked, in the area of the arts and cultural endeavor, by one outstanding feature, and that is its addiction to mediocrity.”   pg.23

Schaeffer delves into what he sees as the historic root causes of the church’s wholesale ostracism of the arts in general, and the spiritualization of what is deemed useful.  And why does Schaeffer care so much?

Introduction

“…in this small volume I have pinpointed one particular area which has had an outside influence on our ability as Christians to communicate to the world around us…

“This is the area of appreciation, activity, thought, and action, which I will loosely describe as ‘the arts’”   pg.11

Schaeffer has divided his brief book (122 pages) into two parts, Section One describes the problem and offers some solutions, and Section Two is a Q&A where the author responds to questions he has recieved on the matter.

Chapter 5: What Can We Do?

“Creativity… enjoyment of our own creativity, enjoyment of God’s creativity-all of these need no justification.  They are a good and gracious gift from the Heavenly Father above.”   pg.39

He goes on to articulate a number of powerful attitudes and ideas which empower those of us who create from our faith-filled worldview.

Wonderfully illustrated by Kurt Mitchell, this concise introduction to what often ails creatives of faith is a must-have and should be read and re-read, highlighted and dog-eared by all who create in their Father’s image.

Open.  Grow.  Become.

The Story of Stuff

The Story of Stuff

Our youngest son attended an overnight youth-fast event at our church and when I went to pick him up the next morning he was all a chatter.  He is normally when he’s really excited about something, but on this morning he couldn’t wait to tell me about a program he’d seen at the retreat.

Last evening the youth group sat down and watched a couple of really informative presentations.  The one I want to share with you, the one which excites me as much as it does my son, is The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard.

From the website…

What is the Story of Stuff?

From its extraction, through sale, use, and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

I have long lamented – very long – that much of our “modern life” seems predicated upon the idea that we’re here to make money for the IRS and the GNP.  I love our great nation, but there’s just got to be more to life than ripping resources out of the ground, to make stuff we think we want until we don’t want it anymore, instead we want the next one.  Then we throw away what we already have, or worse, we actually pay someone to store what we don’t use.

It reminds me of films like George Lucas’ 1971 feature motion picture, THX-1138.  The concept there was very much the same; make more, sell more, buy more.  By the way this is not a film for children.

That’s enough of that…

I encourage you to have a good look at The Story of Stuff.  It’s informative, not a ranting ecologist with an axe to grind.  This is real information creatively presented.

Watch it several times and see if there aren’t some things which make sense to you.  It’s a really fun presentation.  It’s only a short 20 minutes, and it is very suitable for kids.  Enjoy!

Engage.  Enlarge.  Respond.