by Jason Joyner | Apr 14, 2009 | arts, Biblical worldview, Blog, creativity, Kindlings Muse
This quote is from Nigel Goodwin, an actor and commentator on The Kindlings Muse podcast I blogged about last week. The last podcast I listened to was a discussion of Bob Dylan and “the new spirituals,” artists such as Sufjan Stevens and Fleet Foxes.
The context is talking about artists who speak on spiritual issues but don’t operate under the umbrella of “official Christian” music. I think this can apply to any artist, whether acting, writing, music, filmmaking, etc.
“There’s often too much of the world in the body, and not enough of the body in the world. We’re not out there engaging the marketplace, and so…we want these people to be our voices and we squeeze them into boxes and we beat them up and bully them. And even when they come into the sanctuary, we behave…more vulgar than the world out there in some cases…
[Dylan] knew this went on out there…but didn’t really expect it to go on in here. We are bums being redeemed. Now if we stay bums, that’s dumb, but if we’re in process, that’s good news.”
Thoughts?
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The Ted Dekker giveaway is coming soon. Keep your eyes out!
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by Jason Joyner | Apr 7, 2009 | arts, Blog, culture, Dick Staub, faith, Kindlings Muse
I’d like to highlight a resource I’ve been turning to for the past few months. The Kindlings Muse is a ministry of Dick Staub, the author of The Culturally Savvy Christian (required reading for followers of this blog).
Dick has been involved with faith and culture for many years now. He’s a radio host, pastor, author, and champion for the arts. The Kindlings Muse is a weekly podcast from Dick, along with various special guests. I finished listening to a series by Os Guinness this morning (an excellent talk on “You Only Live Once-Calling, the ultimate game plan for life”).
Topics generally focus on faith and creativity in some way. When the Oscars rolled around, there is an annual “theology of the Best Picture nominees” show that was very interesting. Other topics I’ve listened to include theology of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer and an excellent interview with Anne Rice.
You can subscribe to it for free at iTunes, or just see the site regularly for the updated podcasts. As the tagline for the show states, it is “an intelligent, imaginative, hospitable exploration of ideas that matter in contemporary life.”
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by Jason Joyner | Apr 7, 2009 | arts, Blog, culture, Dick Staub, faith, Kindlings Muse
I’d like to highlight a resource I’ve been turning to for the past few months. The Kindlings Muse is a ministry of Dick Staub, the author of The Culturally Savvy Christian (required reading for followers of this blog).
Dick has been involved with faith and culture for many years now. He’s a radio host, pastor, author, and champion for the arts. The Kindlings Muse is a weekly podcast from Dick, along with various special guests. I finished listening to a series by Os Guinness this morning (an excellent talk on “You Only Live Once-Calling, the ultimate game plan for life”).
Topics generally focus on faith and creativity in some way. When the Oscars rolled around, there is an annual “theology of the Best Picture nominees” show that was very interesting. Other topics I’ve listened to include theology of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer and an excellent interview with Anne Rice.
You can subscribe to it for free at iTunes, or just see the site regularly for the updated podcasts. As the tagline for the show states, it is “an intelligent, imaginative, hospitable exploration of ideas that matter in contemporary life.”
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by Jason Joyner | Feb 24, 2009 | arts, Blog, Cyndere's Midnight, Jeffrey Overstreet, speculative fiction, writing craft
I hope everyone around here read about Jeffrey Overstreet and his Auralia Thread books last week. They are intriguing books, and they managed to spawn some interesting conversation. (I started this post the day after the tour, but it has taken me time to finish my evolving thoughts)
Blog posts looked at the “Christian” aspect of these books, and asked about the process an author comes up with themes for their work.
Steve Rice had some strong opinions of the books. If I understood him correctly, he felt that a Christian artist ought to visibly show their faith in their works. He quoted a few verses about a light not being put under a basket and speaking from the heart (that if Christ is in your heart, how can we not help but speak of what is there).
He also brought up secularism, implying that Cyndere’s Midnight was secular because possible themes or morals gleaned from the book weren’t specifically Christian enough, undistinguishable from good messages from non-Christian books. I’m not quite sure how “secular” is the right term to use here.
Steve had passionate views, and I’m not trying to put him down, just to put out a point of disagreement. We may chalk this up to an “agree to disagree” type of issue. I have long felt and advocated on this blog that God is interested in beauty for beauty’s sake, and not everything created in His name has to have a specific religious or practical function. I’ve gone to Francis Schaeffer’s book Art and the Bible on this point a lot. One of his examples is a free-standing column in Solomon’s temple that had no functional purpose from an engineering or spiritual standpoint, other than to add architectural beauty to the temple.
I don’t think from the books themselves or Jeffrey’s words about them that he is trying to hide any message. I think he is trying to write to a standard that he has set for himself regarding beauty of language and power of story. He has themes he sees, but he is reluctant to blurt them out and color what readers will take from the book. I certainly see Christian truths in his books, but it seems he’s trying to let the reader decide what themes they see. What I do have a problem with is people judging motives without fully understanding what the artist is doing.
Also, what about Biblical books like Song of Songs and Esther. The Lord isn’t mentioned in either of them, but we know the inspiration that comes from these books. The inspiration is derived from the interpretation of the books, even when it is not directly spelled out in the text.
I wish that Steve had taken more information from the fine interviews with Jeffrey. Robert Treskillard has a fine interview with the author, doing a discussion style back and forth. Then Shane Deal follows with a separate interview that further explores Jeffrey’s style of writing and his purpose in his work. Make sure to read down to an extensive discourse in the comments, as there are points no one should miss.
The next point of discussion comes from my friend Becky Miller, in her discussion based off of Steve Rice’s post from above. Becky and I have had a friendly disagreement on the nature of Christian art ;), and she talks about the intentionality of theme. Now, I agree with her that if there is a specific theme an author wants to communicate, and they do so skillfully, that it doesn’t lessen the artistic value at all. In fact, I happen to believe that theme is very important to the structure of a novel. Otherwise the work is not going to have any strength to impact a reader. She mentions “backing into a theme,” where Jeffrey talks about writing and letting the theme come to him rather than knowing it beforehand. I don’t think I could fully do that (the control freak in me, I suppose), but I believe, if nothing else, from Jeffrey’s experience, that it can happen.
My question is: if a Christian author writes a book that doesn’t have explicitly gospel-specific themes, is that work “Christian fiction?” I see reflections of the “One True Myth,” as C.S. Lewis termed the gospel, in Cyndere’s Midnight? But I can’t point to a specific Christ-figure or other allegorical character in the book. If the criteria to be called Christian fiction is to have a specific gospel feature, directly showing God, then I suppose Cyndere won’t meet that criteria. I think Jeffrey’s two books could have published by secular houses without changing the content, but I have to believe that he is trying to accomplish something in the market he’s currently in.
I wrote a short story that doesn’t directly deal with God, just in passing. Yet the themes of sanctity of life and fidelity in marriage are the points that make the story, IMO. The sanctity of life theme was what I had in mind when I started, but the marriage theme surprised me in many ways. Both points are informed and hopefully reflect a Biblical worldview, but the story wasn’t the place to bring out all aspects of the Biblical narrative.
All art communicates something. Fiction is by nature more direct than other forms, such as visual arts. An artist fools themseleves if they think it won’t communicate something. Sometimes an artist may choose a specific theme to explore up front, while others may see what emerges in the process. Both are valid starting points, and I maintain that a Christian artist, no matter their starting point, will reflect a Biblical worldview if they are truly transformed by their walk.
Becky has another post titled, Fiction Is… I had to laugh at her last comment this morning, because even though we’ve playfully seemed to disagree, she had this to say:
What I would like to see Christians come to is the idea that fiction can actually say something important. Does that have to be the plan of salvation? No. Does it need to be laid out overtly? No.
There is a third way, an artistic way of weaving in a theme so that readers “get it” without being told it.
And with this, we’re in total agreement!
If you’re interested in this discussion of Art, Creativity, and how it plays out in Christian expression, I invite you to check out these different posts and perspectives. It has been a highly intriguing discussion!
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by Jason Joyner | Feb 24, 2009 | arts, Blog, Cyndere's Midnight, Jeffrey Overstreet, speculative fiction, writing craft
I hope everyone around here read about Jeffrey Overstreet and his Auralia Thread books last week. They are intriguing books, and they managed to spawn some interesting conversation. (I started this post the day after the tour, but it has taken me time to finish my evolving thoughts)
Blog posts looked at the “Christian” aspect of these books, and asked about the process an author comes up with themes for their work.
Steve Rice had some strong opinions of the books. If I understood him correctly, he felt that a Christian artist ought to visibly show their faith in their works. He quoted a few verses about a light not being put under a basket and speaking from the heart (that if Christ is in your heart, how can we not help but speak of what is there).
He also brought up secularism, implying that Cyndere’s Midnight was secular because possible themes or morals gleaned from the book weren’t specifically Christian enough, undistinguishable from good messages from non-Christian books. I’m not quite sure how “secular” is the right term to use here.
Steve had passionate views, and I’m not trying to put him down, just to put out a point of disagreement. We may chalk this up to an “agree to disagree” type of issue. I have long felt and advocated on this blog that God is interested in beauty for beauty’s sake, and not everything created in His name has to have a specific religious or practical function. I’ve gone to Francis Schaeffer’s book Art and the Bible on this point a lot. One of his examples is a free-standing column in Solomon’s temple that had no functional purpose from an engineering or spiritual standpoint, other than to add architectural beauty to the temple.
I don’t think from the books themselves or Jeffrey’s words about them that he is trying to hide any message. I think he is trying to write to a standard that he has set for himself regarding beauty of language and power of story. He has themes he sees, but he is reluctant to blurt them out and color what readers will take from the book. I certainly see Christian truths in his books, but it seems he’s trying to let the reader decide what themes they see. What I do have a problem with is people judging motives without fully understanding what the artist is doing.
Also, what about Biblical books like Song of Songs and Esther. The Lord isn’t mentioned in either of them, but we know the inspiration that comes from these books. The inspiration is derived from the interpretation of the books, even when it is not directly spelled out in the text.
I wish that Steve had taken more information from the fine interviews with Jeffrey. Robert Treskillard has a fine interview with the author, doing a discussion style back and forth. Then Shane Deal follows with a separate interview that further explores Jeffrey’s style of writing and his purpose in his work. Make sure to read down to an extensive discourse in the comments, as there are points no one should miss.
The next point of discussion comes from my friend Becky Miller, in her discussion based off of Steve Rice’s post from above. Becky and I have had a friendly disagreement on the nature of Christian art ;), and she talks about the intentionality of theme. Now, I agree with her that if there is a specific theme an author wants to communicate, and they do so skillfully, that it doesn’t lessen the artistic value at all. In fact, I happen to believe that theme is very important to the structure of a novel. Otherwise the work is not going to have any strength to impact a reader. She mentions “backing into a theme,” where Jeffrey talks about writing and letting the theme come to him rather than knowing it beforehand. I don’t think I could fully do that (the control freak in me, I suppose), but I believe, if nothing else, from Jeffrey’s experience, that it can happen.
My question is: if a Christian author writes a book that doesn’t have explicitly gospel-specific themes, is that work “Christian fiction?” I see reflections of the “One True Myth,” as C.S. Lewis termed the gospel, in Cyndere’s Midnight? But I can’t point to a specific Christ-figure or other allegorical character in the book. If the criteria to be called Christian fiction is to have a specific gospel feature, directly showing God, then I suppose Cyndere won’t meet that criteria. I think Jeffrey’s two books could have published by secular houses without changing the content, but I have to believe that he is trying to accomplish something in the market he’s currently in.
I wrote a short story that doesn’t directly deal with God, just in passing. Yet the themes of sanctity of life and fidelity in marriage are the points that make the story, IMO. The sanctity of life theme was what I had in mind when I started, but the marriage theme surprised me in many ways. Both points are informed and hopefully reflect a Biblical worldview, but the story wasn’t the place to bring out all aspects of the Biblical narrative.
All art communicates something. Fiction is by nature more direct than other forms, such as visual arts. An artist fools themseleves if they think it won’t communicate something. Sometimes an artist may choose a specific theme to explore up front, while others may see what emerges in the process. Both are valid starting points, and I maintain that a Christian artist, no matter their starting point, will reflect a Biblical worldview if they are truly transformed by their walk.
Becky has another post titled, Fiction Is… I had to laugh at her last comment this morning, because even though we’ve playfully seemed to disagree, she had this to say:
What I would like to see Christians come to is the idea that fiction can actually say something important. Does that have to be the plan of salvation? No. Does it need to be laid out overtly? No.
There is a third way, an artistic way of weaving in a theme so that readers “get it” without being told it.
And with this, we’re in total agreement!
If you’re interested in this discussion of Art, Creativity, and how it plays out in Christian expression, I invite you to check out these different posts and perspectives. It has been a highly intriguing discussion!
—
by Jason Joyner | Jan 29, 2009 | arts, Blog, culture, Dick Staub, faith, The Culturally Savvy Christian
My discussion of Dick Staub’s book,
The Culturally Savvy Christian, was interrupted for a sudden blog tour. The forecast is tour free for the next few days, so I can predict a return to the previous topic.
Here’s the first post, to refresh things.
The book is broken into three sections based off of this statement:
The culturally savvy Christian is serious about faith, savvy about faith and culture, and skilled in relating the two.
First, under “savvy,” Staub makes the case for both popular culture and Christianity being generally shallow and vacuous. Pop culture is described as being superficial and soulless, spiritually deluded, but it has a powerful influence (p5). Yet he doesn’t pull punches with modern American Christianity
