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Essays

Art and the Christian (via Leadership U)
Where are you as you read this? You may be sitting in an office, reclining in a lounge chair at home, lounging in your back yard, sitting at a desk in your dorm room, or any other of a number of scenarios. Consider for a moment if art is part of your consciousness. If you are sitting in an office, is art anywhere within your vision? If you are reclining in a lounge chair, does the furniture have an artistic dimension? If you are lounging in your back yard, can the word art be used to describe any facet of what you see? If you are in your dorm room, are you listening to music that is art?

The Creative Arts
The creative arts play a crucial role in shaping the worldview of every person and culture. They are an implied declaration that a worldview consists of more than abstract ideas or theoretical concepts. A world picture is a map of reality made up of images, symbols, myths and stories as well as theoretical concepts. Contemporary psychology has given us such terms as preconceptual sensing and nonverbal cognition and the right side of the brain to identify what I will call images. The arts are rooted in the image-making and image-perceiving nature of people. People do not live by ideas alone. They also express their affirmations and denials through the paint on a canvas, the tension and release of sound, and poems and stories. A noted theologian has said that "we are far more image-making and image-using creatures than...

Truth & Consequences

Why Christians Should Avoid Great Books Like the Plague
An interesting article was penned this fall titled "People of the Screen." The author, Christine Rosen, editor of The New Atlantis, opines on the diminished role of reading books for pleasure. The advent of computers and the internet has taught a generation of children to seek information online instead of on the page and several studies indicate the result is a lack of concentration and interaction with the values and worldview of the author. One national study found that nearly half of Americans ages 18 to 24 read no books for pleasure. Rosen suggests this is to our individual and collective detriment. You're invited to read the entire article here. This month's article tackles the same issue but from a tongue-in-cheek perspective. Enjoy!...

Fact Sheets

Sociology

Art & Culture