Sunday, March 13, 2005

Christian Cultural Engagement

There are various ways for Christians to glorify God, express their God-given gifts, and convey a powerful message to the culture by means of the arts.

Phil Ryken recently wrote about a Japanese-America artist, Makoto Fujimura, who is doing exactly that with his display of paintings, "Images of Grace," which Ryken describes as "shimmering majesty." Nicholas Wolterstorff says that there's nothing in the West like Fujimura's unmistakable, memorable, haunting paintings.

On the other hand, a guy like Nick Alexander--a guy who tries to do serious Catholic teaching through parodying popular songs ala Weird Al Yankovich--is probably not a good example of how to engage the culture. (Some examples of his new renditions are "Tithe After Tithe" to the tune of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time"; "I Got You Saved" to the tune of Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe"; "Should I Stand or Should I Kneel" to the tune of the Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go"; or "Evangelize" to the tune of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive"!)