I just finished this book. It was really good. I enjoyed it so much that I think I may skim/read through it again, posting quotes on my blog, because that's how passionate I am about this subject. How did I even find this book published in 1989, you ask? It was required reading for the Christianity and the Arts Ph.D. program at Southern Seminary. KJ was thinking about applying at one time and bought it. So, here are a few lines from the Preface. (You don't normally read the preface in books? You should.)
The arts belong to the Christian life. We sometimes think of them as an extraneous luxury, but they have a strange way of asserting themselves in the most threatening of circumstances. When our humanity is in danger, the artistic spirit suddenly lives. The arts give us something indispensable to life.
When missionary Bruce Hunt was imprisoned, he found relief by composing hymn verses. During Corrie ten boom's prison experiences, her spirit was revived by such seemingly trivial artistic manifestations as the red wrapping of cookies from home, the beauty of the sky and woods...When kidnapped by Ehtiopian terrorists, missionary Debbie Dortzbach wrote poems in her journal, embroidered Bible verses, and drew plants in her notebook.
My cherished goal is that ministers, Sunday School teachers, Bible study leaders, and Christians in general will come to value the arts as conveyors of truth and examples of beauty. The arts can enhance both our personal lives and our understanding of our culture.
The time is ripe for Christians to show an informed interest in the arts.
* * *
Last night we watched Thor, and I found it to be a conveyor of truth. KJ just finished teaching through the book of Zephaniah in Sunday School yesterday. You all know this verse, right?
The LORD your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior.
He will exult over you with joy,
He will be quiet in His love,
He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.
- Zephaniah 3:17 -
Not coincidentally, on the way to church yesterday I was listening to this song by Caedmon's Call.
The LORD is a warrior.
The LORD is mighty in battle.
The LORD is a warrior,
LORD of hosts is He.
God says, "I am going to deal at that time with all your oppressors, I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will turn their shame into praise and renown in all the earth (Zephaniah 3:19). We talked about how Christ defeated our enemies on the cross and how we will see the fulfillment of all these promises on the Great Day of the Lord, and KJ asked the question, "Why do you think we have to wait until the Great Day before God takes away all sin and defeats every enemy?" People gave various answers, mostly about all that we learn through suffering and hardship. I agreed with what they said, but to me, it didn't seem logical, because if we were perfect then we wouldn't need to learn all of those lessons; we would know them already. God would have already made us perfect.
But then, in the very middle of Thor, it hit me. I watched Thor, the son of the king, be humbled by exile and through his humility learn wisdom and offer himself in order to save others, and then I remembered: Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered (Hebrews 5:8). Jesus was perfect; yet he learned obedience through suffering.
When you know God's word, you start seeing truth everywhere, even in movies about Marvel comic characters.
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