Thursday, December 8
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Art, That of Suffering, and Evangelical Joy
This article, by an Evangelical who's had a really, really difficult year, has been making the rounds in St. Blog's, and pretty much everyone has had some take on it.
To take a different twist, I think it reflects half of my problem with evangelical art:
Evangelicals must rely on more than cheerful tunes, easy answers, and happy smiles. We must dig deeply into the church's treasures to find what it is like to worship God, not because of our circumstances, but in spite of them.
Now, of course, disclaimer---this is a generalization, plenty of other Christians fall into the same situation, not all Evangelicals do, etc. etc.
But it does point out a strength Catholicism rightly has: frankly, that life sucks, and somehow God is behind it all. Life's also great. But it also sucks.
So, while Kinkade et al. have a clear sense of joy, the genre as a whole can lack pietas:
Best. Painting. Ever?
There are other things at work which I think contribute to my distaste for most all of the evangelical painting I've seen. But, I'm not an expert in sociology or art theory, nor an Evangelical, and so welcome critique and comment from any feeling they have something to offer.
![[SMMMHDH]](http://www.mgilleland.com/music/smmmhdh.png){kind=small}
