Quotes

Wow, David Hegeman's blog is going to be a regular read, right up their with Peter Leithart, George Grant, Ben House and Greg Wilber.

And thankfully he has 3 years of "reformed/biblical observations on Christianity and culture" archived. There's so much great reading on the internet! Can't neglect books though.

Anyway, as the my favorite bloggers have better things to say and can say them better then me, I'll quote them for you, enjoy:

Hegeman on Christian Culture:
"1. All people are (to varying degrees) inescapably culture-makers
2. Culture-making is a human activity flowing out of human thinking
3. All people's thoughts and actions are governed by their world-and-life view
4. All people's world-and-life views are founded and informed by their religious belief systems
5. Christianity is a religious belief system (which claims to comprehensively shape one's thoughts and actions)therefore:
6. All (true, consistent) Christians will have their culture-making affected by their faith (religious belief system)and additionally:
7. All Christians are called to live in community
8. As Christians live in community the collective/shared cultural output of the community will be, in effect a "Christian culture" (at least on a small scale)

I suspect that the crux of the issue is whether or not #2-3 are true; specifically whether or not culture-making is a a religiously neutral activity. Do Christians and Buddhists write novels differently from one another? How does their worldview affect their writing? In Style? Subject matter only? These are questions for another day. "
-Aug 13th entry on this page

Ben House on Storytelling:
" At the heart of all great stories is the telling of the story itself. A story by definition must be told. Whether written, told, sung, or portrayed on the screen, the story must have a storyteller and a listener. Stories are mirrors, types, and symbols. They are images of greater realities; stories are of unfinished happenings; and they point to a future eschatological fulfillment. “And they lived happily ever after” resonates with us because it reaches something in the soul that says that despite earthly appearances to the contrary, such a fate is possible. "
-Beowulf and Storytelling

Leithart on art

"1. The most complete delight in an art object, a thing produced by art, is a delight of the whole person. We are moral beings as well as intelligent and aesthetic beings, and we respond in moral ways as well as in intellectual ways.
2. Therefore, the most delightful, the most beautiful products of art are those that not only that are delight to the eyes, but also those works that are morally good. This is not to reintroduce propaganda through the back door. The artist is not aiming to uplift, but to be faithful to the materials and the making. But that faithfulness means responding to the real, to the way human beings are, to the way the world is, and the world is charged with the grandeur of God."

A post on Art

George Grant on Politics:

"Sozzled with preposterous false expectations and bedazzled by a ceaseless chatter of well meant platitudes, the media has told the truth about the falsehood that they tell. Like all the other quacks and conycatchers now crowding the public trough in Washington, their suppositions drift ethereally above normal logical processes and pass into the murky domain of transcendental metaphysics. Such is to be expected. That is their job. The only thing that remains to be seen is whether or not the rest of us will be willing to give up our lackadaisical political canoodling and simply take up the difficult task of restoring the standards of justice, mercy, and truth in our land."

-http://kingsmeadow.com/blogger.html

Greg Wilber on Magic in Lit.

" As a Christian, what are we supposed to do when reading about characters who manipulate and control water, air, earth, and fire or who speak commands to direct the sea and air to obey them? What about potions that control elements of nature? Is this witchcraft and therefore to be avoided by Christians? What if the author claims to be a Christian?

These are just some of the issues one must face when reading the Venerable Bede, the 8th century British monk and Biblical scholar. O wait—you thought I was talking about Harry Potter... "

-http://kingsmeadow.com/2005/09/magic-in-literature.html