Love This Book

I've been rereading this fantastic little booklet by theologian Francis Schaeffer on the role of art in the bible. It is packed full of brilliant nuggets like this on the role of the artist to hold up questions to the culture: "The ancients were afraid that if they went to the end of the earth they would fall off and be consumed by dragons.

But once we understand that Christianity is true to what is there, true to the ultimate environment - the infinite, personal God who is really there - then our minds are freed. We can pursue any question and can be sure that we will not fall off the end of the earth. Such an attitude will give our Christianity a strength that it often does not seem to have at the present time." And this, on the importance of creativity and change in our art forms: "As a matter of fact, change is one difference between life and death. There is no living language which does not undergo constant change. The languages that do not change, Latin, for example, are dead. As long as one has a living art, its forms will change. the past art forms, therefore, are not necessarily the right ones for today or tomorrow." He makes a good point: I remember at school hating Latin and old hymns with equal measure, because they seemed so irrelevant to my experience of life. We must make sure the way we lead worship is helping connect people to God in the language and forms of the culture, and not leaving them either locked out because we're building monuments to a bygone age, or freaked out because they can't understand a word we're saying. If you're interested in reading more you can find the booklet here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bible-LAbri-Pamphlets-Francis-Schaeffer/dp/0877844437