Christian Celebrity

My pastor did and said something the other day that really made me think. I said that my next post would be on Christian celebrity, so here it is.

There have been some amazing contributions to my local community here lately through certain individuals, that has had a positive effect on the poor. The purpose wasn't to bring glory to man, it was to fulfill the second great commandment, and to bring glory to God. However, on Sunday morning, my pastor went out of his way to take time and recognize these benevolent individuals. The thing that He said was that the purpose of the kindness was to bring glory to God. And that those giving souls will receive their reward in heaven, but that they should also receive recognition here on earth. Showing the work that God has done in their lives.

I'd never thought of it from that perspective before. As I wrote before, we are beings that were created to worship. And we have a propensity to worship the things that we feel like worshipping. We worship the things that impress us.

If for no other reason than geography, there are a lot of "public" people who attend my church. One of them won a Grammy last year, another won several Dove awards and a Grammy last year as well. One of them is the leading receiver for the Tennessee Titans this year. It would be natural for most people to put those individuals on a pedestal. As a matter of fact, most people have to fight the temptation to do that, to realize that they are just people too. People whom God has called, and that their calling is of a more public nature than yours or mine.

I have always intentionally not been impressed by those people or the things that they do, for the simple fact that no other thing besides God deserves my worship. But, I think that my tune has been changed. Changed by the actions of my pastor on Sunday.

No, I will not elevate people to a higher level than they ought to be, but maybe it's not such a bad thing to recognize them and their accomplishments. Because the public recognition of their accomplishments just goes to show that they have submitted their will to God's will, and that they are allowing the Lord to work through them in their gifts (in a perfect world

So here it is...

Should we worship the dancer? The dance? NO!

We need to recognize and worship the Lord of the dance.
Matt

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PixelZion

I got an email from Jesse over at PixelZion saying that he had found our site and enjoyed reading some of the articles. Turns out they are working on a similar focus as we are (with a different approach). Go check them out...

Thanks for stopping by Jesse!

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DT1: Thomas Kinkade- A Reflection of Modern Christian Culture?

Anyone who has ever spoken with me about Thomas Kinkade’s art knows that I don’t care for it; it just doesn’t move me. I’ve always thought of this, though, as a matter of personal taste, and nothing more. In his assessment at The Evangelical Outpost, Joe Carter seems to have come to much stronger conclusions about Kinkade’s art. I was intrigued by his thoughtful commentary.

To begin with, I enjoyed Carter’s critique of the two paintings of the water tower in Chicago. I don’t know much about art, and my opinions about it are often uninformed. For example, at a classical music concert, The Redland’s Symphony performed three pieces. All three were enjoyable, but the one by Beethoven impressed me the most. I couldn’t say why though. The same was true with the water tower paintings; I could tell you I liked the first one more, but not why. So I enjoyed hearing what a knowledgeable person said made these pieces “good” and “bad.” I was surprised to find out that the first painting was also done by Kinkade. In fact, I really like the early Thomas Kinkade pictures that are posted throughout the article, and it has me wondering why he decided to change his style. My guess is that, in an attempt to have his work recognized, he struggled to come up with something original. For some reason, this sort of glowing, comfy-art caught on. This sparks a couple thoughts:

First, I wonder if Thomas Kinkade is viewed by some artists as a sort of sell-out. Do people think he’s compromising his talent in order to sell art? Of course, if he were accused of such a thing, he’d have plenty of company. Many musicians, for example, who were underground little-knowns and whose art was thought to be “real” and “original” were later accused of being “commercial” sell-outs when they finally made it big. Maybe some of them were. Who can blame them?

The most striking and thought-provoking statements are those made at the end of the article—those in which the critics blast this sort of art for being soft and superficial. This seems especially interesting when one considers that art is a reflection of the thoughts, practices, and beliefs of the culture from which it emerges. If this is the sort of art that has come from, and caught on among Christians, then what does that say about the Christian community at large?

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Discussion Topics

A clarification is in order. When there is a discussion topic, contributors are invited to put up actual posts in response--that way, there are a number of full entires on the same topic. Those who aren't current contributors can either respond in comments or request to be made contributors by submitting their potential post to me. This should make our discussions that much more visible.

To that end, if you are responding to a discussion topic, if you can title your post beginning with "DT(x):" where (x) is the number of the topic. So, for instance, for the first topic you might title your post "DT1: Kinkade Is a Genius Artiste of Thrilling Illumination" or "DT1: Thomas Kinkade Makes the Angels Weep" and so on.

Sorry I hadn't made that clear earlier. Any who made comments to the opening topic are encouraged to turn them into full posts for the site.

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Discussion Topic 1: Realism vs. Kinkade

So here is the first official discussion topic launched on the CAB (my fond acronym for the Christian Arts Blog). Ideally, anyone with hankering will post their thoughts on the topic at hand, thereby focusing our efforts, thoughts, and discussions to one point, allowing us, laser-like, to dissect it and probe its secrets.

So to start off, first pop over to the Gallery at the Evangelical Outpost by clicking here, then scroll down past the article on Picasso (interesting as it is) and peruse the essay titled "Kinkade's Cottage Fantasy: The Despiriting Art of Thomas Kinkade."

Our first topic is reaction to this article. Do you agree with Joe Carter's assessment? Is it valid? Is it fair? Is it important? How should we react to work in the vein of Kinkade?

I have some thoughts, but I'll have to mull them over a bit, and I don't want to unduly influence responses. So jump in, all, and let's have a bit of a palaver over American Protestantism's most famous poster-making boy. And if you aren't an official contributor, feel free to contact me or Chris with your prospective post and we'll see if we can't bring you onboard.

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The American (Christian) Idol

I just heard the new song by Carrie Underwood - yes, the American Idol. The song is called "Jesus Take the Wheel", and they're playing it on the local country station. Its a decent song, typical of a country song behind a great vocalist. The music is not really meant to be anything special - just standard country backup to highlight her singing. The lyrics, while not overly creative, are very clearly "Christian".

The song is about a woman, driving with her daughter in the backseat who hits a patch of black ice, starts spinning, lets go of the wheel and prays "Jesus, take the wheel". They wind up safe, and it gets her thinking about her life in relation to God. She's been living a life far from God, and goes on to pray the same thing about her life - that He would take the wheel.

Now anyone who watched American Idol probably suspected that Carrie (and Bo for that matter) was a Christian. Now she's a recording artist. But she's not a "Christian Music" artist. She's a "Country Music" artist. Country music is interesting in that a good number of the artists seem to be Christians. Many others, of course, are redneck hedonists...

So here is a place where artists are recording under a genre that is not overtly Christian, but it gives them a forum to speak Christian truth. I would imagine its a lot easier on them, since if they want to sing a plain old love song, they can do that too. I think its great that there's room for overtly Christian artists in the genre, but I don't necessarily think its how all Christians should be.

I think this ties in with the posts by Matt and Marilyn but I'm not sure what the conclusion is. Any thoughts from the rest of the crew?

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The Spiritually Reflective Musician - Who Knew?

So, Devin and Matt had some interesting things to say about music and the Christian music industry (“CMI”) in particular. Far be it from me to think I could possibly add to the conversation (*wink*) but I happen to have two cents in my pocket and I think I would like to add them now.


Which brings me to a point I don’t think I’ve ever really settled. Can you be a Christian and have a music, or any artistic type, career apart from the Church? I mean why do we set apart certain careers or industries as specifically “Christian?” If I were a doctor would I group myself with other Christian doctors and have nothing to do with medical discoveries observed by secular doctors? Would I treat only Christian patients or patients interested in becoming Christians? What about a mechanic or an accountant? I think that, as Devin said in a way, most musicians are trying to do the same thing, play what’s inside them. They’re trying to do the most basic thing any artist, or any human, tries to do—to reflect the truth they know. But a Christian who is a musician seems to be different. Why should a Christian set themselves apart, in any field, from nonChristians? Is it merely a matter of business or economics that makes setting oneself up as a Christian artist rather than just an artist more logical?

I can’t differentiate between a Christian who is a musician and a Christian musician. If I had to guess I would say that to me the biggest difference between the “Christian” artist and the “Secular” artist is audience. If an artist mostly wants their music heard by Christians they sell under a Christian label. If they would rather have a wider audience listen they go secular. I suppose there might be a matter of reputation. I can see how some church folk would wrongly judge someone working in the secular field. I might guess that most Christian musicians make their choice based on what they think the purpose of their work is. If they think it is merely their career of choice perhaps they choose secular, if they think they are performing acts of ministry when they perform then perhaps they choose the CMI. Of course, I would guess, for a Christian it is nice to be surrounded by people you can assume are other Christians working from the same set of values and what not in your chosen profession. But most people don’t have that luxury. Sometimes I get the impression that stating that one is a Christian [fill in the blank, artist, musician, writer, etc.] is supposed to be instant validation on one’s work. When people act that way it annoys me. It reminds me of “word of faith” people who think that tacking the phrase “in Jesus’ name” on the end of a statement is like waving a magic God wand that makes all your dreams come true. Matt brought up an interesting point that could bear on choosing between the CMI and the secular industry, which is music’s purpose. I have to say my opinion seems to be a bit broader than his.

Matt stated that, “the purpose of music is worship,” and well… I’m not sure that I agree entirely. Surely, music is a part of worship but to say that music’s sole purpose is worship makes me wrinkle up my nose and purse my lips to the side as I bite my tongue. I guess it would depend on how you define worship. Is worship strictly a group of Christians standing together and singing toward God? If that’s the definition then the role of music is severely confined, almost austere if you will. However, if you would define worship as actively living a life that is pleasing to God, to try to please Him and fulfill His will in all that you do, then music’s role is boundless really. I guess I see music more as a tool. A tool we use not only to worship but also to communicate to others and even ourselves, to reflect truth. We use it to explore emotions, those wells of feelings we don’t have the language to describe. To be dramatic, sound speaks the language of feelings. (The science geek in me wants to make some comment regarding mathematics being the universal language and how music is really very mathematical so it makes sense that it seems to be universal as well…oh I need to get out more.) I do have to agree with Matt in that music really does connect with our souls. Mmmmm…souls….*drool*… Oh, sorry I had a Homer moment. Anyway, I do consider praise and worship music a genre all it’s own; and, perhaps this is the only music that could truly label itself “Christian” and really mean music with Christ at it’s center.

In thinking about writing this post I started to wonder if anyone has ever written anything on the history of the Christian music industry. I went to the first source I could think of, Wikipedia, and shockingly enough they did have a page on what they term Contemporary Christian Music (“CCM”) which I thought was very interesting. In their article they outline the four basic “positions” people seem to have regarding CCM. Take a look and see if you fit in any of their categories. I’m somewhere between the purist and the spiritually reflective position, though more spiritually reflective. I think what I found most interesting werethe links to Jesus Music (perhaps a better history of the start of the industry itself) and the hippie Jesus Movement whom they cite Keith Green as being a leader of. Who knew?

Well, that’s my two cents. I hope it was worth it.

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Editorial Policy

Any good publication has an editor. Someone to fix sentence fragments like this one.

We have one here too, and that's Michael.


Now, in general, we don't want to mess with people's posts, but we have to balance that with wanting to have a blog with good grammar and spelling. So our policy is that we reserve the right to make changes. Our commitment to you is that the changes won't alter what you're trying to say.

If you feel like something gets modified that does mess up what you were trying to say, then please - by all means - get in touch with Michael and let him know.

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Content

So what sort of content are we looking to have on this blog? Great question (assuming you actually asked it and weren't just reading what I wrote).

That's open to discussion, but here's some general ideas. General discussion of Christian Art, of course - and feel free to load in a healthy dose of your own opinion. Open ended questions are great too - we learn a lot from discussing these things.

Reviews would be great too. Album or song reviews, book reviews, analyses of visual arts... All of it fits well within our context here. Feel free to copy over posts you've made on your own blog. We're not too proud to take hand me downs.

Basically, we want to generate discussion, and encourage others to think these things over. Anything that does that, is reasonably well written, and doesn't contain inappropriate content has a place here.

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How to Become a Contributor

This blog is different than many other blogs out there in that it is a sort of "Open Blog". Yes, I pretty much just made that term up. What I mean by it is that it is a team blog, and that the team is not a fixed thing. If you are interested in becoming a contributor, and have something insightful to say, we'd love to have you jump on board.

The process for how that happens is still a fluid thing since we're all new to this, but I am assuming it will look something like this... Initially someone would come to the blog, start reading and maybe post some insightful comments so that we can get to know you. Then, if you feel like you have something that you'd like to post, you'd contact our editor, Michael and let him know that you're interested. A short summary of what you want to post on could be helpful too.

If we know who you are and feel comfortable with that, we'll bring you on as a contributor. We hope, through this process, to keep the voice of the blog fresh and to encourage a lively, interesting discussion - and hopefully one that will bring glory to our Lord.

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Music. Not what, but who?

Greetings. This is my first post, and I am excited to be able to contribute (thanks for the invite). I have high hopes for this blog, as this is a great topic. One that I think will encourage some great discussions. My first post to this blog is about something that is near and dear to my heart, and also relates to the very first post on this blog.

Christian Music.

I am hoping to be able to bring somewhat of an 'insiders' view on the Christian music industry because, for whatever reason, the path of my life has brought me close to many aspects of Christian music. Sometimes, close enough that I that I was 'called' to be involved. This is not a name-dropping session (trust me, I have no interest in attempting to impress anyone but God, which itself is an exercise in futility). This is just a quick peek into some of my experiences with the music industry as it relates to Christ and Christians.

When I was fifteen I lived next to a saxophone player named David Hlebo. He was the saxophone and keyboard player for Kim Boyce. One day I went to Knott's Berry Farm and she was performing there. David thought that it would be cute to pull me up on stage. So there I was, singing in front of 2,000 people. Pretty wild. I used to attend church with Alan Shacklock. He formed the British Producers Guild with Phil Collins and Hugh Padgham, and also played with U2 in Madison Square Garden, and produced the British rock band, the Alarm. We used to spend our time discussing the future of Christian music. There are many others, but I would like to mention also that my sister married the brother of the guy who started The Newsboys. I grew up down the street from Michael Jackson's saxophone player (who is in charge of the worship at Calvary Chapel Redlands), and the drummer at my church in Twin Peaks was Elvis' drummer for ten years. So, I have had my share of exposure and I have this to say...

The Christian music industry, is exactly that...an industry. There are differences between the two industries, but not good ones. From my perspective here in the Christian music mecca of the world (Franklin, TN) I would much rather deal with the people in the secular side of things. Basically because they know they're in BUSINESS to make money. Meanwhile, on the Christian-side of things, they're really in the business to make money, while masquerading around under the guise of being in a MINISTRY. (Have the bottom line fall out from under just one of the record companies and see how long they last as a ministry).

I realize that is a sweeping generalization, and that there are exceptions to every rule. However, I have actually heard several of my friends who are in the Christian music industry express their desire to be in the secular industry. Because at least you can expect unsaved people to behave accordingly. There is a higher degree of accountability, and a greater expectation among believers, when you are dealing with people who claim to be believers. Another friend of mine moved to Nashville 10 years ago on a rapping recording contract. As soon as he showed up, the record company went bankrupt.

Christians filing for bankruptcy is entirely another issue for another time, however, those kinds of things are more of a symptom of a greater underlying problem. Once you realize that the Christian record companies are in business to make money, then the content on the radio stations all makes sense. This first segment has been fairly critical, so allow me to change gears.

Why is music so powerful? So huge? How is it that iTunes has already sold well over a half of a billion songs? It's because music speaks a language that our souls/spirit can understand. Arguably better than anything else. There is intelligent music out there, but music doesn't speak to our brains, it speaks to an entirely different part of us as spiritual beings. While I can't recall exactly where in The Word it is, I do recall hearing that Lucifer was basically 'in charge' of the worship in heaven. Taking his damnation into consideration, it makes sense why secular music is pushed in the direction of sex, and self.

But I digress. The purpose of music is worship. And, we were made as beings with one of our primary functions being worship. Whether you like it or not, we worship. Still have that poster of the Lamborghini on the wall? Still trying to stuff your wallet beyond what is reasonable, while not giving or tithing? You get the idea. So, if were are beings created to worship, and the primary reason for the existence of music is worship, then why do we have Christian music celebrities. Shouldn't Christ be the focus? Shouldn't Christ be the celebrity? I guarantee you that not a single one of today's top Christian music singers would hang on a cross for me. That will be the subject of my next post.

But I'll leave you with one thought...

Although I realize that certain music can become tiresome (Holy, Holy, Holy ad nauseum), think about it like this the next time you hear that. When we see Him face to face in all of His great and awesome glory, we ALL will join the angels and say 'Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. Who was, and is, and is to come". For eternity. Because, I suspect that is all that we will be able to utter. It's not about us, or our preference in music style. It's about Him and His glory.

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On the Outside Looking In – Should They Bother?

I hope it's all right that I'm posting this so soon after Chris's post. I thought that ideally we might have a small handful of topics that we can discuss at the same time here, rather than the standard blog procedure of moving to the newest post right away. Let me know if you guys wanted a different format than that.

The recent news of Anne Rice’s return to her Catholic faith and declaration that from now on, she would be “writing for the Lord” has inspired a lot of commotion in the secular world, especially amongst her fans who know her best for her Vampire Chronicles and Beauty erotica series. She’s faced some pretty harsh criticism both for her work and her decision, at least on vampire forums and Amazon.com. I haven’t yet heard the reaction from the Church, but to be honest, given recent history, I’m not optimistic.

Anne Rice is hardly the first Big Name Artist to kneel at the foot of the Cross. I’m reminded of artists such as Bob Dylan, who (at least, according to my trucker friend Frank) was shunned by the Church for the “worldly” songs he continued to play in addition to the songs he performed that praised his Lord, artists like Bono who express faith but don’t seem to have much to do with the Church one way or another (he seems a little too busy actually doing works), artists like Moby who express faith in Christ but reject the Church, and artists like Evanescence who can’t seem to decide whether or not they’re Christians in the first place. Yet even Church favorites like Keith Green butted heads with and was burned by representatives of the Church. Stories of such artists as Mel Gibson, who has been embraced by the Church even despite his denominational differences with much of it (and the gritty – dare I say “worldly” – content of his post-“Passion of the Christ” works), seem rare to me.

My question, then, is in regards to these artists who have become famous outside of the Church, but now intend to serve God with their art. How should we approach them? How should we approach their works?

I laud Anne Rice’s declaration; I’m very pleased, as a brother in Christ, that she has come to the conclusion that she has been reunited with her Creator and Savior. Yet even as glad as I am about this, based upon what I’ve read about her new book, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, I must admit to being a little nervous. She has been quoted as saying that while she focused primarily upon the Gospels for information about her story of the seven year-old Jesus, she has also drawn upon Apocryphal material (such as the story of young Jesus killing another child and then raising him from the dead) and has made a few mistakes (referring to the House of David as the “Tribe of David”, for example).

Does intention trump quality? Does artistic ability matter more than theological accuracy? How should we regard the celebrity who is respected as an artist, and yet is a Christian in their spiritual infancy? I have watched with some trepidation as many in the Church have encouraged celebrities such as Stephen Baldwin even as he has made flippant remarks about his willingness to do sex scenes in movies. At the same time, I have been angered recently by Christians who have shown more hurtful judgementalism toward those outside their cliques than most non-believers would dream of doing. It is, I think, inevitable that the Church would contain members who will display hurtful behavior; no grouping of humans is without their bad apples, and an organization like that of the Body of Christ, composed as it is of rejects, the broken and the hopeless, cannot hope to escape lapses of personal discernment. But Jesus’s call seems so clear that I don’t think it unreasonable to expect better. We should be better.

What are your thoughts, family of Christ?

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Welcome Aboard

The replies are starting to come back, and our team of contributors is taking shape. I'm really excited that you've chosen to be a part of this project. So welcome.

In the invites, I laid out some details of what this is all about, but I wanted to put it down here just to clarify, and as a record of where we started. I've noticed that a lot of Christians are discussing art on their blogs - be it Christian music, visual arts, or writing. There is a real interest in discussing the role of art in our Christian walk, as well as discerning what constitutes "good" Christian art.

So here we are. A blog where many voices can come together and talk it over. The idea is to have a base of contributors that grows and shifts with time, so that those who have something to put out there in a post can do so.

And let me say right now - if you know of others that should be invited to contribute, feel free now (or at any time) to let myself or Michael (our official, unoffical editor) know so that we can send an invite.

As to the rules? The usual. Play nice and all that stuff. Topical content is up to you all. You're the team members after all. Michael may at times suggest themes to get us all going in the same direction, but the field is wide open.

I put a post up here a couple weeks ago, just to get the ball rolling. Yes, I'm aware that its substandard. I don't intend to post very often - mostly I want to facilitate and hear what all of you have to say.

With that in mind - please feel free to post away. If nothing else, maybe folks would like to put up short "who I am" posts so that we can start getting to know one another.

Glad to have you aboard. May our Lord be glorified here!

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