Who's Afraid of the Holy Spirit? (pt. 9)

The Holy Spirit and the Arts, by Reg Grant seeks to explore how the artist who is a Christian should be influenced by the presence of the Spirit in the creative act. He identifies two traps to watch out for: viewing the Holy Spirit either as "Holy Tool" or "Holy Lackey". Then he goes on to compare Martin Luther and Thomas Munzer--two men who personified radically different approaches to relating to the Spirit. He portrays Luther as embodying a right relationship to the Spirit and art, since he sought to keep his imagination anchored to the truths of Scripture. In contrast, Munzer's view of the Spirit was soley subjective, and not tied to any other authority. Though both men used their imaginations to create art, the fruits of their efforts differed greatly.

Not anything terribly new or exciting in this article for me, but the link is above if you are interested.

Friday Musings

Cinco De Mayo
I don't have anything special to say about the Mexican Independence day, but I did hit El Rodeo with the guys for lunch. In my book, it is the best dollar-for-food value in Des Moines for Mexican food. Tough to beat the "Speedy Gonzalez" for under $5.00. Lauren and I are also going out tonight for the events at Valley Junction. Should be a good time, although I hope it warms up a little.

Evangelicals and the Movies
Shaun Groves has highlighted two interesting articles (1, 2) this week relating to how Christians in America relate to movies. The first is titled Evangelical Childlike Hysteria & The Da Vinci Code and expresses frustration at the "nanny state" mindset among some that would keep us from engaging and interacting with the movies. This perspective views films like "The Da Vinci Code" as dire threats which are about to sweep away the faith of millions who can't think critically for themselves. The second, The Passion Reloaded, reveals the failure of the same mindset when applied to movies that do promote a Christian message. There were those who hailed Mel Gibson's film as the greatest tool for evangelism in 2000 years. And though there were doubtlessly some who were reached, it failed to live up to the promise. George Barna found that less than one-tenth of one percent who saw the film made a profession of faith. To me, it points us back to the basic need for Christ to be shared person-by-person, relationship-by-relationship. Movies may sometimes facilitate that, but there are no shortcuts.