With no offense intended whatsoever, it would be my opinion ( based on personal experience) that today's commercialized/homogenized church does not encourage "out-fo-the-box" thinking. I always felt that it was necessary to conform, become part of the Borg during my church-going youth years. I never felt individuality was welcome, least of all, my independent analysis of the bible. Creativity does not flourish well in such environment. IMHO

No offense taken, and I tend to agree with your observations.

One of the wisest statements that was ever made by a human with regard to the Church is that we should strive for "unity in the essential, charity in the non-essential." There are some doctrinal and theological issues which are not up for debate, but there are many more areas of everyday life that can stand, and even flourish in, an atmosphere of "disunity." We in the Church too often make the mistake of labeling as "essential" those things which really aren't, and close off all debate or creative thinking about them.

And, even in the "essentials," expressing those truths in different and creative ways doesn't lessen their truth.

Scripture even calls for us to "renew our minds." If that's not a call for creativity and critical thinking, I'm not sure what is.

Now, where I may politely part company with you is in your "independent analysis" of the Bible, but that's not really what we're talking about here, so let's not go there. ;-)

In an exhibition entitled, "Jesus 2000" sponsored by the National Catholic Reporter in 1999, there are some traditional and not-so-traditional images of various artist's conceptions of what Jesus would look like in a contemporary society.

The entire exhibit is not displayed anymore either in the 3D world or on the net, but some remnants of it remain, including the top prize-winner by Janet McKenzie, as selected by Sr Wendy Beckett.

I saw the entire exhibit in 2000 at Our Lady of Snows Shrine, in Belleville Illinois. The artwork was evocative and for the most part, technically excellent. I commend it.

See all four gallery pages at:
http://www.123soho.com/artgroup/jesus_2000/body.htm

CNN.com article, includes partial gallery:
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/STYLE/arts/05/25/jesus.moos/index.html

"Art contest winner dogged by controversy over portrayal of Jesus" article at:
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/STYLE/arts/06/23/religion.in.the.news.ap/

Contest background at National Catholic Reporter:
http://www.natcath.com/NCR_Online/archives/122499/122499a.htm

Good Christian art is out there; you just have to look for it.

Good Christian art is out there; you just have to look for it.

Larry, I think that's a pretty good summary of what this entire discussion is about. Why is it so hard to find?

Now, in the interest of "fair and balanced coverage," I'll willingly submit that the ratio of good stuff to garbage in the secular art world is probably just as low...maybe even lower...but that's hardly the standard we ought to be using, is it?

Eric,

seems like I posted something similar about Christian marketing several months ago. Now to the particulars, I can say that the arts at christian schools are subject to the same sorts of in-group pressures that affect any members of the group. I've heard of theatre shows being rewritten because someone didn't like the tone of some of the dialog, and art shows being cancelled because someone found the material - or the artist - somehow "unChristian" or offensive.

With that as the backdrop, is it any wonder that Christian art students learn which side the bread is buttered on (to massacre a cliche)?

Bryan, I do remember your Christian marketing post but (as you've no doubt seen from your blog log) I couldn't locate it via a search of your site.

Anyway, we do seem to be our own worst enemies when it comes to allowing the experimentation (and, yes, even failure) that is almost always essential to achieving excellence.

Eric, it's here:

http://www.arguewithsigns.net/archives/2005/01/27/why_do_christians_buy_this_junk/

("christian t-shirt") was the search phrase. :-)

But I think you're right about the experimentation thing. Sometimes genius lives right next door to madness, and we aren't too comfortable with either.

"christian t-shirt"

Yep...I remember it now.