The "Spiritual Poverty" of Modern Art

William Barrett writes of modern art that it stabs the "Philistine's sore spot, for the last thing he wants to be reminded of is his spiritual poverty" (Irreation Man 49). This is why so many Christians have little use for 'culture' of the past fifty years -- whether visual art, music, film, television -- not because it reminds them of their spiritual poverty, because they are not spiritually bankrupt, but culture is. If I am angered, as Barrett takes pride in prompting, it's because I may have paid for this art by taxation. Pity, or sorrow, is the more dominant feeling, for the artist is bankrupt. Christians still have the value for art that Horace and Sir Philip Sidney espoused: that it should delight and instruct. When both of these qualities are instilled or evoked, art reaches its zenith, and we are edified. It seems so much modern art has little to teach, other than to deconstruct what was once established, and there's little delight in disillusionment. The anger Barrett relishes is no longer in the audience, it's in the artist. The artist's message does not stab my sore spot; but I wonder why he is so proud to display his wounds.

Douglas Wilson's A Case for Classical Christian Education

Douglas Wilson’s book, The Case for Classical Education, is a challenge to Christian educators, true, but also a challenge to Christians. He writes of the Paideia of God, (the title of another of his books), which is more then the education of children, but the “enculturation,” which is providing more than biblical stories or platitudes, but living, worshipping, working, and thus teaching the Christian life. This is required of the teachers, the administrators, the board, and the parents.

The classical Christian education trains children in the faith, but also the Western civilization in which Christianity prospered. Wilson’s plan, put into practice at Logos, the elementary school he founded, is more demanding than the average public school’s. It is not vacation Bible school. Wilson mentions some of the unusual subjects, (by today’s standards), like Latin, Greek, Hebrew languages. He also writes of how subjects that are not specifically religious or irreligious are a part of the holistic Christian education, such as mathematics and athletics. He lays out the overall plan of the Trivium: grammar, dialectic (or logic), and rhetoric, as they determine the subjects; grammar from first grade to junior high, dialectic until senior high, then rhetoric. Grammar gives children basic knowledge to accumulate, dialectic is the arrangement of this knowledge by its interconnectedness, and rhetoric is the expression of the student’s conclusions.
Also useful for any adults interested in specific texts that are taught, or who would like to have an idea of what a classical education includes, a list of twenty-five books that represent the Western canon is included. If you are interested in some classical training yourself, most of these books are available online for free.

The book is a well-reasoned explanation of why many parents have quit, or are ready to quit, the status quo among public schools. It’s not to make it easier for the children; it’s to have a higher standard of academics, and some standards of God’s in the school.

Is Literature Relevant?

I am reading a book by Rev. Douglas Wilson: A Call for Classical Christian Education. He has no hesitation in saying Christians should pull their children from public schools. For the Christian teacher in a public school, he has these words:
For Christian teachers in secular schools: “...he or she is either going to be constantly exasperated – or fired. If the teacher fails to reach those around him, he or she will be exasperated. If the teacher succeeds, he or she will be fired. All in all, those gifted in teaching should seek out classical Christian academies in which to teach – even if salary and retirement benefits are lower.”

I also read an article, "The Decline and Fall of Literature," by Andrew Delbanco, (linked to the blog title above) on the failure of English Departments at colleges. Some of the facts included were how the number of students that major in English in college and the number of PhD programs and students have decreased. It is not encouraging to someone who would consider teaching English. The article’s main thrust was that English departments have become “laughing stocks” of colleges across America because of the variety of things studied, which are really just items of pop culture, such as comic books, advertising, movies, pornography, etc. I would add their political slants and social experiments in the classroom have depleted the number of students interested.

In another essay, ”Dynamics of Scholarly and Essayistic Writing,” by Rainer Schulte, (Literature Interpretation Theory, 16: 389–395, 2005. Copyright # Taylor & Francis Inc,)I read the question: why aren’t scholarly journals read? He pointed out their obscurity, mainly in language. But these essays are also obscure in subject matter. They’re really only written for peers. Who is going to read “Jane Austen and the masturbating girl,” a miscellaneous essay I just picked off of the internet, except for other English scholars who think such things are important, and some Freudians who look for justification for their sexual obsession by supposing everyone else has the same?

Secular schools wouldn’t like it, nor allow it, but a moralistic approach to literature, the way to teach prior to the 20th century, taught about wisdom. Secular schools cannot teach wisdom, nor do they care to.* That is why students will doubt the relevance of literature. As much as academics may look down on churches, they could learn something from Bible study. It was Bible study that started my interest in literature, that complemented it, and then study of literature complemented Bible study. Bible study is about applying the Word.

*C.S. Lewis brought up a good point: teachers can’t give their students what they don’t have themselves. He was writing of expecting secular teachers to teach with the Christian perspective.

Mention of C.S. Lewis Discarded Image and Pilgrim's Regress

Quick review of The Discarded Image:

A very good introduction to medieval and Renaissance literature, constructing the Model of the Universe that was popularly held at that time. Lewis builds the Model by citing a substantial number of works that address cosmology, astronomy, medicine, rhetoric, etc. Subjects referred to by medieval authors are compiled, such as the characteristics of people described by the planet they were born under or the balance of their humours; the inhabitants of earth, aether, and the sky; daemons, angels and faeries; the separation of body and soul. A very good reference, and the beginning of a very long reading list, most of which may be found online.


Quick review of Pilgrim’s Regress:

A book that is as useful for understanding Lewis's personal experience as his autobiography, Surprised by Joy. He takes up some of the same themes, this time defining his desire for God as Romanticism, which he later calls Joy. The story is of the journey of the character John, as he searches for something to fulfill that desire for something he can't yet define. He meets a variety of characters who reflect philosophies that Lewis considered before becoming a Christian. For example, there are characters who represent Freudians, Epicureans, Classicists. Through the adventure John realizes that things such as sex, knowledge, aesthetic beauty, do not fulfill that desire.

The story is told as an allegory, modeled after John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, because, as Lewis writes in the Afterword: "But in fact all good allegory exists not to hide but reveal; to make the inner world more palpable by giving it an (imagined) concrete embodiment.... For when allegory is at its best, it approaches myth, which must be grasped with the imagination, not with the intellect." (208) Nonetheless, it is engages the intellect too.