![]() ![]() The caption read, “Where’s the Mona Lisa? I’m double parked!” Art and Aesthetics This attitude was vividly expressed recently in a cartoon portraying an American rushing into the Louvre in Paris. And today much of the Christian community seems inclined to approach aesthetics in the same hurried and superficial manner with which we live most of our lives. This bold assertion has led many to argue that the spiritual life is essential, but the cultural inconsequential. At the heart of this mentality is Tertullian’s (160-220 A.D.) classic statement, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? The Academy with the Church? We have no need for curiosity since Jesus Christ, nor inquiry since the evangel.” Unfortunately, the answers we often hear to such questions imply that Christianity can function quite nicely without an aesthetic dimension. Is there a legitimate place for the appreciation of art and beauty in our lives? What is the relationship of culture to our spiritual life? Are not art and the development of aesthetic tastes really a waste of time in the light of eternity? These are questions Christians often ask about the fine arts. This article is also available in Spanish. ![]() How should Christians glorify God in the ways we interact with the arts and express our artistic bent? ![]()
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