Sublime

My working definition of art is thus derived in part from both a moderate institutional theory that recognizes the important role that the museum space plays in determining meaning and mediating a history, tradition, and theory of what occurs in that space, and an ecological theory of art that affirms that in its making and viewing, art does someth

that “a work of art is something new in the world that changes the world to allow itself to exist.”

All churches must understand, love, and identify with their local community and social setting, and yet at the same time be able and willing to critique and challenge it.

I adopt Hunter’s “faithfully present within” culture approach, augmented by Andy Crouch’s insight that Christians are called to be creators and cultivators of the good, true, and beautiful. Alternative accounts of cultural apologetics could be developed that explicitly endorse one or another of Niebuhr’s possible positions on Christ and culture.

Belief in the Centrality of the Gospel-Driven Church

“The world will not recover from the community of God’s people living lives to glorify Jesus.”

Creation, Contingency, and the Specter

This is a key problem. As Guinness identifies, many of our churches have bought into the modern American consumer mindset in which we understand ourselves primarily as consumers and our churches as service-providers.