The Cultural Way of Being(Spiritual Direction in a Postmodern Landscape)
Geoff Hall
Bristol: Upptackka Press, 2011
ISBN
pbk, 82pp
Available in kindle, pdf, print and iBook here.
How does the institutional church treat artists? By and large it doesn't! Art becomes a means of propoganda for evangelistic or advertising purposes, or it becomes a means of self-expression. Hall writes, in part, to try and alleviate this disdain for the artists' cultural calling.
Hall pleads for a collaboration between artists and angels:
It is interesting that Jesus' last days in the Wilderness involved being looked after by angels before His return to the public sphere. So if you are an angel investor, this may well be your service to the artist.It is in this collaboration that artists can make art, art that becomes culturally formative, rather than mere personal expression. But it is not just with investors that this creative collaboration can take place, it can be also with gallery owners, publishers and educationalists. Primarily, though the collaboration must be with God: 'The life of the artist is an intimate walk with God' (p. 33). Through this walk with God artists can be 'sensitised to what is going on "around Christ"' (p. 34).
All in all this book is a vigorous and articulate call for artists to take their place in God's kingdom and for kingdom people to support them, so that art can be 'a communal expression for the public domain'. The church can then be transformed from a 'culturally reclusive institution'.
It needs to be read by all who long for the artist to take their place in God's good creation.
Contents
Introduction 10
The spiritual direction of a calling (David) 15
Free design & propoganda 21
Cultural power and direction 29
Intimacy 33
Cultural evacuation 41
Art & prophetic imagination 47
We are not alone 53
Reference 56
Also in this series 58
About the author 61
Notebook 70
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