“Art imitates nature,” Aristotle once claimed. Yet, more often than not, art touches a space beyond our physical world—from the ecstasy of love to the twilight of grief, and indeed, to the very contours of the divine. There is something undeniably spiritual about the whole business. As the philosopher Michel Henry wrote, “At its onset, all art is sacred, and its sole concern is the supernatural. This means that it is concerned with life—not with Read more…
By Alejandro Morles One of my friends at the University once told me that he is majoring in Religious Studies and Economics because he “wasn’t sure if wanted to worship God or Mammon yet.” While I laughed at the moment, it was a quote that has become fixed in my mind. It is easy to witness God in the beauty of this world and in the arts, but why this dichotomy? Is God present during Read more…
By Madeleine Roberts Out of the void where nothing grips to nothing in the bottomless cold you shaped words, like pearls, in the warm shadow of your mouth that bore upward reflecting the light of future heaven and the color of future earth, the poetry of all beauty which before was not In the visions we saw forests arranged in neighborhoods like the palaces scattered throughout the deathless city as the heat Read more…
By Louis DiModica When thinking about the Ten Commandments, most people focus on the “easy” ones—do not steal, do not murder, do not commit adultery (Exod. 20:13-15). But what about the first one? “You shall have no other gods before me,” commanded God, first and foremost (Exod. 20:3). In stating it first, God imparts particular significance to it. And if it’s important to God, it should be important to you and me. So, we need Read more…
By Nikko Wheeler Genesis 1:26-27 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, after our likeness’… So God created mankind in his own image.” The first question one might ask after reading this verse is… Why did God create us in his image? God did not need to create humans at all. We were not made because He was lonely or required to be served. God is an eternal and complete being, communing with Read more…
By Madden High Prodigal (adj): spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant having or giving something on a lavish scale Since Christianity’s earliest days, one parable has dominated the collective imagination of believers through its exquisite imagery and beautiful simplicity: The Parable of the Prodigal Son and His Brother. Upon observation, surprising parallels appear between Christ and the Prodigal Son in the parable, and in this article, I’d like to point out Read more…
By Walker Haynes There are many passages about creation in the Bible, but I would like to focus on perhaps an unexpected one: John 9. I encourage the reader to review the passage himself, but in summary, Jesus heals a man blind from birth by spitting in the dirt and creating mud, putting the mud on the man’s eyes, and commanding the man to wash himself in the pool of Siloam. After washing himself and Read more…
By Francesco Rahe “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said ‘Let there be light’; and there was light” (Gen. 1: 1-3) God creates the world by speaking. He creates the ocean, the sky, the stars, growing things and even humanity itself simply Read more…
By Sophie Rydzewski All acts of creation are rooted in labor. As humans, our very lives are constellations of creation, from the creation and maintenance of family, to the pursuit of wealth, to the process of art making in exploration of the world surrounding us. Across the landscape of human pursuits, the creation of wealth and the creation of art seem in many ways opposed. The pursuit of wealth has long been understood as having Read more…
By Daniel Adrian Leonard Christian art possesses a certain intangible quality that sets it apart from other works, an additional touch that can only be attributed to the deep relationship of the artist with God. When the relationship is genuine, artists have the potential to create something that mirrors the Gospel and inspires faith. How can we understand this phenomenon? Can God speak through a work of art? In the Old Testament, Bezalel is tasked Read more…