I review Christian books, mostly nonfiction ones but I do get a Christian Fiction novel or two each month. Occasionally I'll get one that I enjoy, and frequently I'll give 3 or 4 stars just because I know the author means well and it's not too terrible. However, most of the time I'm just not …
Continue reading The Soft Critique (Building a Better Christian Novel Pt 2)
Of you're seeking an accessible yet deep book on finding beauty in unexpected places, even in hard times, I highly recommend checking this one out: https://eclalibraries.org/2020/03/26/searching-for-spring-how-god-makes-all-things-beautiful-in-time/
It's interesting how often Western churches describe Jesus as gentle, basically inoffensive. The idea he had other sides, including the ability to get angry and shock people, doesn't come up very often. Yet you could argue it's vital we talk about that side of Jesus, because until we do so we're missing the fully story …
There are plenty of books that try to talk about Christian views of art, but too often those writers take the easy path, writing lists of "books or music you shouldn't read." Some authors are smart enough to realize the question goes deeper than that, and requires an exploration of what the Bible says about …
Continue reading A Redemptive Theology of Art by David A. Covington
In the 1990s, Mark A. Noll wrote a book called The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, pointing out how much anti-intellectualism there was in evangelical circles. In 2017, Christian leaders met for a conference to discuss whether that situation had changed, for better or worse. The State of the Evangelical Mind collects various essays from …
In this series (click here for Part 1), I’m looking at 5 questions about arts based on something a Puritan wrote and giving some answers. To read my thoughts on the previous question, click here. Question (4 out of 5): Is spending money on entertainment wasteful? Answer: There are certainly occasions where spending money on entertainment is …
In this series (click here for Part 1), I’m looking at 5 questions about arts based on something a Puritan wrote and giving some answers. To read my thoughts on the previous question, click here. I said in my last post that when people assume fiction and lies are the same, they misunderstand what lies are. Lies …
In this series (click here for Part 1), I’m looking at 5 questions about arts based on something a Puritan wrote and giving some answers. To read my thoughts on the previous question, click here. Question (3 of 5): Is relaying a fictional story the same as lying? Answer: fiction and lies are not necessarily the same …
In this series (click here for Part 1), I'm looking at 5 questions about arts based on something a Puritan wrote and giving some answers. To read my thoughts on the previous question, click here. Question (2 of 5): Is portraying sin in art sinful? Answer: Not necessarily. Portraying sin as good is certainly sinful. But …
In this series (click here for Part 1), I'm looking at 5 questions about arts based on something a Puritan wrote and giving some answers. Question (1 of 5): Can an originally pagan activity be good? Answer: Christians certainly shouldn’t do activities that are part of pagan festivals or involve doing sinful things. However, God can …
G. Connor Salter 