Artist Makoto Fujimura describes visiting the Fra Angelico (1395-1455) exhibit at the Met one December. As he gazed at Angelico's "Madonna and Child," he says he had to close his eyes. What he saw on the canvas was so powerful that he felt overwhelmed, so that he physically staggered.
In his book Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art and Culture, Fujimura writes that as he gazed at the painting, the "five-hundred-year question" popped into his mind.
"What is the five-hundred-year question?" he writes. "Well, it's a long-term, historical look at the reality of our cultures that asks, What ideas, what art, what vision in our current culture has the capacity to affect humanity for more than five hundred years? ... If our decisions matter and make ripple effects in the world, then should we not weigh what we say and do in light of the five-hundred-year question?"
Many of us know the company Seventh Generation, whose plant-based household products take their inspiration from the indigenous tribal wisdom that every decision made should be considered in light of its effect on seven generations hence. But 500 years from now? That seems harder to get our minds around.
In addition to this unusual timeline, Fujimura acknowledges our fragile place in the world today, noting that future-oriented thinking has been clouded by our "capacity to blow ourselves up a thousand times over." Apocalyptic movies and literature witness to a mood of despair in which there is no future. Many millennials are deciding not to have children.
Yet the power of Fra Angelico's vibrant and luminous "Madonna and Child" endures.
Read more from Gretchen Ziegenhals » |
| | IDEAS THAT IMPACT: CHURCH & CULTURE |
Christians don't like to talk about power. But cultural power -- the ability to create -- is something all people are meant to have, says writer Andy Crouch, author of Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power.
Read more from Andy Crouch » |
In this article from 2011, a pastor and writer says that it's probably good that most churches aren't wrapped up in the latest fads. But there are cultural shifts congregations and church leaders need to track and respond to sensibly.
Read more from Carol Howard Merritt » |
More than two decades before Brown v. Board of Education, the dean of Howard University School of Law built a network of relationships and practices for the purpose of preparing a cadre of leaders to transform society, not simply practice law.
Read more from L. Gregory Jones » |
A New and Right Spirit: Creating an Authentic Church in a Consumer Culture by Rick Barger
In a postmodern culture shaped by consumerism, it's little wonder that there is confusion about what the church is supposed to be in the 21st century.
In A New and Right Spirit, Rick Barger argues passionately for congregations to reexamine what it means to be an "authentic church" in a culture where authenticity is hard to come by. He demonstrates the pitfalls of technical solutions to congregational problems and shows the way to making adaptive change. Recognizing the spiritual needs of a success-oriented society, he exhorts leaders to turn away from the story of our culture and to return to the story of the church that is grounded in Christ and the resurrection.
Learn more and order the book » |
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