Art for Art's Sake

December 07, 2010 by Tim Muldoon

Continued from Page 1

But what I hope does not get lost in the art debates, is what the DaVinci installation reminds us of: that all art draws meaning from the fact that it is embedded within a long conversation about what is meaningful to a society, to a culture, and that recovery and creative re-appropriation of classics is part of making a good community. This recovery reminds us that we are not the first people to ask questions about meaning; we are not the only ones to seek beauty; we are not necessarily the most adept people in history in deciding what a good society looks like. Our great-great-great-great (....) grandparents may, in truth, have been more loving, more forgiving, more humble, more generous people. On the other hand, maybe not -- but in either case, paying attention to the history of our attempts at culture is a worthy task.

Learn your Latin and Greek; study the Bible; read Dante and Cervantes, Austen and Woolf. Then read the news, listen to the poor and outcast, and make art.

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12/7/2010 5:00:00 AM

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About Tim Muldoon

Tim Muldoon holds a Ph.D. in Catholic systematic theology and is an award-winning author and Catholic theologian of the new evangelization.

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