We used to have Dante and Bach. Culture shifted, and somehow we ended up with Psalty and the Donut Man. No offense to the singing hymnal or his pastry-baking counterpart, but the Christian artistic impulse has severely waned, or else been totally eclipsed. Pop culture travels on at the speed of light, and Christians seem woefully behind the times. Instead of contributing to the wider artistic culture, we have resigned ourselves to a subculture that draws knowing winks and gibes even among its participants.

So why this blog? We’d like to give thinking Christians a place to engage with the culture as it happens. How it’s created, how to understand, how to see the fault lines that lead us back to resurrected joy. God is a creator and culture is creation. Those who fall far outside the kingdom still bear his image, creating art that deepens our understanding of the human condition. Here is the place for the deeper look, for taking a longer gaze than a simple review. This is where we can see the world around us pummeled by the weight of sin, stained by the blood of Christ and lit up by the empty tomb.