Saving Leonardo: A Call To Resist The Secular Assault On Mind, Morals, And Meaning (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
This book opened my eyes to the worldviews behind art. Every artist, filmmaker, and musician sees the world a certain way and this is exhibited in the means by which they express themselves. Although a piece of art may evoke a certain response from us, this may not be what the artist intended.To quote Marcel Duchamp, the guy who submitted the urinal as art, “I threw the urinal into their faces as a challenge, and now they come and admire it as an art object for its aesthetic beauty.” Pearcey goes on to say, “We are not being charitable when we tame these artists’ defiant gestures by saying, Oh, how pretty. To point out the naturalistic, even nihilistic, stance of the anti-art movement is not to impose an external judgment. It is merely to take the artists at their own word. If the universe does not have an author, if it was not created by a supreme artist, then what basis is there for humans to create works of art? This is an honest question, and it was a question raised by the anti-art movement.”This book was at times a bit dense, but it was purposeful. A foundation needed to be laid to be built upon in order to see the evolution of art initiated by the seemingly parallel philosophical evolution of worldviews. It was a bit saddening to have my dear Impressionism explained away as an outcropping of a philosophical view that the senses were primary. I had no idea, but Monet and the others were sorting out epistemology with a paintbrush. Monet desired to express truth and meaning through color patches without any interpretation to show that sensation was paramount. I thought they were just pretty paintings.Let me be clear: this book is written by a Christian from a Christian perspective. Pearcey writes, “Jesus himself taught many of his most powerful lessons through story, metaphor, and imagery. He could have just commanded us to take care of those who were victimized and oppressed. Instead, he told the parable of the good Samaritan. He could have assured us that God forgives sins. Instead he told the parable of the prodigal son. ‘The Kingdom was far too deep and rich a truth to entrust to merely rational abstract propositions,’ writes Hollywood screenwriter Brian Godiwa. Jesus ‘chose stories of weddings, investment bankers, unscrupulous slaves, and buried treasure’ instead of speaking in logical syllogisms or abstract axioms. The Bible’s literary form underscores the importance of the arts for nourishing the human spirit.”So, all Christians don’t need to be art critics. But, Christians shouldn’t be culturally brain-dead either. We need to develop worldview sensors that aren’t turned off when something is labeled “entertainment”. There are themes of salvation, even in a film like Pulp Fiction. There are redeemable aspects to culture that aren’t overtly Christian. Stories in film or print may probe questions like the Dadaists and Impressionists did. We have the answers to these questions! “Christians are called to adopt the mentality of a missionary, even if they never set foot in a foreign country. A missionary has to sift the indigenous culture carefully, deciding which aspects of the society can be redeemed and which must be rejected.” While it was nice to have an in-depth Christian worldview book that looks at the major philosophical "-isms" of the West, I never felt like I fully grasped either Pearcey's descriptions of them or Christianity's counters. The book tended a little too high concept, as if you'd walked in on a side conversation about Sartre at a cocktail party and had missed the opening remarks. Still, it's a worthwhile read, if only to dip one's feet into the water of how to think about how people's philosophies touch how they live.
What do You think about Saving Leonardo: A Call To Resist The Secular Assault On Mind, Morals, And Meaning (2010)?
Excellent. Highly recommended. I'm reading it again immediately - this time with my highschoolers.
—char
awesome introduction to worldview studies - read before Total Truth
—Cris
I must re-read this along with "Notes from a Tilt-A-Whirl"
—Mandana
Great pockets of information, and it was well written.
—SEWINJAC
