Christian Culture Depicted in Art

Our secular society denies so much of the Christian worldview, and often puts it down or oppresses it. But, Stephen and I have seen some interesting shows that offer a look into the world when it was driven by Christian values. Art can offer interesting insights into these historical periods, and not all new content is bad. Some really is truly insightful. This is a good discussion of what happens when you find Christian culture depicted in art.

I don’t think many people understand the tension that was really happening in Bridgerton because I don’t think I understand how people thought about morality and ethics at that time. It’s crazy to me. The tension one character has between a vow of vengeance and a vow to his wife is at the center. But, there are problems with duty and honor among men as well as the panic of young women as they begin courting.

Watch the video here.

Good fiction is definitely a laboratory for virtue. This example shows that even TV shows can have the same effect that literature or poems had. Television is simply the new storytelling medium. And it’s very good to view entertainment like that because a lot of people confuse entertainment with dulling our mind. However, good entertainment and art informs us of the world around us. There is still a lot of good or decent culture out there as well. At one point Dostoyevsky was popular fiction, writing stories in periodicals. But now, we watch our stories, rather than read them.

Listen to the full conversation here:

What can we learn from these pre-secular stories?

Our culture is basically a secular, post Christian world. It was definitely easier, I would say, in 1000 AD to live the Christian life. In the middle of France it was easier to be virtuous or maybe, at the very least, to appear virtuous. We live in a society that focuses on a lot of the wrong things, glorifying the passions and and really anything that you want to do goes. The art and culture you would consume, at the very least, would point you towards virtue.

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A great example of this is in the show called the Sophia (in Russian with English Subtitles). It was about the last Byzantine princess who married basically the precursor to the czars in Russia, the father of Ivan the Terrible. And it was so fascinating because even though it was a Russian show that was in English and was only six or seven episodes, it was just so interesting. Watching a culture that had faith as such an important and not like demonized aspect was like being transported to another world.

And it also glorified many aspects of that culture’s virtuous living, virtuous kingship, a Christian society. Those are just invaluable when trying to encourage people to to do the right thing. Especially because, as mentioned before, our culture is just so spiteful to much of what Christians believe.

Christian Culture Depicted in Art

What can we learn from these pre-secular stories?

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