Singer-songwriter Jesse Murray joins Michael and Justus to discuss his upcoming EP “Trail of Tears,” a collection of songs written concerning the historical and present relationship between Native Americans and the United States. Along the way, they discuss the idea of collective repentance—is it possible for children to repent of the sins of their forefathers? And what good can it do? Also, Jesse plays two tracks from the forthcoming album live—the title track “Trail of Tears” and “Snow Blindness.”
Never ones to back down from a challenge, your intrepid hosts Justus and Michael open up season 2 by tackling the age-old thorny question, “What is Art?” They are joined by Renew the Arts Creative Director Rusty Hein for this all-too-brief, but we hope productive, discussion. Stay tuned at the end for “Man Walked Out,” by Micah Stout from his record Without Reservations. A special thanks to Douglas and Siri Gregory for sponsoring this episode and to Ryan Lane for supplying us with the instrumental version of “Sounding Brass” for this season’s theme song.
Are the arts as trivial and inconsequential in and for the church as their place in the Protestant church would seem to indicate? Being an arts organization, perhaps Renew the Arts has overestimated the crucial value of the arts in the church out of some unwittingly self-serving desire to think of ourselves and our work more highly than we ought. We’re certainly willing to explore this possibility and examine again why we’re so dedicated to this cause. Toward that end, in this our season 1 finale, Justus and Michael ask themselves the question, “Are we overstating the importance of the arts?”
Stay tuned at the end to hear “For Senses” by Civilized Creature off the record Of the Uncaused Cause. We think the song addresses the crucial importance of receiving Jesus in every way He has presented Himself to us—sensory and non-sensory. Washingtonian Ryan Lane heads up Civilized Creature, and he has been gracious enough to let us use his track “Refiner’s Fire” as our theme song for this season. We’re so thankful for his generosity, and we hope you all check out his prolific output of edifying music.
Even though a redemption story composes the heart of every Christian’s personal history, so many quite talented Christian artists have found such stories sometimes impossibly difficult to tackle in fiction. In this episode, Justus and Michael discuss why redemption stories are so difficult to tell naturally and believably, bringing in a few literary examples along the way.
Stay tuned at the end for a song off of Warbler’s Sea of Glass called “The Idiot,” a personal testimony of how the fantasy of unbelief is disassembled by “the beauty of reality.”
Why does the contemporary church tend to reject its artists, and why do so many artists reject the church? Can we do anything about it? In the episode, Justus and Michael explore some of the bones of contention and roots of bitterness which keep so many artist Christians on the fringes of the church, and they explain how reconciling the church and her artists would be of inestimable benefit to both.
Stay tuned at the end for “In the False Church,” from Songs for Friends by Physick, a raw denunciation of the lukewarmness of contemporary Protestantism, styled in the language of the Old and New Testament prophets.
If the church removed non-biblical restrictions on art, would that create too much freedom? How far is too far? Michael and Justus discuss how censoring yourself, as an artist and as a consumer, is a necessary component in ensuring that artistic liberty remains constructive and encourages discernment. Freedom should never be license for sin. Stay tuned at the end for “Father Song” by Brock’s Folly off of I Have Seen the End.
Along with our first-ever guest, visual artist Joe Goode, Justus and Michael discuss the crucial difference between seeking unity and seeking uniformity in the church. One crushes diversity, while the other necessitates it. How could the arts play a part in this? Stay tuned at the end for “Primary Issues,” by Brock’s Folly from their sophomore effort The Great Commoner, a song borne from the hope that there can be unity in the essentials of Christ’s Spirit.
Why do most professional critics and unbelievers hate “Christian art”? Is it because they’re prejudiced against the Gospel? Should their opinions matter to Christian artists or Christians in general? On this episode of the Renew the Arts Podcast, Michael and Justus talk about the God’s Not Dead movie franchise, the dubious label “Christian art,” and why Christians need to listen carefully to what unbelievers think and feel about the creative work the church creates and endorses.
Stay tuned at the end for “Steeples,” by Fiery Crash, from his album In Clover, which we think exemplifies a nuanced and compelling approach to making persuasive artistic appeals to those who are at odds with God and the church.
The story most American Christians have believed concerning the national abortion epidemic is that, with Roe v. Wade, with a stroke of a pen, activist Supreme Court justices loosened the nation’s morals when they loosened the nation’s law. But the statistics tell a different story, a story which confirms that politics are downstream from culture. Join Justus and Michael as they explore this timely and surprising topic.
And listen until the end to hear Warbler’s “Kool-Aid,” from his most recent record, Sea of Glass—a stunning, faith-filled denunciation of contemporary politics in the form of a folk rock protest record.
On this episode of the Renew the Arts podcast, your hosts Justus and Michael will take you on a bracing conversational journey into what might seem at first like a strange topic—why the church should make more ugly art. What exactly do they mean by “ugly art”? And why is it so crucial to the church’s witness and ministry to unbelievers and believers alike?
Ezekiel 23 is the very ugly passage Michael quoted. You can read several translations here: http://biblehub.com/ezekiel/23.html