This wide-ranging conversation with John Peck on religious and non-religious uses (and abuses) of art offers a depth of wisdom that should speak to a wide range of people, whether you are on a worship team, or semi-involved in an artistic discipline, or earn a living at it, or are into religious or non-religious artistic expression.
John’s interlocutor, LaVere Burdette, does a terrific job of quickly moving the conversation from the milk to the meat. On the table are issues such as how Christians may experience their particular way of looking at life in and through their art, whether they use religious or non-religious symbols, and concerns about the proper and improper use of art in worship and evangelism. A discussion about film and soap operas is particularly enlightening. And if you don’t think the gospel has anything to do with this, think again!
The conversation aired on the program “Religion on the Line,” in Detroit on WXYZ Radio, which for many decades was a premier “secular” station in the Midwest. At the time (April, 1983), John was scholar-in-residence in Toronto at ICS, and he took a break from that gig for several days to travel to Trinity House Theater in Livonia, Michigan, to teach on worldview and the arts. (The THT play “Denial,” which was running at the time, slips into into conversation for a few minutes.)
Although we pulled it from the archives, we think you will find John’s wisdom timeless on the topics (and controversies) that LaVere sets before him. And hat tip to LaVere, a skilled interviewer who hold’s John Peck’s feet to the fire a few times during the 40 minutes. But we think he wins her over.
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