Great observation from David Taylor. Of course, the problem is that no one gets to change "culture" or "tradition" directly—all we can do is create artifacts that might slowly reshape the ecology of a culture. And that's why we so often gravitate to "programs."

re: art, changing the world

Andy:

As I sat in our all-day meeting at Duke Divinity, talking about the future of a theology and arts institute, it struck me that a lot of our comments revolved around programs and activities. . . . People were offering great suggestion—suggestions I want in on. But a light bulb went off in my head at one point. It’s gone off before.

It’s a light bulb that made it into the Introduction of my book. If we really want to experience the kind of environmental conditions in which the arts will flourish in a Protestant setting—in the same way that the fruit and flora of God’s creation flourish, both in kind and degree—then we don’t need programs. The best program money could buy would still not accomplish what we yearn to see. What we need is a different theological and practical ecology. We need a different tradition.

I’m talking about a massive overhaul of a culture. In such a culture every bit of labor, every bit of a program matters. But what a culture has that a program the size of Jupiter doesn’t have is positive inertia. That’s what we need. We need for the current to be constantly and positively running in the direction of artistic flourishment, not fighting against us half the time.