Echos of faith

Kari:

You bring up a pertinent observation about our times.

A couple weeks ago, I was talking to a friend who is really into music history. He was telling me that the Mass liturgy has a minimum of five parts: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei.

At one time, most people knew Kyrie means "Lord have mercy" and would recite it as an honest prayer. Eventually, people knew what it means and could recite it but it was just mere words. And now, in this point in history, most people may or may not know what it means and do not recite it.

Historically, as you point out, Christianity and the arts were extensively linked in music, in paintings, in sculpture, in stained glass of churches, in altar pieces, in illustrations for hand copied Bibles and in literature. The arts were a manifestation of the creative spark and infused with theology.

But somewhere in the march of time, religious faith retreated from the arts and for that matter many domains of life.

Europe has been described as in a post-Christian era where church attendance (a crude surrogate marker for religious devotion) is minimal and belief in god is low. America to some extent has bucked that trend in that church attendance is still moderate and belief in god (often perhaps in a generic sense) remains high.

Thus, the booming sound of faith of the ages remains at least as an echo in society and in clarity among those who believe. It is this reality, that the echo still has resonance, that has allowed a film like Bruce Almighty to be made by a mainstream studio with well known actors, discuss faith in an honest way and garner an audience.

What did you think of that film?

Some aspects of the film were religious in a generic sense but some were subtly but definitely Christian. If you haven't seen it yet, do check out this interview with the director Tom Shadyac.

Here in Los Angeles, this week in fact, the City of Angeles Film Festival will have its annual run. Most if not all of the films do not grow out of a Christian foundation. However, spiritual truth can be accessed by those who do not acknowledge faith. And so the festival looks for that echo of spirituality. I hope to catch a film or two but right now, my schedule is not looking promising to my disappointment.

With our film literate readership, I'd like to ask, what films would you suggest to organizers of your local film festival patterned after City of Angels?

Be well,
Rene

UPDATE: Came across this article entitled, "What is acceptable music these days?" which discusses Christian musicians and some of the criticism they have taken from Christians for going "mainstream."