The Common Good
July-August 2003

Creative Beauty

by Karen E. Aldrich | July-August 2003

THANK YOU, Don Michael Hudson, for an intelligent, well-thought-through
article ("Reading the World," March-April 2003) on the arts and the
Christian's freedom ...

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THANK YOU, Don Michael Hudson, for an intelligent, well-thought-through article ("Reading the World," March-April 2003) on the arts and the Christian's freedom toward them—the fact that the creative spirit, when enriching, cannot be separated from the source of creation, God. One thing you left out, though, is that the separation of art into the secular and sacred tends to lead toward a dumbing-down of the Christian intellect in general and the loss of deeper insight into the many layers of beauty God has created—and the potential of what humans can create within God's creation. Of what use are the arts, a professor of mine asked two weeks ago. I answered: They allow the soul to breathe; they are the lungs of our inner selves—to which he agreed and said that they also stop us from looking at humanity with complete and utter desperation.

Karen E. Aldrich
Cobble Hill, British Columbia

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