Book 1, Ch. 13, 21

Augustine poses a question to God, as he is usually inclined to do.

For what can be more wretched than the wretch who has no pity upon himself, who sheds tears over Dido, dead for the love of Aeneas, but who sheds no tears for his own death in not loving thee…

What is worse than a man who cares for the characters in fictional Latin epics, but doesn’t seem to care about himself?

Augustine seems to be tapping on the potential of culture to touch our hearts. In his case it was for the worst, because it distracted him from what was really important, and puffed him up.

His problem is not unique. Our modern day dramas, though probably not nearly well put together as the Aeneid, mostly serve to distract us. The main goal of most of our culture is to foster escapism.

Culture, such as music, movies, books, etc., is so powerful that it can cause us to ignore the most important aspects of our lives. In Augustine’s case, it was his rejection of the Christian faith. Today, it might be an addiction, laziness, marriage problems, or anything else that is painful, but will simply fester and eat us alive if left untreated.

I’m not here to condemn Harry Potter and violent video games, nor to tell you to shut off the television because it’s rotting your brain (although it might be cooking it little bit).

Running away in fear is never the answer. Confronting the danger and morphing it to our purpose, however, is a very effective way to harness this power.

If culture has such a tremendous influence on hearts and minds, so that people can so easily forget what is truly important, it can be used for just the opposite. To draw attention to those things which are truly beautiful, authentic, and worthy of people’s attention.

To show people their true potential. To show help show them what they’re true vocation really is: an image-bearer of God.

Part of what I want to do with this blog is call Christians to action. To challenge them to use their creative impulses for the good of the Creator, and wage war with weapons that can change people.

The Christian call to culture is an important one, and one I’ll be focusing on heavily.

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