All art, good, bad, indifferent, reflects its culture. Great art transcends its culture and touches on that which is eternal. Two writers may write the same story about the same man and woman and their relationship with each other. One writer will come up with art and the other with pornography. There is no subject that is not appropriate for the artist, but the way in which it is handled can sometimes be totally inappropriate. True art has a mythic quality in that it speaks of that which was true, is true, and will be true.Madeleine L'Engle, Herself
I believe this quote came originally from L'Engle's book Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art, which is one of my favourite titles about Christianity and the artist. Can Christian art be bad art? L'Engle does work to tackle that question, and I tend to agree with her ultimate conclusion. True art, the great art, speaks of "that which was true, is true, and will be true", and if it is what was, is, and will be true, it must speak of God and of Christ - so while there may be Christian "art" that may be hideous and speak not to the truth or anything else good, there may be non-Christian artists that in fact speak to those things.
It always frustrates me when I see conservative Christian school libraries throwing out excellent titles that speak to the true and the everlasting out of their collections because they have "magic", "fantasy", "in correct theology" and so on and so forth instead filling their shelves with poorly written drivel that happens to be theologically correct. Do we do our children any service by doing this? By avoiding the truth that can be found in nearly all excellent fantasy novels? I personally believe not. You'll find fantasy in my personal library, and you'll find my kids reading fantasy as well. And you'll find me protesting those that speak against excellent literature they, in many cases, know nothing about and have not read because they believe it may "lead their children astray".
