ARE WE A PEOPLE AT HALF TIME? - Leadership Network

Poetry BDBk sales at Barnes & Noble have
i n c h gyer 40% in the last two years.
~kyrockin~ sales are prompting some
bookstores to switch to selling only poetry.
Since &e mid- 1970qr, nearly 300 universities
have established graduate poetry programs. 3
a
to coast heralds the hope of a new
expression of creative celebration that
'ear has not heard, nor eyes seen."'
Davin Seay, Los Angeles-based
author and journalist, reporting in
Worship Iade~ magazine.
Some graduate poetry prqgms are hardr
to ge~ into than Harvar& taw c4aol $ The culture has shifted and the
postmodern era, with its love of
aesthetics, is here. Postmoderns, raised
in a multi-sensory audio-visual world,
see art as a given. It is their primary
language of communication.
(mtintcedfrowl page 2)
Just ten years ago, literary fiction was
still dubious. When best-sehg authors
Brock and u e Thoene appeared at the
&tian Booksellers Convention, people
avoided them. "Fiction was very suspect
in that market. It was perceived as makebelieve
or something less than truth,"
says their literary agent Rick Christian.
ART & FAITH "Nowonthecusp
of the Millennium, churches and
congregations across the country and
around the world are moving to r ech
their artistic birthright, rediscovering
the potency of art as a means of
proclamation, celebration and kinship
with the Creator ... the energy,
enthusiasm and hard-won experiences
of churches and individuals from coast
"Artistic expressiun, by, banishedfiovn the
Church, is shng new signs oflife. It is tiw
for the Churck to awaken h artistic vision."
John R. Throop
pastor, Christ Church
Peoria, I1
We are at a defining moment. It is time
to reclaim our artistic heritage and begm
to tell the greatest story ever told in
the language of our culture - the
language of the arts. *
%W ALLEN JS A FOUNDING ORGANIZER OF PROMON~RY
ARTISTS ASSOCIATION, A GROUP DEDICATED TO
ENCOURAGING CHRISTIANS IN m ARTS AND IMPACTING
CULTURE THROUGH ART. KATHI, ARESEARCH CONSULTANT,
IS TK@ OWK3R OP ALLEN RESEARCH W COMMUNICATTONS.
SHE CAN BE REACHED AT ARC~NK@AOL.COM