'New Renaissance'?

I found myself thinking that this was self-serving hype at first. But then I wondered: "'the society we now live in is arguably the most exciting it has ever been', and the arts 'have never been so needed to understand the deep complexities of Britain today'"
It's that thing about needing arts to understand deep social complexities. And then I thought: what about the church and the Christian message?

I don't know whether we really are or could be on the verge of a new renaissance. At the moment I find it hard to believe, but I may be reacting out of sensibilities formed by an old pardigm that is precisely what would be challenged, overturned and used as the compost for something new. However, if it is true, or could be true, I sense that it is right in being built on a sense that art currently really is about articulating at visceral levels, non-verbal levels, changes in consciousness that are taking place. And if that is so, we need to take note as Christians. Our habitual ways of communicating and even offering space for reflection on big questions are simply not really learning the languages of the arts. We need to be able to build an imaginal apologetics and to be able to speak the language of the arts. This is how the plausibility structures of our times are built and reinforced and we are not engaging; we don't even understand that it is happening.

Of course we need to be careful we look widely if we do decide to take this seriously: both popular and 'high' art need to be in the frame. We have not to be transfixed by the high art side to miss the popular. Arguably the latter is more important, but there are important connections between them and so we do need to look at it.

And on that note, I'm also stirring into the pot of this musing my observation of how many lifestyle shops seem to be selling blank canvasses and art materials...

Britain on verge of 'new Renaissance', minister claims | Art & Architecture | Guardian Unlimited Arts: