There Is Beauty
Read a bit of Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig. Leafed through a bit of Cold War Kids. They made me wonder at our mistaking what is novel and even creative for what is honestly beautiful.

To draw on Craig's summary of Francis Schaeffer's analysis of the human predicament: Schaeffer rallied against Hegel's influence on Western culture, an influence to destroy our definites and absolutes and leave us in desperate absurdity and meaninglessness.

In that "line of despair" we are gripped by avant garde expression to dwell on chaos, disorder, and emptiness and name it beauty. It's like rejoicing in our oblivion and blindness.

Cold War Kids draw inspiration from David Foster Walker:

"...to back away from ironic watching..."
"...gall actually to endorse and instantiate single-entendre principles..."
"...eschew self-consciousness and hip fatigue..."
"...The old postmodern insurgents risked the gasp and squeal:shock disgust, outrage, censorship, accusations of socialism, anarchism, nihilism. Today's risks are different. The new rebels might be artists willing to risk the yawn, rolled eyes, the cool smile, the nudged ribs, the parody of gifted ironists, the 'Oh how banal.' To risk accusations of sentimentality, melodrama. Of overcredulity. Of softness..."

Ha! Hip fatigue. I can't say the Cold War Kids have escaped it. It's hard to avoid, huh?

This is not to denigrate creativity; it has its place. I too am curious and fascinated by forms of expression. I just don't want to ignore or water down what is truly admirable.

And so I sign off with words that are reassuring and itself beautiful:

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. -Philippians 4:8