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Saving Leonardo [HC,2010]
Is secularism a positive force in the modern world? Or does it lead to fragmentation and disintegration? In Saving Leonardo, best-selling award-winning author Nancy Pearcey (Total Truth, coauthor How Now Shall We Live?) makes a compelling case that secularism is destructive and dehumanizing.Pearcey depicts the revolutionary thinkers and artists, the ideas and events, leading step by step to the unleashing of secular worldviews that undermine human dignity and liberty. She crafts a fresh approach that exposes the real-world impact of ideas in philosophy, science, art, literature, and film--voices that surround us in the classroom, in the movie theater, and in our living rooms.A former agnostic, Pearcey offers a persuasive case for historic Christianity as a holistic and humane alternative. She equips readers to counter the life-denying worldviews that are radically restructuring society and pervading our daily lives. Whether you are a devoted Christian, determined secularist, or don't know quite where you stand, reading Saving Leonardo will unsettle established views and topple ideological idols. Includes more than 100 art reproductions and illustrations that bring the book's themes to life.
Unknown Binding
First published August 27, 2010
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About the author
Nancy R. Pearcey
29 books528 followersNancy Randolph Pearcey is the Francis A. Schaeffer Scholar at the World Journalism Institute, where she teaches a worldview course based on the study guide edition of Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity. In 2005, Total Truth won the ECPA Gold Medallion Award in the Christianity & Society category, in addition to an Award of Merit in the Christianity Today book awards.
A former agnostic, Pearcey studied violin in Heidelberg, Germany, in the early 1970s and then traveled to Switzerland to study Christian worldview under Francis Schaeffer at L’Abri Fellowship. After graduating from Iowa State University with a Distributed Studies degree (philosophy, German, music), she earned a master’s degree in Biblical Studies from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, then pursued further graduate work in the history of philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto (with emphases on ancient and Reformational philosophy).
Pearcey is currently a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, where the focus of her work is on the cultural and philosophical implications of the evolution controversy. A frequent public lecturer, Pearcey has spoken to actors and screenwriters in Hollywood; students and faculty at universities such as Dartmouth, Stanford, USC, and Princeton; scientists at national labs such as Sandia and Los Alamos; staffers at Congress and the White House; and various activist and church groups around the country, including the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. She has appeared on NPR, and a lecture based on Total Truth was broadcast by C-SPAN.
She began writing in 1977 for the nationally distributed Bible-Science Newsletter, where for 13 years she wrote pioneering in-depth monthly articles on issues related to science and Christian worldview. In 1991 she became the founding editor of “BreakPoint,” a national daily radio commentary program, and continued as the program’s executive editor for nearly nine years, heading up a team of writers. Under her leadership, the program grew into an influential organ for teaching a Christian worldview perspective on current events, with an estimated weekly audience of five million. She was also policy director and senior fellow of the Wilberforce Forum, and for five years coauthored a monthly column in Christianity Today.
Pearcey has served as a visiting scholar at Biola University’s Torrey Honors Institute, managing editor of the science journal Origins & Design, an editorial board member for Salem Communications Network, and a commentator on Public Square Radio. Her articles have appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including the Washington Times, Human Events, First Things, Books & Culture, World, Pro Rege, Human Life Review, American Enterprise, The World & I, Homeschool Enrichment, Christianity Today, and the Regent University Law Review.
Pearcey has authored or contributed to several works, including The Soul of Science, which treats the history of science and Christianity, and the bestselling, award-winning How Now Shall We Live? She was invited to contribute the Foreword in The Right Questions, as well as chapters in Mere Creation, Of Pandas and People, Pro-Life Feminism, Genetic Ethics, Signs of Intelligence, Reading God’s World, Uncommon Dissent, and a Phillip Johnson Festschrift titled Darwin’s Nemesis.
Pearcey resides in Northern Virginia, where she and her husband are homeschooling the second of their two sons.
A former agnostic, Pearcey studied violin in Heidelberg, Germany, in the early 1970s and then traveled to Switzerland to study Christian worldview under Francis Schaeffer at L’Abri Fellowship. After graduating from Iowa State University with a Distributed Studies degree (philosophy, German, music), she earned a master’s degree in Biblical Studies from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, then pursued further graduate work in the history of philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto (with emphases on ancient and Reformational philosophy).
Pearcey is currently a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, where the focus of her work is on the cultural and philosophical implications of the evolution controversy. A frequent public lecturer, Pearcey has spoken to actors and screenwriters in Hollywood; students and faculty at universities such as Dartmouth, Stanford, USC, and Princeton; scientists at national labs such as Sandia and Los Alamos; staffers at Congress and the White House; and various activist and church groups around the country, including the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. She has appeared on NPR, and a lecture based on Total Truth was broadcast by C-SPAN.
She began writing in 1977 for the nationally distributed Bible-Science Newsletter, where for 13 years she wrote pioneering in-depth monthly articles on issues related to science and Christian worldview. In 1991 she became the founding editor of “BreakPoint,” a national daily radio commentary program, and continued as the program’s executive editor for nearly nine years, heading up a team of writers. Under her leadership, the program grew into an influential organ for teaching a Christian worldview perspective on current events, with an estimated weekly audience of five million. She was also policy director and senior fellow of the Wilberforce Forum, and for five years coauthored a monthly column in Christianity Today.
Pearcey has served as a visiting scholar at Biola University’s Torrey Honors Institute, managing editor of the science journal Origins & Design, an editorial board member for Salem Communications Network, and a commentator on Public Square Radio. Her articles have appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including the Washington Times, Human Events, First Things, Books & Culture, World, Pro Rege, Human Life Review, American Enterprise, The World & I, Homeschool Enrichment, Christianity Today, and the Regent University Law Review.
Pearcey has authored or contributed to several works, including The Soul of Science, which treats the history of science and Christianity, and the bestselling, award-winning How Now Shall We Live? She was invited to contribute the Foreword in The Right Questions, as well as chapters in Mere Creation, Of Pandas and People, Pro-Life Feminism, Genetic Ethics, Signs of Intelligence, Reading God’s World, Uncommon Dissent, and a Phillip Johnson Festschrift titled Darwin’s Nemesis.
Pearcey resides in Northern Virginia, where she and her husband are homeschooling the second of their two sons.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 182 reviews
June 6, 2011
It is difficult for me to contain my enthusiasm for this book. When it comes to a consistent embrace of the true, the good and the beautiful, Christians consistently have a bad case of the Wobblies. They want to pick one and manufacture their own Christianized sect or ideological ism out of that one element. But this is like choosing height over depth, or depth over breadth. You can't have one without having them all, and you can't take away one without removing them all. Pearcey is primarily addressing the arts, but with giving an inch on the other two. Finally, a love of beauty that does not summon us to strike the hipster pose for Jesus.
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March 1, 2020
Probably the best way to read this book would be to read it through once quickly, to get the main thread of ideas, and then read it again more slowly to really grasp as much as you can. And then pull it out from time to time, for reference. Because there is a LOT of information and helpful analysis here, and sometimes it's hard to keep straight with a one-time, sporadic read (which is what I did). This book deserves more than that.
This is a worldview book in the vein of Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture, but it it much more focused on the Enlightenment and the Romantic heritage and how the clash of those two worldviews, sprung from the fact-value (or upper story/lower story) split, have bred all kinds of movements in art and literature as well as philosophy, government, and religion. I had so many moments of "so THAT's why x art style is Like That" or "that's the underlying philosophy behind x style of architecture." It is an excellent analysis of why our culture is the way it is, and worth reading closely.
I'd write a better review, but I would need to re-read it and process it more. Perhaps someday I'll update this review and add some better thoughts, but for now: just read it. You will not be disappointed.
This is a worldview book in the vein of Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture, but it it much more focused on the Enlightenment and the Romantic heritage and how the clash of those two worldviews, sprung from the fact-value (or upper story/lower story) split, have bred all kinds of movements in art and literature as well as philosophy, government, and religion. I had so many moments of "so THAT's why x art style is Like That" or "that's the underlying philosophy behind x style of architecture." It is an excellent analysis of why our culture is the way it is, and worth reading closely.
I'd write a better review, but I would need to re-read it and process it more. Perhaps someday I'll update this review and add some better thoughts, but for now: just read it. You will not be disappointed.
January 15, 2016
So: this is the book you're looking for.
If you've ever wondered what cubism or impressionism is about.
If you've ever wondered how a urinal or a canvas painted in just one depressingly dark colour could possibly be considered art.
If you've ever had even a fleeting interest in making or consuming music, storytelling, film, or philosophy.
If you're a Christian serious about understanding the culture around us.
Or, goodness, even if you just want an engaging and readable history of philosophy illustrated in terms of great Western art in one easy volume, then this is the book you're looking for.
While I bought this book purely for the sake of the art history aspects, Saving Leonardo functions equally well as a history of two strands of thought which first diverged at the Enlightenment: that which places ultimate importance in subjective values, versus that which places ultimate importance in objective, demonstrable facts (both strands of which survive to this day as continental philosophy--existentialism/postmodernism--and analytic philosophy--rationalism/empiricisim). Pearcey focuses primarily on post-Enlightenment and twentieth-century art in this book, from Flaubert to Huxley, from Stravinsky to Cage, from Picasso to Lichtenstein; but you will also find her comments on ancient and medieval art very insightful and useful.
There was much to enjoy about the book. Pearcey writes ably and well and I had no problem devouring the book in four or five days. She quotes the artists and philosophers themselves pretty extensively, allowing them to explain their art in their own words. Perhaps best of all, she doesn't simply dismiss the artworks based on philosophies she doesn't agree with. Though she is a Christian with a high view of God's sovereignty, she takes pains to point out the grains of truth in each worldview and provides thought-provoking examples of Christian works in the various genres: Christian expressionism, for example, or Christian romanticism (via Lewis and Tolkien, of course).
The book is printed on glossy paper, doing justice to the dozens of colour plates scattered throughout. I haven't read an enormous amount of art history, but I was thoroughly impressed with this book and encouraged, now that I know something about what the painters were trying to say, to study art in more depth.
If you've ever wondered what cubism or impressionism is about.
If you've ever wondered how a urinal or a canvas painted in just one depressingly dark colour could possibly be considered art.
If you've ever had even a fleeting interest in making or consuming music, storytelling, film, or philosophy.
If you're a Christian serious about understanding the culture around us.
Or, goodness, even if you just want an engaging and readable history of philosophy illustrated in terms of great Western art in one easy volume, then this is the book you're looking for.
While I bought this book purely for the sake of the art history aspects, Saving Leonardo functions equally well as a history of two strands of thought which first diverged at the Enlightenment: that which places ultimate importance in subjective values, versus that which places ultimate importance in objective, demonstrable facts (both strands of which survive to this day as continental philosophy--existentialism/postmodernism--and analytic philosophy--rationalism/empiricisim). Pearcey focuses primarily on post-Enlightenment and twentieth-century art in this book, from Flaubert to Huxley, from Stravinsky to Cage, from Picasso to Lichtenstein; but you will also find her comments on ancient and medieval art very insightful and useful.
There was much to enjoy about the book. Pearcey writes ably and well and I had no problem devouring the book in four or five days. She quotes the artists and philosophers themselves pretty extensively, allowing them to explain their art in their own words. Perhaps best of all, she doesn't simply dismiss the artworks based on philosophies she doesn't agree with. Though she is a Christian with a high view of God's sovereignty, she takes pains to point out the grains of truth in each worldview and provides thought-provoking examples of Christian works in the various genres: Christian expressionism, for example, or Christian romanticism (via Lewis and Tolkien, of course).
The book is printed on glossy paper, doing justice to the dozens of colour plates scattered throughout. I haven't read an enormous amount of art history, but I was thoroughly impressed with this book and encouraged, now that I know something about what the painters were trying to say, to study art in more depth.
Want to read
August 19, 2010
(note: I don't normally like calling people Nazi's, but this book appears to deserve having the four letter N word thrown at it.)
Leafing through this book at work I'm fairly certain that off in the distance I heard the sound of goose-stepping jackboots. The sound was soft but growing subtly louder.
This book is allegedly an unbiased (the author was once agnostic! I wonder who some other 'unbiased' agnostics were? Right, some of the high ranking members of the Nazi party.) look at how secularism (fuck it just say Dirty Jew-ism, as I will show in a minute this isn't so far off of 1930's German) is ruining our society. Lots of examples are given from all different cultural areas, Expressionism in art is very widely distributed through the book (hmmm, who else hated Expressionism and thought it was a Jew thing? And seriously who really cares much about Expressionism these days? (But all those Jews who painted those pictures, I mean seculars.)), and are all put down as being decadent and amoral against the Masterpieces of Art (i.e., Leonardo, and musically maybe the last great non-decadent composer could be I don't know, maybe ummm Wagner?).
I will read this book in the near future. This is just a little pre-read taste of a new piece of culture war propaganda being spread in your neighborhood big box bookstore in the Christian Inspiration section. If I were the publishers of this book I would be embarrassed to issue it, especially since all the pre-WW2 artists and movements that caught my eye all were called Entartete Kunst by the Nazis. But of course we are hating Secularism here, not Jews, same ignorance different name.
Anyway, after seeing this book earlier today and then seeing this masterpiece of Christian music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oOHZv...) that Esteban posted on another thread I am afraid for this country. What other group extolled a mythical 'pure' past and wallowed in kitschy shit in the present? Oh right, the Nazis.
April 1, 2024
March 2024 Review
Basically, here Pearcey takes her thesis from Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity, and applies it to art history. It takes several chapters for things to really get going, and it was generally harder for me to absorb and remember things than I expected going in. The book is more an intellectual exploration of ideas than anything. Often Pearcey will use phrases to basically say, "Then these people started thinking this way..." But I wanted just a bit more historical context: Which people, where did they live, and in what year did this idea get going? I know intellectual movements are hard to pin down, as there's rarely distinct markers, but a little more cultural context would have helped me remember things better.
This would be a fascinating textbook for an art history or Christian worldview class, and I wish a mentor would have handed this book to me in my freshman orientation class in college -- heck, even during my theology and arts degree in graduate school. These are the discussions I've been wanting to have with professors. Definitely a book I want to reread in 10 years.
Also want to read Percey's Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality and perhaps The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes.
Basically, here Pearcey takes her thesis from Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity, and applies it to art history. It takes several chapters for things to really get going, and it was generally harder for me to absorb and remember things than I expected going in. The book is more an intellectual exploration of ideas than anything. Often Pearcey will use phrases to basically say, "Then these people started thinking this way..." But I wanted just a bit more historical context: Which people, where did they live, and in what year did this idea get going? I know intellectual movements are hard to pin down, as there's rarely distinct markers, but a little more cultural context would have helped me remember things better.
This would be a fascinating textbook for an art history or Christian worldview class, and I wish a mentor would have handed this book to me in my freshman orientation class in college -- heck, even during my theology and arts degree in graduate school. These are the discussions I've been wanting to have with professors. Definitely a book I want to reread in 10 years.
Also want to read Percey's Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality and perhaps The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes.
September 9, 2024
I am in awe of Nancy Pearcey and the breadth of this book. She covers philosophy, art history, theology, painting, sculpture, architecture, music- even movies! And her treatment of each of these topics is masterful with a clear no nonsense grasp of Biblical truth and historical facts. It is obvious that Pearcey loves all the arts and longs for Christians to view all the aspects of it rightly. Thank you Nancy Pearcey for the gift of this book to instruct the church and to recover the arts for God’s glory.
Currently reading
June 1, 2012Quotes that struck me as I read:
Introduction: WHY AMERICANS HATE POLITICS
"Because the word 'secular' is the opposite of 'religious', many people assume that secularism is a problem for religious groups only. Not so. When politics loses its moral dimension, we all lose." (pg. 2)
Ch. 1: ARE YOU AN EASY MARK?
"Writers and artists do not go home at night and study systematic philosophy. Yet they are whole persons who bring their basic assumptions about life into the study or the studio." (pg. 9)
"Worldviews do not come neatly labeled. They do not ask permission before invading our mental space. Do you have the tools to detect the ideas competing for your allegienace in movies, school textbooks, news broadcasts, and even Saturday morning cartoons? Are you equipped to teach your children, students, and colleagues to recognize the most powerful worldviews of our age?" (pg. 9)
"What is taught in the science department, the philosophy department, and the art department shapes a society's 'official definition of reality'." (pg. 10)
"Today's most influential worldviews are born in the universities, but they touch all of us through the books we read, the music we listen to, and the movies we watch." (pg. 11)
"To use a biblical metaphor, all Christians are called to be missionaries, responsible for learning the language of the society they are addressing. Within the boudaries of their native land, they may not face a literal language barrier. But they do face a worldview barrier as they seek to communicate with people whose thinking differs from their own." (pg. 14)
"Many people operate as though the definition of faith were, Don't ask questions, just believe. They quote Jesus himself, who taught his followers to have the faith of a child (Mark 10:15). But I once heard Francis Schaeffer respond by saying, 'Don't you realize how many questions children ask?'" (pg.16)
"The study of worldview and apologetics can descend into little more than a game of GOTCHA! where winning the argument is all important." (pg. 18)
"[Christianity] is 'translatable' into any cultural idiom. As a result, it does not destroy indigenous cultures but actually affirms what is best in each one." (pg. 19)
"The secularization thesis [as societies modernize, they secularize] relied on a second faulty assumption - that when people's convictions are challenged, they grow weaker. In reality, they grow stronger." (pg. 21)
Introduction: WHY AMERICANS HATE POLITICS
"Because the word 'secular' is the opposite of 'religious', many people assume that secularism is a problem for religious groups only. Not so. When politics loses its moral dimension, we all lose." (pg. 2)
Ch. 1: ARE YOU AN EASY MARK?
"Writers and artists do not go home at night and study systematic philosophy. Yet they are whole persons who bring their basic assumptions about life into the study or the studio." (pg. 9)
"Worldviews do not come neatly labeled. They do not ask permission before invading our mental space. Do you have the tools to detect the ideas competing for your allegienace in movies, school textbooks, news broadcasts, and even Saturday morning cartoons? Are you equipped to teach your children, students, and colleagues to recognize the most powerful worldviews of our age?" (pg. 9)
"What is taught in the science department, the philosophy department, and the art department shapes a society's 'official definition of reality'." (pg. 10)
"Today's most influential worldviews are born in the universities, but they touch all of us through the books we read, the music we listen to, and the movies we watch." (pg. 11)
"To use a biblical metaphor, all Christians are called to be missionaries, responsible for learning the language of the society they are addressing. Within the boudaries of their native land, they may not face a literal language barrier. But they do face a worldview barrier as they seek to communicate with people whose thinking differs from their own." (pg. 14)
"Many people operate as though the definition of faith were, Don't ask questions, just believe. They quote Jesus himself, who taught his followers to have the faith of a child (Mark 10:15). But I once heard Francis Schaeffer respond by saying, 'Don't you realize how many questions children ask?'" (pg.16)
"The study of worldview and apologetics can descend into little more than a game of GOTCHA! where winning the argument is all important." (pg. 18)
"[Christianity] is 'translatable' into any cultural idiom. As a result, it does not destroy indigenous cultures but actually affirms what is best in each one." (pg. 19)
"The secularization thesis [as societies modernize, they secularize] relied on a second faulty assumption - that when people's convictions are challenged, they grow weaker. In reality, they grow stronger." (pg. 21)
December 29, 2022
I truly appreciate that Pearcey is so passionate about educating the evangelical church about these matters of most importance, and often fiercely critiquing it for its apathy. She says many good and necessary things here. But like her mentor Schaeffer, her historical judgments are often far too broad and sometimes flat-out inaccurate. She may never reach "Thomas Aquinas is the father of secular modernity" levels of head scratching weirdness (as Schaeffer does), but she comes pretty close at times with her unsupported, arbitrary opinions which she passes off as fact. Believe it or not, neither history nor culture nor art is black and white. If read at face value, Christians should not see a Chekhov play, read Madame Bovary, or appreciate a Picasso painting because their worldviews are bankrupt. Notwithstanding the fact that this is extremely debatable (Pearcey has quite a narrow aesthetic compass which she thinks Christians should stay within), it seems to me as if her method often instructs the church to shun culture more than it does to redeem and fortify it, even though her stated goal is otherwise. Thus, I wouldn't recommend using the Schaeffer/Pearcey/Colson school of apologetics to start learning about these big issues. They were about all that I was exposed to for years, and I've subsequently had to relearn a lot of things through encountering the original sources that they use as props for their arguments. And I would recommend doing exactly that when we educate our students and ourselves.
(Also, this isn't the type of comment I usually make, but the fancy glossy paper and plethora of color photos in this book felt like overkill to drive the price up. Of course, the art photos are very helpful, but what do stock images of book covers and movie posters add to the experience?)
(Also, this isn't the type of comment I usually make, but the fancy glossy paper and plethora of color photos in this book felt like overkill to drive the price up. Of course, the art photos are very helpful, but what do stock images of book covers and movie posters add to the experience?)
February 23, 2020
I annotated this. I took notes. I underlined. It was a good time.
Eye-opening beyond belief.
Eye-opening beyond belief.
July 24, 2012
Nancy Pearcey has a noble goal: to provide today's Christian with the tools to analyze worldview in the media they consume. I think she basically fails at this goal, the biggest reason that this book tries to do too many things in too little space.
I commend her for taking a stand against total abstinence from secular culture, but I just found the content of Saving Leonardo to be lacking in.... everything. About 3/4 of the book is an art history crash-course where she analyzes the worldviews that gave rise to some of the western world's more classic works of art (and when I say art I am also including literature and music). I don't always agree with her assessments of the works, and there was something else I found troubling: sometimes when she quoted someone it would be completely out of context. I mean she would be quoting a person as saying something that was completely not his original intent at all if you go to the source and look at it. She uses lots of emotionally charged language, which doesn't accomplish anything. I guess maybe she wants to get the reader riled up, but I don't really like feeling like I'm being manipulated while reading a book.
The one part of the book that I thought was actually really well done, sadly the shortest section, was where she talks about movies. I think for today's Christian this is a more important topic to cover since probably a lot of people won't see Whistler's paintings but everybody watches movies.
Ultimately I think this book is not aimed at me. It's aimed more at a Christian who has zero experience trying to figure out what the artist is saying/where he is coming from. Maybe if this was my first introduction to understanding culture I would have gotten more from it. A small point is that she did say some things to indicate our theology isn't 100% compatible but that's not really why I didn't enjoy the book. It's an interesting topic and maybe if this is the first thing you plan to read on it, it'd be ok. But skip it if you aren't a total n00b.
I commend her for taking a stand against total abstinence from secular culture, but I just found the content of Saving Leonardo to be lacking in.... everything. About 3/4 of the book is an art history crash-course where she analyzes the worldviews that gave rise to some of the western world's more classic works of art (and when I say art I am also including literature and music). I don't always agree with her assessments of the works, and there was something else I found troubling: sometimes when she quoted someone it would be completely out of context. I mean she would be quoting a person as saying something that was completely not his original intent at all if you go to the source and look at it. She uses lots of emotionally charged language, which doesn't accomplish anything. I guess maybe she wants to get the reader riled up, but I don't really like feeling like I'm being manipulated while reading a book.
The one part of the book that I thought was actually really well done, sadly the shortest section, was where she talks about movies. I think for today's Christian this is a more important topic to cover since probably a lot of people won't see Whistler's paintings but everybody watches movies.
Ultimately I think this book is not aimed at me. It's aimed more at a Christian who has zero experience trying to figure out what the artist is saying/where he is coming from. Maybe if this was my first introduction to understanding culture I would have gotten more from it. A small point is that she did say some things to indicate our theology isn't 100% compatible but that's not really why I didn't enjoy the book. It's an interesting topic and maybe if this is the first thing you plan to read on it, it'd be ok. But skip it if you aren't a total n00b.
June 19, 2011
"True wisdom consists in seeing every field of knowledge through the lens of God's truth — government, science, economics, business, and the arts."
Though we're not even halfway through 2011 yet, I have a pretty good feeling this will end up being my favorite book of the year. A book on apologetics, culture, and philosophy that spends a lot of time focused on art, music, and literature is right up my alley! I actually finished reading it a couple months ago, but my brain was so full it took me a long time to process everything to be able to write a review. It's still a daunting task, but hopefully I can at least give you enough of a taste of what Pearcey offers in this book to make you want to read it... because you really should!
"Saving Leonardo" is broken down into two Parts, though the second makes up the bulk of the book. Part 1 ("The Threat of Global Secularism") shows the extent to which our culture has been co-opted by secularist thinking. Nearly everyone has a worldview that has been affected to some degree by secularism.
Far from being a conservative "fearmongerer", or attacking an abstract secular "boogeyman", Nancy Pearcey is very deliberate and nuanced in her description of what secularism is, and how and why it is so pervasive in our culture. The primary way in which secular thinking works its way even into the worldviews of most Christians is through the "fact/value dichotomy". Pearcey builds off the work of Francis Schaeffer (under whom she studied at L'Abri ), who described a "two-story concept of truth". In this conception, "the lower story consists of scientific facts, which are held to be empirically testable and universally valid. The upper story ('values') includes things like morality, theology, and aesthetics, which are now regarded as subjective and culturally relative" (p. 26).
As Pearcey points out, "this dichotomy has grown so pervasive that most people do not even realize they hold it" (p. 27). This dichotomy is in direct contradiction to the biblical concept of truth, which is that all of creation is ordered by a transcendent, holy God who has given us objective, knowable truth that encompasses both facts AND values. The dominant thinking today, however, is that the realms of science ("facts") and religion ("values") have very little to do with one another. This could not be further from the truth!
Unfortunately, Christianity has bought into this false dichotomy over time, and has therefore largely withdrawn from (or in some cases succumbed to) the culture-at-large. Christians have very little influence or credibility in the sciences, and are no longer creating art, music, and literature (the building blocks of culture that shape our worldviews more than anything else) that impact society outside of Christian circles. This abrogation of the church's responsibility as a culture-making institution has led to rampant secularism in our schools, our media, our politics, and even (to a growing extent) our churches.
For this reason, we find ourselves living in a time and place in which we are "metaphysically lost". The concept of Total Truth (the title of Pearcey's first book) is so far removed from our culture's understanding that we are hardly even able to engage in the discussion. Christians who have unconsciously bought into dualistic thinking are unable to form logical arguments for why things like abortion and euthanasia are morally wrong. As she points out, "people do not just need rules, they need reasons" (p. 69). She closes out Part 1 with this challenge (to which I give a hearty "Amen!"):
Part 2 ("Two Paths to Secularism") seeks to equip Christians with an understanding of exactly how we got where we are, and with the hope that real change in our society IS possible... though not using the tactics to which conservative Christians have resorted for generations. She does this by tracing the development of secular dualism by exploring the work of several "change agents": philosophers, artists, composers, authors, theologians, scientists, politicians, and others who have shaped the course of history.
Those familiar with Francis Schaeffer's work (especially How Should We Then Live? ) will recognize the method of cultural analysis Pearcey uses to determine the significance of a particular cultural artifact, though her work is far more expansive in this regard. After a "crash course on art and worldview", she dives into the meat of the book, tracing the "two paths to secularism". These are two philosophical streams, each of which focused on one side of the facts/values dichotomy. The "Enlightenment Heritage" (Materialism) laid claim to the realm of empirical facts, while the "Romantic Heritage" (Idealism) wanted to protect the realm of values. Each of these streams of thought has had several tributaries — there is much variety within the two traditions — but they have developed roughly in parallel, with thinkers from each side of the divide reacting against the other.
The problem is that, while there are elements of truth within both realms, it is an error to focus on one to the exclusion of the other. Throughout history, Christians have found themselves on both sides of this split. To give you an idea of the scope of Pearcey's investigation, I refer you to the following promotional video, in which the author names several of the genres and individuals presented in the book:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX2V3f...
In the end, Pearcey encourages Christians to fully engage in cultural creation and debate. We should approach culture with discernment (which requires first and foremost a solid grounding in the Word of God), holding fast to what is good ( 1 Thessalonians 5:21 ) wherever we find it. Armed with God-given spiritual discernment and a "compassion for those who are trapped by destructive ideas", the church is to become a living work of art, conveying the drama and excitement of the gospel to the world around us in word and deed. After all,
There is so much more that could be said, but your time would be much better spent reading this book! I'll warn you: This is a very large book (though it's beautiful illustrations and full-color renditions of referenced artwork make it a joy to read, and offset the large amounts of text in a visually appealing way) that will take a long time to read, and even longer to process. Though Pearcey's writing style is quite accessible, you'll have to think a LOT. You'll be challenged to reconsider preconceived notions, even if you don't agree with every one of the author's conclusions. In short, reading this book takes work, but it is absolutely worth it!
Though we're not even halfway through 2011 yet, I have a pretty good feeling this will end up being my favorite book of the year. A book on apologetics, culture, and philosophy that spends a lot of time focused on art, music, and literature is right up my alley! I actually finished reading it a couple months ago, but my brain was so full it took me a long time to process everything to be able to write a review. It's still a daunting task, but hopefully I can at least give you enough of a taste of what Pearcey offers in this book to make you want to read it... because you really should!
"Saving Leonardo" is broken down into two Parts, though the second makes up the bulk of the book. Part 1 ("The Threat of Global Secularism") shows the extent to which our culture has been co-opted by secularist thinking. Nearly everyone has a worldview that has been affected to some degree by secularism.
Far from being a conservative "fearmongerer", or attacking an abstract secular "boogeyman", Nancy Pearcey is very deliberate and nuanced in her description of what secularism is, and how and why it is so pervasive in our culture. The primary way in which secular thinking works its way even into the worldviews of most Christians is through the "fact/value dichotomy". Pearcey builds off the work of Francis Schaeffer (under whom she studied at L'Abri ), who described a "two-story concept of truth". In this conception, "the lower story consists of scientific facts, which are held to be empirically testable and universally valid. The upper story ('values') includes things like morality, theology, and aesthetics, which are now regarded as subjective and culturally relative" (p. 26).
As Pearcey points out, "this dichotomy has grown so pervasive that most people do not even realize they hold it" (p. 27). This dichotomy is in direct contradiction to the biblical concept of truth, which is that all of creation is ordered by a transcendent, holy God who has given us objective, knowable truth that encompasses both facts AND values. The dominant thinking today, however, is that the realms of science ("facts") and religion ("values") have very little to do with one another. This could not be further from the truth!
Unfortunately, Christianity has bought into this false dichotomy over time, and has therefore largely withdrawn from (or in some cases succumbed to) the culture-at-large. Christians have very little influence or credibility in the sciences, and are no longer creating art, music, and literature (the building blocks of culture that shape our worldviews more than anything else) that impact society outside of Christian circles. This abrogation of the church's responsibility as a culture-making institution has led to rampant secularism in our schools, our media, our politics, and even (to a growing extent) our churches.
For this reason, we find ourselves living in a time and place in which we are "metaphysically lost". The concept of Total Truth (the title of Pearcey's first book) is so far removed from our culture's understanding that we are hardly even able to engage in the discussion. Christians who have unconsciously bought into dualistic thinking are unable to form logical arguments for why things like abortion and euthanasia are morally wrong. As she points out, "people do not just need rules, they need reasons" (p. 69). She closes out Part 1 with this challenge (to which I give a hearty "Amen!"):
"It's time for the church to regroup, rethink, and recast its strategy for social and political engagement. Christians must learn to engage the secular worldviews that drive the public debate. They must learn to articulate a worldview rationale for biblical morality. And most importantly, they must back up their message with authentic living before a watching world." (p. 69)
Part 2 ("Two Paths to Secularism") seeks to equip Christians with an understanding of exactly how we got where we are, and with the hope that real change in our society IS possible... though not using the tactics to which conservative Christians have resorted for generations. She does this by tracing the development of secular dualism by exploring the work of several "change agents": philosophers, artists, composers, authors, theologians, scientists, politicians, and others who have shaped the course of history.
Those familiar with Francis Schaeffer's work (especially How Should We Then Live? ) will recognize the method of cultural analysis Pearcey uses to determine the significance of a particular cultural artifact, though her work is far more expansive in this regard. After a "crash course on art and worldview", she dives into the meat of the book, tracing the "two paths to secularism". These are two philosophical streams, each of which focused on one side of the facts/values dichotomy. The "Enlightenment Heritage" (Materialism) laid claim to the realm of empirical facts, while the "Romantic Heritage" (Idealism) wanted to protect the realm of values. Each of these streams of thought has had several tributaries — there is much variety within the two traditions — but they have developed roughly in parallel, with thinkers from each side of the divide reacting against the other.
The problem is that, while there are elements of truth within both realms, it is an error to focus on one to the exclusion of the other. Throughout history, Christians have found themselves on both sides of this split. To give you an idea of the scope of Pearcey's investigation, I refer you to the following promotional video, in which the author names several of the genres and individuals presented in the book:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX2V3f...
In the end, Pearcey encourages Christians to fully engage in cultural creation and debate. We should approach culture with discernment (which requires first and foremost a solid grounding in the Word of God), holding fast to what is good ( 1 Thessalonians 5:21 ) wherever we find it. Armed with God-given spiritual discernment and a "compassion for those who are trapped by destructive ideas", the church is to become a living work of art, conveying the drama and excitement of the gospel to the world around us in word and deed. After all,
"Ideas are very difficult to accept if they are solely abstract and theoretical. We need to see them lived out practically — made visible and tangible... we need a 'plausibility structure,' which means a social structure that renders an idea more plausible and believable. And what is the plausibility structure for the gospel? The church, the corporate life of the Christian community." (p. 276)
There is so much more that could be said, but your time would be much better spent reading this book! I'll warn you: This is a very large book (though it's beautiful illustrations and full-color renditions of referenced artwork make it a joy to read, and offset the large amounts of text in a visually appealing way) that will take a long time to read, and even longer to process. Though Pearcey's writing style is quite accessible, you'll have to think a LOT. You'll be challenged to reconsider preconceived notions, even if you don't agree with every one of the author's conclusions. In short, reading this book takes work, but it is absolutely worth it!
April 1, 2025
I’ve long had a soft spot in my heart for the arts. My wife is a painter and art historian. I love literature and novels. So any book merging Christian worldview with the arts, in the way Francis Schaeffer did in “How Now Shall We Live?” gets high marks in my book.
Pearcey walks us through the philosophical history that led to the art and literature movements of the past 2000 years. The secular/sacred dichotomy, fact/value divide is insidious and deeply unbiblical. Her take on the last 150 years of modern art history is particularly insightful, and not always negative.
Her conclusion is excellent. The church needs to support Christian artists, not only denounce the ungodly secular ones, and certainly not support the pop Christian kitsch. If the church is to incarnate the Gospel, it needs to do so in its communal life together, but also in story and picture.
This is more a college textbook than a popular read, but I commend it to every thinking Christian. 4 stars.
Pearcey walks us through the philosophical history that led to the art and literature movements of the past 2000 years. The secular/sacred dichotomy, fact/value divide is insidious and deeply unbiblical. Her take on the last 150 years of modern art history is particularly insightful, and not always negative.
Her conclusion is excellent. The church needs to support Christian artists, not only denounce the ungodly secular ones, and certainly not support the pop Christian kitsch. If the church is to incarnate the Gospel, it needs to do so in its communal life together, but also in story and picture.
This is more a college textbook than a popular read, but I commend it to every thinking Christian. 4 stars.
February 28, 2021
This book requires the reader to think deeply. To read this book superficially is a waste of time. But if you are ready to really understand it and let it influence your life, it is well worth reading it. I read an earlier book by this author called "Total Truth". It is also a very profound book. It deals with many of the same issues confronting Christians in the 21st century. It deals with the issue of worldview. Both books show how the Biblical worldview is the only worldview that fits reality. Other worldviews only deal with a part of reality. The biblical worldview fits the totality of reality. That is something that every Christian needs to see. I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to have a fulfilling worldview.
March 11, 2015
I feel an all-consuming zeal to make sure everyone I know reads this book. I loved reading it because I learned a great deal about the history of humanity. Even better, what I've learned equipped me with the wisdom to see philosophy every where. I am not exaggerating: This book has changed the way I see everything.
Nancy Pearcey begins by using contemporary political issues to help her readers understand the fundamental dichotomy between facts and values, and then goes on to show how every philosophical idea fits into one of these two camps. Then, Pearcey sorts through the various "isms" of philosophy, organizing them into two categories and illustrating how each philosophy grows out of its predecessors and has an influence on many areas of culture, including art, music, economics, mathematical logic, scientific inquiry, literature (and all forms of story telling), architecture, and more. Her explanations of philosophy were as clear and concise as any I've seen. (For example, I've yet to find someone who can articulate existentialism as simply and comprehensively as Pearcey.) Her illustrations show her to be a keen observer of contemporary life as well as a master of the classics.
I am convinced of two things after reading this book: 1) Every human being is sensitive to absorbing and expressing philosophy in different ways. Some are drawn to the logic of math. Others are drawn to the beauty of art. Whatever it is, we pick up philosophy from what we love--often times without even being aware what is at stake. Christians needs to be sensitive to the variety of "languages" in which philosophy can be conveyed. The church needs to nurture "philosophers" who can comprehend and encode messages in all of these different media. 2) Every philosophical idea that does not begin with the Creator God who revealed himself through the words of scripture falls short of explaining reality. Pearcey explains how every "ism" is really a form of idolatry that replaces the Creator God with something in the created order. And every single philosophy, in attempting to shove all of human experience into a box, has to leave out some essential trait of human experience. After reading this book, I feel confident challenging anyone to name a philosophy besides Christianity that can fully explain human free will, morality, or the human capacity for creativity. This reductionism forces philosophers to have to "walk off the map" of reality that they've created. For example, there are those who believe in only the material world ("Materialists" or "Naturalists") and therefore believe we have no real free will. These philosophers would argue that our destiny is determined by our DNA. However, these same thinkers have trouble treating their own children as little determinist zombies. Their ideas can't even account for the creativity and stubborness of a two year old. This forces philosophers to have to "walk off the map" of reality that they've created. Pearcey says, "You might say that naturalists’ map of reality is too “small.” It covers only part of reality. As a result, they cannot live according to its dictates. They keep walking off the map and into “terra incognita”—terrain that their map does not account for” (152).
Please: Read this book.
Nancy Pearcey begins by using contemporary political issues to help her readers understand the fundamental dichotomy between facts and values, and then goes on to show how every philosophical idea fits into one of these two camps. Then, Pearcey sorts through the various "isms" of philosophy, organizing them into two categories and illustrating how each philosophy grows out of its predecessors and has an influence on many areas of culture, including art, music, economics, mathematical logic, scientific inquiry, literature (and all forms of story telling), architecture, and more. Her explanations of philosophy were as clear and concise as any I've seen. (For example, I've yet to find someone who can articulate existentialism as simply and comprehensively as Pearcey.) Her illustrations show her to be a keen observer of contemporary life as well as a master of the classics.
I am convinced of two things after reading this book: 1) Every human being is sensitive to absorbing and expressing philosophy in different ways. Some are drawn to the logic of math. Others are drawn to the beauty of art. Whatever it is, we pick up philosophy from what we love--often times without even being aware what is at stake. Christians needs to be sensitive to the variety of "languages" in which philosophy can be conveyed. The church needs to nurture "philosophers" who can comprehend and encode messages in all of these different media. 2) Every philosophical idea that does not begin with the Creator God who revealed himself through the words of scripture falls short of explaining reality. Pearcey explains how every "ism" is really a form of idolatry that replaces the Creator God with something in the created order. And every single philosophy, in attempting to shove all of human experience into a box, has to leave out some essential trait of human experience. After reading this book, I feel confident challenging anyone to name a philosophy besides Christianity that can fully explain human free will, morality, or the human capacity for creativity. This reductionism forces philosophers to have to "walk off the map" of reality that they've created. For example, there are those who believe in only the material world ("Materialists" or "Naturalists") and therefore believe we have no real free will. These philosophers would argue that our destiny is determined by our DNA. However, these same thinkers have trouble treating their own children as little determinist zombies. Their ideas can't even account for the creativity and stubborness of a two year old. This forces philosophers to have to "walk off the map" of reality that they've created. Pearcey says, "You might say that naturalists’ map of reality is too “small.” It covers only part of reality. As a result, they cannot live according to its dictates. They keep walking off the map and into “terra incognita”—terrain that their map does not account for” (152).
Please: Read this book.
June 5, 2016
If you are a Christian and you are a thinker (shame on you if you are a lazy Christian!) you should read this book! I'm so glad I did! I'm especially glad my copy was a gift -- so it will be a treasure for my family. Saving Leonardo reminds me of how important it is to be grounded in Biblical worldview so I can make a difference in a broken world especially with my art.
December 1, 2010
Nancy Pearcy has done it again! After her first book, Total Truth, I didn't think she would be able to come up with any new material. What a pleasant surprise to find a systematic layout of modern secular thinking. This is a powerful tool in any evangelist's library.
Read
September 8, 2022At the beginning, I think she should’ve been clearer talking about the fact/value distinction. Neat little overview in general. I enjoyed the specific examples of a worldview expressed in art. It was a very simplified overview, but paired with Monsters from the Id and The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self that I also read this year, helped round out the same ideas in respect to art.
August 3, 2023
Very good survey of the impact of worldview and philosophy on art and cultural thinking (from a Christian perspective). Pearcey explains and builds on Francis Schaeffer’s ideas in Escape from Reason and attempts to equip us to identify worldviews in the art forms we see in our time (particularly film). This is essentially the same material Schaeffer covers and Truman covers in The Triumph of the Self, but Pearcey does the best job explaining the impact of worldview on where we are. Very well done, but a heavy read.
March 28, 2025
Being deeply interested in art, especially literature and literary scholarship, and also a Bible-believing, practicing Christian, this book was just the thing I needed. I have had questions about how the arts and my faith can and should work together, and reading this gave much-needed insight, and great resources for future research on the topic.
June 21, 2014
This book opened my eyes to the worldviews behind art. Every artist, filmmaker, and musician sees the world a certain way and this is exhibited in the means by which they express themselves. Although a piece of art may evoke a certain response from us, this may not be what the artist intended.
To quote Marcel Duchamp, the guy who submitted the urinal as art, “I threw the urinal into their faces as a challenge, and now they come and admire it as an art object for its aesthetic beauty.” Pearcey goes on to say, “We are not being charitable when we tame these artists’ defiant gestures by saying, Oh, how pretty. To point out the naturalistic, even nihilistic, stance of the anti-art movement is not to impose an external judgment. It is merely to take the artists at their own word. If the universe does not have an author, if it was not created by a supreme artist, then what basis is there for humans to create works of art? This is an honest question, and it was a question raised by the anti-art movement.”
This book was at times a bit dense, but it was purposeful. A foundation needed to be laid to be built upon in order to see the evolution of art initiated by the seemingly parallel philosophical evolution of worldviews. It was a bit saddening to have my dear Impressionism explained away as an outcropping of a philosophical view that the senses were primary. I had no idea, but Monet and the others were sorting out epistemology with a paintbrush. Monet desired to express truth and meaning through color patches without any interpretation to show that sensation was paramount. I thought they were just pretty paintings.
Let me be clear: this book is written by a Christian from a Christian perspective. Pearcey writes, “Jesus himself taught many of his most powerful lessons through story, metaphor, and imagery. He could have just commanded us to take care of those who were victimized and oppressed. Instead, he told the parable of the good Samaritan. He could have assured us that God forgives sins. Instead he told the parable of the prodigal son. ‘The Kingdom was far too deep and rich a truth to entrust to merely rational abstract propositions,’ writes Hollywood screenwriter Brian Godiwa. Jesus ‘chose stories of weddings, investment bankers, unscrupulous slaves, and buried treasure’ instead of speaking in logical syllogisms or abstract axioms. The Bible’s literary form underscores the importance of the arts for nourishing the human spirit.”
So, all Christians don’t need to be art critics. But, Christians shouldn’t be culturally brain-dead either. We need to develop worldview sensors that aren’t turned off when something is labeled “entertainment”. There are themes of salvation, even in a film like Pulp Fiction. There are redeemable aspects to culture that aren’t overtly Christian. Stories in film or print may probe questions like the Dadaists and Impressionists did. We have the answers to these questions! “Christians are called to adopt the mentality of a missionary, even if they never set foot in a foreign country. A missionary has to sift the indigenous culture carefully, deciding which aspects of the society can be redeemed and which must be rejected.”
To quote Marcel Duchamp, the guy who submitted the urinal as art, “I threw the urinal into their faces as a challenge, and now they come and admire it as an art object for its aesthetic beauty.” Pearcey goes on to say, “We are not being charitable when we tame these artists’ defiant gestures by saying, Oh, how pretty. To point out the naturalistic, even nihilistic, stance of the anti-art movement is not to impose an external judgment. It is merely to take the artists at their own word. If the universe does not have an author, if it was not created by a supreme artist, then what basis is there for humans to create works of art? This is an honest question, and it was a question raised by the anti-art movement.”
This book was at times a bit dense, but it was purposeful. A foundation needed to be laid to be built upon in order to see the evolution of art initiated by the seemingly parallel philosophical evolution of worldviews. It was a bit saddening to have my dear Impressionism explained away as an outcropping of a philosophical view that the senses were primary. I had no idea, but Monet and the others were sorting out epistemology with a paintbrush. Monet desired to express truth and meaning through color patches without any interpretation to show that sensation was paramount. I thought they were just pretty paintings.
Let me be clear: this book is written by a Christian from a Christian perspective. Pearcey writes, “Jesus himself taught many of his most powerful lessons through story, metaphor, and imagery. He could have just commanded us to take care of those who were victimized and oppressed. Instead, he told the parable of the good Samaritan. He could have assured us that God forgives sins. Instead he told the parable of the prodigal son. ‘The Kingdom was far too deep and rich a truth to entrust to merely rational abstract propositions,’ writes Hollywood screenwriter Brian Godiwa. Jesus ‘chose stories of weddings, investment bankers, unscrupulous slaves, and buried treasure’ instead of speaking in logical syllogisms or abstract axioms. The Bible’s literary form underscores the importance of the arts for nourishing the human spirit.”
So, all Christians don’t need to be art critics. But, Christians shouldn’t be culturally brain-dead either. We need to develop worldview sensors that aren’t turned off when something is labeled “entertainment”. There are themes of salvation, even in a film like Pulp Fiction. There are redeemable aspects to culture that aren’t overtly Christian. Stories in film or print may probe questions like the Dadaists and Impressionists did. We have the answers to these questions! “Christians are called to adopt the mentality of a missionary, even if they never set foot in a foreign country. A missionary has to sift the indigenous culture carefully, deciding which aspects of the society can be redeemed and which must be rejected.”
August 31, 2012
This book had so much potential but just did not deliver. I learned a lot from the clear tracing of the philosophical ideas that historically led us to our current post-modern, western worldview. Ms Pearcey showed clearly the two separate currents of secularism that make up today's American worldview. However, there were two main problems I had with her book. The first was that it did not take long in the historical whirlwind tour for her to lose me. So many of the explanations sounded similar. And she lost me though I enjoy philosophy and am already familiar with much of it. In other words, the history was a refresher for me. Pearcey did present and evaluate old material in a way that was fresh and helpful to me, but I cannot recommend her book to any of my friends who have no prior knowledge of the history of philosophy. The book would only confuse them.
My biggest disappointment in this book though came near the end, after all the history, after she has fully traced the development of post-modern, romantic and modern thought. One of the unique things about this book is the analysis of worldview expressed through art. It more or less accomplishes that goal until the end when it turns to evaluating current art media. It purports to evaluate recent movies, looking for their hidden and obvious worldviews. This is the reason I bought the book, and it is supposedly the goal of all the historical background.
But Pearcey never fully delivers on this promise to apply all that she has, in a sense, been lecturing on for 3/4 of the book. She does take a brief look at a movie or two, but it feel superficial and all too little. Worldview analysis of popular media is a hobby of mine. I did not need a tutoring session myself, but very much hoped for a book that I could recommend to others. Pearcey makes a great start and, admittedlyly, a knowledge of the philosophical underpinnings of worldview is essential to analysis. But this book needs to pare down that info and to make it more easily consumed. It fails, moreover, in its goal of giving readers a template of sorts to follow in intentional media consumption. I had so hoped for more explicit analysis of popular movies, with clear explanations that would empower the reader to "go thou and do likewise".
I am tempted to even give 2 stars because it is exactly this that the book's publicity promises to her intended evangelical audience. Such a book is greatly needed, but it needs to be easily assimilated and applied by a non-collegiate audience which has limited reading time and even less study time. I am not asking for spoon-feeding, but Pearcey's book feels much closer to a fire hose than a drinking fountain in information, leaving her with too little space to model the analysis that is the ultimate goal.
I think the people who will most enjoy her book are the ones who will least benefit from it.
My biggest disappointment in this book though came near the end, after all the history, after she has fully traced the development of post-modern, romantic and modern thought. One of the unique things about this book is the analysis of worldview expressed through art. It more or less accomplishes that goal until the end when it turns to evaluating current art media. It purports to evaluate recent movies, looking for their hidden and obvious worldviews. This is the reason I bought the book, and it is supposedly the goal of all the historical background.
But Pearcey never fully delivers on this promise to apply all that she has, in a sense, been lecturing on for 3/4 of the book. She does take a brief look at a movie or two, but it feel superficial and all too little. Worldview analysis of popular media is a hobby of mine. I did not need a tutoring session myself, but very much hoped for a book that I could recommend to others. Pearcey makes a great start and, admittedlyly, a knowledge of the philosophical underpinnings of worldview is essential to analysis. But this book needs to pare down that info and to make it more easily consumed. It fails, moreover, in its goal of giving readers a template of sorts to follow in intentional media consumption. I had so hoped for more explicit analysis of popular movies, with clear explanations that would empower the reader to "go thou and do likewise".
I am tempted to even give 2 stars because it is exactly this that the book's publicity promises to her intended evangelical audience. Such a book is greatly needed, but it needs to be easily assimilated and applied by a non-collegiate audience which has limited reading time and even less study time. I am not asking for spoon-feeding, but Pearcey's book feels much closer to a fire hose than a drinking fountain in information, leaving her with too little space to model the analysis that is the ultimate goal.
I think the people who will most enjoy her book are the ones who will least benefit from it.
June 9, 2016
I expected not to like this book.
I've got some very conservative friends who like Pearcey a little too much, and I've got some more moderate friends who are a little stand-offish about Pearcey.
Good thing I had to read it for my teaching certification process.
I was pleasantly surprised with how Pearcey takes even the most ugly and dubious artworks seriously because of what those artworks are saying. I was also glad to hear her neither lionize nor demonize continental OR analytical philosophy, but encourage faithful Christian engagement in both traditions. (Her Schaefferian analysis of the fissure between the two traditions was also helpful to me.)
There are times when specialists will find their areas of expertise glossed over quickly in a single paragraph, which they may be tempted to dismiss as simplistic. This is forgivable, though, in such a work of synthesis as this. Pearcey is quite good at synthesis in my view.
My only two wishes are these:
1. That she had read and followed James KA Smith's 'Desiring the Kingdom' (2009) before writing 'Saving Leonardo' (2010). Perhaps she might consider publishing an updated 10th anniversary edition in a few years that trades in the rather static concept of "worldview" for a more dynamic and story-arc'd notion of "final narrative." (I don't think Jamie Smith uses that phrase, but she can steal it from Mark Edmundson's book "Why Read?".) Pearcey concludes her book with more of a narratival account of Christianity, but most of the book would benefit from making clear that alternative "worldviews" are telling dead-end *stories*---which Christianity can and should deconstruct, proposing a story with a happy ending instead.
2. That she had a more sensitive and more thorough grasp of gender and sexuality, the necessity of which is much more apparent for Christian intellectuals in 2016 than it was in 2010. Given the sensitivity and understanding with which she deals with the many figures and movements and philosophies she finds inadequate, I'm convinced that she wouldn't come off sounding like a fundy culture warrior if she devoted the necessary time and attention to grappling with gender and sexuality via some of today's leading orthodox Christian experts in those areas.
Both these criticisms are less criticisms than they are laments that there is no such thing as a time machine.
All told, I was pleasantly surprised by Pearcey's book, and I'm certain that I'll be referencing it often in my teaching.
I've got some very conservative friends who like Pearcey a little too much, and I've got some more moderate friends who are a little stand-offish about Pearcey.
Good thing I had to read it for my teaching certification process.
I was pleasantly surprised with how Pearcey takes even the most ugly and dubious artworks seriously because of what those artworks are saying. I was also glad to hear her neither lionize nor demonize continental OR analytical philosophy, but encourage faithful Christian engagement in both traditions. (Her Schaefferian analysis of the fissure between the two traditions was also helpful to me.)
There are times when specialists will find their areas of expertise glossed over quickly in a single paragraph, which they may be tempted to dismiss as simplistic. This is forgivable, though, in such a work of synthesis as this. Pearcey is quite good at synthesis in my view.
My only two wishes are these:
1. That she had read and followed James KA Smith's 'Desiring the Kingdom' (2009) before writing 'Saving Leonardo' (2010). Perhaps she might consider publishing an updated 10th anniversary edition in a few years that trades in the rather static concept of "worldview" for a more dynamic and story-arc'd notion of "final narrative." (I don't think Jamie Smith uses that phrase, but she can steal it from Mark Edmundson's book "Why Read?".) Pearcey concludes her book with more of a narratival account of Christianity, but most of the book would benefit from making clear that alternative "worldviews" are telling dead-end *stories*---which Christianity can and should deconstruct, proposing a story with a happy ending instead.
2. That she had a more sensitive and more thorough grasp of gender and sexuality, the necessity of which is much more apparent for Christian intellectuals in 2016 than it was in 2010. Given the sensitivity and understanding with which she deals with the many figures and movements and philosophies she finds inadequate, I'm convinced that she wouldn't come off sounding like a fundy culture warrior if she devoted the necessary time and attention to grappling with gender and sexuality via some of today's leading orthodox Christian experts in those areas.
Both these criticisms are less criticisms than they are laments that there is no such thing as a time machine.
All told, I was pleasantly surprised by Pearcey's book, and I'm certain that I'll be referencing it often in my teaching.
February 20, 2017
I have taken almost 2 years to read this book, and part of me just wants to start it all over again right now. This is not a book to read quickly, and I found myself re-reading portions frequently.
I discovered many truths that resonated with me deeply, and ignited new passion in me to continue to question and seek how I can be a light in this world and encourage/prepare my children as well.
An inspirational and thought-provoking read. Worth all the time I spent reading it.
I discovered many truths that resonated with me deeply, and ignited new passion in me to continue to question and seek how I can be a light in this world and encourage/prepare my children as well.
An inspirational and thought-provoking read. Worth all the time I spent reading it.
February 17, 2015
Nancy Pearcey now has two books on my all-time favorites list (Total Truth being the other). One of life's biggest annoyances is the apparent lack of concern that many Christians have for beauty. We so quickly forget that beauty belongs to our Lord! In her characteristic manner, Pearcey takes you on a guided tour of history and the philosophical pathologies which have infected the minds of believers and which have resulted in a loss of concern for the aesthetic.
I have come to truly appreciate Pearcey's mind when it comes to worldview and cultural assessment. There are very few who have such a comprehensive understanding of the historical interplay between culture and ideas.
In my excitement over Pearcey's treatment of the arts, I'm afraid that I could easily miss-communicate the larger message. This book is much more than a treatise on Christian Aesthetics although this is certainly woven throughout. The greater message if this book (which I hope is not missed in my review) is that as a whole, we have lost our sense of the sacred and handed our minds over to the false dichotomy between sacred & secular. Rather than resulting in everything being sacred (as it truly is) it has resulted in everything being secular. This is true even of the Christian mind and is in great need of a complete and total correction. This book however is much more than a condemnation of the modern Christian (it isn't this at all) but rather a rallying cry to reclaim what God has declared to be his and to make this manifest in our lives.
I have come to truly appreciate Pearcey's mind when it comes to worldview and cultural assessment. There are very few who have such a comprehensive understanding of the historical interplay between culture and ideas.
In my excitement over Pearcey's treatment of the arts, I'm afraid that I could easily miss-communicate the larger message. This book is much more than a treatise on Christian Aesthetics although this is certainly woven throughout. The greater message if this book (which I hope is not missed in my review) is that as a whole, we have lost our sense of the sacred and handed our minds over to the false dichotomy between sacred & secular. Rather than resulting in everything being sacred (as it truly is) it has resulted in everything being secular. This is true even of the Christian mind and is in great need of a complete and total correction. This book however is much more than a condemnation of the modern Christian (it isn't this at all) but rather a rallying cry to reclaim what God has declared to be his and to make this manifest in our lives.
October 7, 2015
Saving Leonardo by Nancy Pearcey is an incredible work of apologetics. After finishing it, I wanted to buy a dozen copies to give to my friends. The book is an exploration of the historical development of worldviews through the arts—movies, books, music, the fine arts. Pearcy demonstrates how secularism dominates our western culture today and how truth is no longer embraced as a unified whole, but has been divided into facts and values. She takes us back in history to show how both the Enlightenment and the Romantic movements ultimately lead to today’s secularism. Pearcey adopts the “upper and lower story” analogy of her mentor, Francis Schaeffer, to show how modern cultures have largely separated science, fact, and reality in the lower story from imagination, feelings, opinion, faith, and religion in the upper story, all the while dismissing the upper story as unknowable—where “truth” doesn’t apply.
Pearcy avoids the vitriolic approach of so many Christians today and confronts the opposing views by testing each on its own grounds, demonstrating how their arguments are self-refuting.
Admirably, Pearcey’s goal with Saving Leonardo is not just to inform, but to equip. She wants to help Christians engage in the debate by learning to discern opposing worldviews prevalent in our culture and to motivate them to fully participate in cultural creation. The book is lavishly illustrated with full-color pictures of classic art, film, books, and other works from popular culture.
Pearcy avoids the vitriolic approach of so many Christians today and confronts the opposing views by testing each on its own grounds, demonstrating how their arguments are self-refuting.
Admirably, Pearcey’s goal with Saving Leonardo is not just to inform, but to equip. She wants to help Christians engage in the debate by learning to discern opposing worldviews prevalent in our culture and to motivate them to fully participate in cultural creation. The book is lavishly illustrated with full-color pictures of classic art, film, books, and other works from popular culture.
March 16, 2016
Excellent book. Pearcey does an exceptional job of exposing the various philosophies that have affected our modern culture. She traces the thought development, primarily throught art as well as some literature, to expose worldviews such as Nehilism, Empiricism, Romanticism (etc), and how they have infiltrated mostly culture, but even the church. Pearcey exposes why, as Christians, we need to be aware of these worldviews and how to strengthen our Biblical worldview, renewing our minds in the truths God revealed to us in Scripture.
I read a library copy, however, I believe this book is so valuable I am planning to buy my own copy and reread it after I've had time to ponder it. Throughout the book, I began to understand why I was never exposed to many of the "classics" througout my education. The worldview in which I was educated was very much nehilism, and that was reflected in both what I was exposed to and what was shunned.
While this book is a great read for any Christian, it is my opinion that this book is a must read for any Christian raising children in our secular society. It is especially important for those who are heavily exposed to main stream culture or the public education system. However, the author also exposed how thoughts such as Romanticism and Relavitism have been allowed into the church, weakening our doctorine and leaving us unable to be a salt and light to the greater world. Excellent book. I can only echo what Douglas Wilson said "It is difficult for me to contain my enthusiasm for this book."
I read a library copy, however, I believe this book is so valuable I am planning to buy my own copy and reread it after I've had time to ponder it. Throughout the book, I began to understand why I was never exposed to many of the "classics" througout my education. The worldview in which I was educated was very much nehilism, and that was reflected in both what I was exposed to and what was shunned.
While this book is a great read for any Christian, it is my opinion that this book is a must read for any Christian raising children in our secular society. It is especially important for those who are heavily exposed to main stream culture or the public education system. However, the author also exposed how thoughts such as Romanticism and Relavitism have been allowed into the church, weakening our doctorine and leaving us unable to be a salt and light to the greater world. Excellent book. I can only echo what Douglas Wilson said "It is difficult for me to contain my enthusiasm for this book."
July 18, 2012
A fly by history of art and culture that helpfully critiques the philosophies that make them tick. However, as is the trouble with much "worldview" literature, it breaks apart people's motives for producing art into categorizable data. This falls apart when she mentions that although it's fine to have Bauhaus furniture in our homes the philosophy that produced it is deadly. Well which is it? If the philosophy is deadly which part of the furniture is deadly? If the furniture isn't deadly then why are we talking about how the bad philosophy made the chair?
It is also unclear from this book how Christians can positively incorporate their worldview into their art. She sites a few examples of what she considers to be "good Christian art" but doesn't sufficiently justify her choices except to say that Christians produces them. It is a helpful book to sort through many ideas we readily accept as normal but it will not tell you how to save Leonardo or how to create compelling Christian culture.
It is also unclear from this book how Christians can positively incorporate their worldview into their art. She sites a few examples of what she considers to be "good Christian art" but doesn't sufficiently justify her choices except to say that Christians produces them. It is a helpful book to sort through many ideas we readily accept as normal but it will not tell you how to save Leonardo or how to create compelling Christian culture.
January 5, 2015
Excellent canvass (pun intended)
Pearcey's book is an excellent canvass of philosophy as reflected in art, and shows how consciously and intentionally many artists infuse philosophy into their art. Her book has given me more respect for art and entertainment than I had, and helped me to see that art actually does matter far more than many of us realize.
I will also share the following ironic quote from the book, on full exhibit in various reviews of the same posted here.
" Frank Lentricchia, a critic so radical that he was once dubbed the Dirty Harry of literary theory, grew disenchanted when he observed that his own students developed a suffocating sense of moral superiority. They would pass judgment on authors as racist or sexist or capitalist or imperialist or homophobic before even reading their works. In dismay, Lentricchia said, “Tell me your [literary] theory, and I’ll tell you in advance what you’ll say about any work of literature, especially those you haven’t read.”"
Pearcey's book is an excellent canvass of philosophy as reflected in art, and shows how consciously and intentionally many artists infuse philosophy into their art. Her book has given me more respect for art and entertainment than I had, and helped me to see that art actually does matter far more than many of us realize.
I will also share the following ironic quote from the book, on full exhibit in various reviews of the same posted here.
" Frank Lentricchia, a critic so radical that he was once dubbed the Dirty Harry of literary theory, grew disenchanted when he observed that his own students developed a suffocating sense of moral superiority. They would pass judgment on authors as racist or sexist or capitalist or imperialist or homophobic before even reading their works. In dismay, Lentricchia said, “Tell me your [literary] theory, and I’ll tell you in advance what you’ll say about any work of literature, especially those you haven’t read.”"
February 16, 2016
Excellent, Well-Informed, and Compelling
This book gives a solid, well-informed look at the history of modern philosophy and shows clearly how each of the leading world views expressed themselves in art. Simultaneously, the author equips the reader to critique and respond to these world views with a holistic Biblical worldview, and challenges Christians to think and create well.
This book gives a solid, well-informed look at the history of modern philosophy and shows clearly how each of the leading world views expressed themselves in art. Simultaneously, the author equips the reader to critique and respond to these world views with a holistic Biblical worldview, and challenges Christians to think and create well.
August 27, 2020
Saving Leonardo is an extremely well written, heavily documented and illustrated exploration of how the dominant Christian, Western worldview of the Middle Ages evolved into contemporary Postmodernism. Pearcey’s thesis is that worldview drives culture and the artistic expressions of culture.
One of the foundational concepts of the book is the historical splintering of the concept of truth. The Western worldview for centuries viewed truth as unified; in other words, the material truths of the natural world pointed to equally certain spiritual truths. The design of nature revealed the moral intent of the Creator. The book of nature and the book of Scripture pointed to the same unified truths. But the Enlightenment began splitting the concept of truth: empirical, material facts versus religious/moral opinions and values. Facts are certain and objective; religious/moral values are subjective and therefore relative.
Pearcey demonstrates the beginning, widening, and final bifurcation of the fact/value split with numerous quotations from the preeminent philosophers of each age (Enlightenment, Romanticism, Modernism, Postmodernism). She then illustrates how the shifting worldviews were represented in art, providing examples of architecture, paintings, musical compositions, etc., and quotations from both the artists themselves and art critics.
In a word, Saving Leonardo is a virtual instruction manual for identifying the links between the spirit of the age, art (in all its forms) and the artist’s worldview. The book is heavily documented, which will be useful for researchers wishing for further exploration. Nancy Pearcey is one of the premier modern writers on the the philosophical concepts truth, worldview, and how they intersect with and drive culture. I’ve read Total Truth and Finding Truth and now Saving Leonardo, and found them all fascinating and instructive.
Note to the reader: if you are not already familiar with philosophical systems (materialism, existentialism, positivism, and a host of others), something that will greatly help as you read Saving Leonardo is to make a brief list of the various philosophical systems and their meanings when she initially defines them, because she will be referring back to them frequently throughout the book. There are so many it is easy to forget the salient points of each.
Saving Leonardo reminds me of Francis Schaeffer’s How Should We Then Live: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture. Pearcey has been greatly influenced by Schaeffer’s thought, but she does a good job of moving the ball forward (I recommend both books highly).
Five stars—highly recommended.
One of the foundational concepts of the book is the historical splintering of the concept of truth. The Western worldview for centuries viewed truth as unified; in other words, the material truths of the natural world pointed to equally certain spiritual truths. The design of nature revealed the moral intent of the Creator. The book of nature and the book of Scripture pointed to the same unified truths. But the Enlightenment began splitting the concept of truth: empirical, material facts versus religious/moral opinions and values. Facts are certain and objective; religious/moral values are subjective and therefore relative.
Pearcey demonstrates the beginning, widening, and final bifurcation of the fact/value split with numerous quotations from the preeminent philosophers of each age (Enlightenment, Romanticism, Modernism, Postmodernism). She then illustrates how the shifting worldviews were represented in art, providing examples of architecture, paintings, musical compositions, etc., and quotations from both the artists themselves and art critics.
In a word, Saving Leonardo is a virtual instruction manual for identifying the links between the spirit of the age, art (in all its forms) and the artist’s worldview. The book is heavily documented, which will be useful for researchers wishing for further exploration. Nancy Pearcey is one of the premier modern writers on the the philosophical concepts truth, worldview, and how they intersect with and drive culture. I’ve read Total Truth and Finding Truth and now Saving Leonardo, and found them all fascinating and instructive.
Note to the reader: if you are not already familiar with philosophical systems (materialism, existentialism, positivism, and a host of others), something that will greatly help as you read Saving Leonardo is to make a brief list of the various philosophical systems and their meanings when she initially defines them, because she will be referring back to them frequently throughout the book. There are so many it is easy to forget the salient points of each.
Saving Leonardo reminds me of Francis Schaeffer’s How Should We Then Live: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture. Pearcey has been greatly influenced by Schaeffer’s thought, but she does a good job of moving the ball forward (I recommend both books highly).
Five stars—highly recommended.
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