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With All Its Teeth: Sex, Violence, Profanity, and the Death of Christian Art
Have Christians settled for artistic bankruptcy? To understand Jesus and the Bible, you have to understand art. The art God creates and commissions comforts and encourages, and it disturbs and offends. What is art? Does it ever go too far? How should Christians understand, receive, and create it?Joshua S. Porter presents a readable, literary, story-driven Biblical theology of the artistic and the obscene.
250 pages, Paperback
Published January 9, 2024
16 people are currently reading
243 people want to read
About the author
Joshua S. Porter
10 books214 followersJoshua S. Porter is pastor of teaching and creative vision at Van City Church in Vancouver, Washington. He is also a former member of the experimental art-punk band, Showbread, and the author of With All Its Teeth, Death to Deconstruction, novel Punk Rock Vs. the Lizard People.
Find out more and connect with Joshua at joshuasporter.com.
Find out more and connect with Joshua at joshuasporter.com.
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March 1, 2025Some Christians need to flee the theater. Others need to stay (With All Its Teeth, 120)
Whew! I almost hesitate to review a book like this because, honestly... who am I that my thoughts on this subject should matter to anyone?
But as a follower of Jesus who is deeply invested in the creative arts - particularly fiction writing - I am drawn to books like this, books that speak directly to the questions and moral concerns I find myself wrestling with on a daily basis.
Unlike most of the books I've read on the subject, which have been concerned with the implications of being a Christian artist (think Madeleine L'Engle's Walking on Water and Dorothy L. Sayers's The Mind of the Maker), Joshua S. Porter's book is much more focused on the way we as the audience interpret the arts. Beginning with a discussion of what Art is, which takes into account the idea that our creator God is an artist, Porter goes on to discuss the purpose of art, how we as image-bearers engage with it, and finally how we are to handle controversial elements - blasphemy, sex, violence, and profanity - in works of art and entertainment.
As Christians, what do we do with these? Is it possible to read a book that contains lots of crass language - words we would never even speak - and somehow be edified by it? Is it possible for one person to be deeply moved and drawn closer to God by a violent horror movie, while that same movie would be a stumbling block for another? Does our responsibility not to cause others to stumble require that we censor our own media choices - or that the Christian artist sanitize their work to the point that, while technically "clean," it becomes devoid of any real meaning and impact?
If the only safe zone for Christian art is the cultural standard of "explicitly Christian," then most of the human experience is off-limits (95).
Is it possible for "secular" art to reflect biblical truth? Is it possible for "safe" Christian art to do the opposite? Does the artist bear sole responsibility for how their work affects others, or does that responsibility fall on the recipient?
This book sets out to wrestle with these questions.
Did I like this book?
Overall, yes. The questions that Porter raises are ones that the Church really needs to grapple with. Is it perfect? Obviously not. Like all books, it absolutely needs to be read with careful discernment. For example, the author relies heavily on biblical examples that illustrate the way God himself has often communicated with his people in ways that appear shocking and offensive, and he cites these examples frequently as he discusses controversial works of art made by humans. I think we need to be careful how we read this. Is he suggesting that, because God works in this way, his followers are free to do the same? Yes and no. In wrestling with this idea, Porter writes:
The creative process for which the artist was ordained by God has been disrupted by the artist's brokenness. When one creates, they always mirror the Creator, at least in the sense that they create. But unlike the Creator, we can only do it so well. And when we do it, shades of our brokenness likely permeate or even vandalize our creations. Even so, we go on creating upon the ordination of God. Artists who do not know or care for the things of Jesus can create beautiful and noteworthy things, and deeply devout disciples of Jesus can create toxic and destructive things. When God is the Creator, the creative work is always good. When we do it, it's a bit more complicated (143).
Exactly.
There's a lot of good here. While Porter uses some startling and graphic examples to get his readers' attention (consider this a warning; some of the examples are intense), I appreciate his candor and humility. There's a lot in this book that's worth thinking about for the follower of Jesus, no matter what our artistic preferences may be. As we make choices about both the art we create and the art we engage with, and as we face strong differences of opinion within the body of Christ, Porter does not offer easy solutions. Instead, he offers this refrain, which runs throughout the book:
[What we need] is thoughtful, nuanced discernment, submitted to the teachings of Jesus and the Scriptures, fueled by maturity in the Holy Spirit, worked out in the accountability of community with other disciples of Jesus (127).
A challenging book, but I certainly found it worthwhile. If anybody else reads it, I'd love to chat with you about it. :)
January 15, 2024
“To take issue with art is to take issue with God. To devalue art is to devalue God.”
“Art can represent something that is not lovely nor admirable with intentions that are not lovely nor admirable and yet evoke in its audience a reaction that is.”
“I would never be so bold as to argue that all mainstream worship music is creatively bankrupt, but I do believe that drawing parameters around what qualifies as "Christian art" inevitably bankrupts creativity.”
Loved it. A topic that I think a lot about but haven’t known how to engage well. This book engages it well.
“Art can represent something that is not lovely nor admirable with intentions that are not lovely nor admirable and yet evoke in its audience a reaction that is.”
“I would never be so bold as to argue that all mainstream worship music is creatively bankrupt, but I do believe that drawing parameters around what qualifies as "Christian art" inevitably bankrupts creativity.”
Loved it. A topic that I think a lot about but haven’t known how to engage well. This book engages it well.
August 21, 2024
My favorite part was that this books was born out of the author's arguments with his friend John Mark Comer over the movie Deadpool.
August 25, 2025
Porter’s background in Showbread and clearly expansive artistic exposure (across multiple different mediums) shines forth here, and there are a flurry of terrific anecdotes (his stories about unhelpful seminary convos, difficult dialogues with fellow Christians, and the like), artistic engagements (he’s really well rounded on this front), and art criticism scattered throughout. More than this, his critique of the contemporary Christian approach to art is warranted, and his ultimate aim—to expose a Christian culture absent of the tools to rightly understand or create compelling art and to chart the path towards a better artistic future—is not only worthwhile but I would say, in agreement, urgent. I spend entire semesters with undergraduate students on this very subject, and I think more broadly that the lack of a robust artistic-theological imagination is one of the most pervasive problems plaguing contemporary white American evangelicalism.
All said, Porter’s execution on this aim is spotty at best, missing more often than it hits because of his 1. ambiguity, 2. lack of robust research, and 3. routinely poor grammatical, syntactical, and structural choices.
On 1: Porter fails to ever define the particular Christian community he believes is bereft of the ability to understand, interpret, or create compelling and thematically rich art. It is clear to me, as someone who spent their graduate work studying this, that the group he primarily means to critique is contemporary American white evangelicalism, fueled by the CCM industry (which he mentions at points) and consumeristic approaches to church communities evident in such things as megachurches and personality driven leadership structures. However, Porter fails to identify this community explicitly, opting instead for broad sweeping statements about Christians in general, or simple targeted examples that fail to cohesively shape into a robust case. Failing to name the specific community he is referring to not only makes his critique less poignant, but also fails to acknowledge the ways that he benefits from the very consumeristic Christian subculture he is attempting to critique: his role as the pastor of a church that was planted directly as a connection to the Comer personality engine that has enabled him to develop a platform and a self-named website to sell his books is, indeed, a contributor to the problems he seeks to address. This is to say nothing of his or Comer’s character: I love the work each of them are doing, am grateful for their witness, and from what I can tell their work is borne from a deeply rooted love of Christ and nearness to Him; Porter could just do a little more work specifically identifying how all of his anecdotal factors come together to create artistic illiteracy in Christian spaces, and how he has seen this consumerism and empty artistry even in his own leadership context and, therefore, how he is actively seeking to address it there.
More than this, the book jumps so quickly from topic to topic that it reads less like a robust, developed argument and more like a series of ranting blog posts, which—however well-founded (indeed, I think his reflections are by and large accurate)—ultimately limits the ceiling of this book. Had he invested the time and energy into building up research to support why and how white American evangelicalism (headed by such figures as John Piper, who gets some not-so-flattering shoutouts throughout) has become so impotent in its artistic engagement (ie the history behind consumerism in the church, fundamentalistic flattening of scripture, and opposition to artistic engagement), buttoning these together with his useful anecdotes, he’d be onto something here. It feels like he’s only done half the work, which leads to point 2…
2. The book could just use more in the way of solid research. His artistic engagements are by and large helpful, but he fails throughout to provide a cohesive picture of the historical and present factors that have left the Christian community so devoid of helpful artistic approaches. His book does not show much in the way of credit or even exposure to the myriad of works that have already dealt with this subject. I’ve included a list of those at the end of this review: dear reader, please start with these other reads before Porter’s, and if you still find gaps or are looking for more anecdotes or art criticism, then jump to this book.
3. The book is simply riddled with grammatical and syntactical errors, blatant name misspellings (Anniston instead of Aniston), and inconsistent punctuation and formatting usage (some periods are followed by one space, some by two; sometimes the word following a colon is capitalized, sometimes not; sometimes quotation marks are used in conversations, sometimes not). These errors are so prolific that they actually detract from the experience of reading. It seems that the book is self-published, and therefore perhaps it lacked the additional editing eyes that would have helped it. His manner of writing takes a dialogical approach (this makes sense, given his having brushed shoulders with the writing of Comer and Staton, who also sacrifice high-level writing for the sake of popular and accesible, if not outright juvenile, diction). This style can work and be helpful (again, Comer and Staton use it with great success), but it needs to have a grammatical consistency that is just absent here. When Porter chooses to go casual and still has a book riddled with errors, it comes off as unprofessional more than it does accessible.
All in all, Porter is on the right track here—many of the points he begins to develop are essential, prophetic observations that the church is in desperate need of. In this sense I am glad for Porter’s having written this, and I’d be interested to see what a bit more research could do to his arguments. In the meantime, check out some other works from writers who have succeeded with similar goals as Porter’s in the three ways he fails here:
1. Art + Faith: A Theology of Making, by Makoto Fujimura
2. The Divine Commodity: Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity, by Skye Jethani
3. All Things Beautiful: An Aesthetic Christology, by Chris E. W. Green
4. Bridge To Wonder: Art as a Gospel of Beauty, by Cecilia González-Andrieu
5. For The Beauty of the Church: Casting a Vision for the Arts, edited by W. David O. Taylor
6. How (Not) To Read The Bible, by Dan Kimball
All said, Porter’s execution on this aim is spotty at best, missing more often than it hits because of his 1. ambiguity, 2. lack of robust research, and 3. routinely poor grammatical, syntactical, and structural choices.
On 1: Porter fails to ever define the particular Christian community he believes is bereft of the ability to understand, interpret, or create compelling and thematically rich art. It is clear to me, as someone who spent their graduate work studying this, that the group he primarily means to critique is contemporary American white evangelicalism, fueled by the CCM industry (which he mentions at points) and consumeristic approaches to church communities evident in such things as megachurches and personality driven leadership structures. However, Porter fails to identify this community explicitly, opting instead for broad sweeping statements about Christians in general, or simple targeted examples that fail to cohesively shape into a robust case. Failing to name the specific community he is referring to not only makes his critique less poignant, but also fails to acknowledge the ways that he benefits from the very consumeristic Christian subculture he is attempting to critique: his role as the pastor of a church that was planted directly as a connection to the Comer personality engine that has enabled him to develop a platform and a self-named website to sell his books is, indeed, a contributor to the problems he seeks to address. This is to say nothing of his or Comer’s character: I love the work each of them are doing, am grateful for their witness, and from what I can tell their work is borne from a deeply rooted love of Christ and nearness to Him; Porter could just do a little more work specifically identifying how all of his anecdotal factors come together to create artistic illiteracy in Christian spaces, and how he has seen this consumerism and empty artistry even in his own leadership context and, therefore, how he is actively seeking to address it there.
More than this, the book jumps so quickly from topic to topic that it reads less like a robust, developed argument and more like a series of ranting blog posts, which—however well-founded (indeed, I think his reflections are by and large accurate)—ultimately limits the ceiling of this book. Had he invested the time and energy into building up research to support why and how white American evangelicalism (headed by such figures as John Piper, who gets some not-so-flattering shoutouts throughout) has become so impotent in its artistic engagement (ie the history behind consumerism in the church, fundamentalistic flattening of scripture, and opposition to artistic engagement), buttoning these together with his useful anecdotes, he’d be onto something here. It feels like he’s only done half the work, which leads to point 2…
2. The book could just use more in the way of solid research. His artistic engagements are by and large helpful, but he fails throughout to provide a cohesive picture of the historical and present factors that have left the Christian community so devoid of helpful artistic approaches. His book does not show much in the way of credit or even exposure to the myriad of works that have already dealt with this subject. I’ve included a list of those at the end of this review: dear reader, please start with these other reads before Porter’s, and if you still find gaps or are looking for more anecdotes or art criticism, then jump to this book.
3. The book is simply riddled with grammatical and syntactical errors, blatant name misspellings (Anniston instead of Aniston), and inconsistent punctuation and formatting usage (some periods are followed by one space, some by two; sometimes the word following a colon is capitalized, sometimes not; sometimes quotation marks are used in conversations, sometimes not). These errors are so prolific that they actually detract from the experience of reading. It seems that the book is self-published, and therefore perhaps it lacked the additional editing eyes that would have helped it. His manner of writing takes a dialogical approach (this makes sense, given his having brushed shoulders with the writing of Comer and Staton, who also sacrifice high-level writing for the sake of popular and accesible, if not outright juvenile, diction). This style can work and be helpful (again, Comer and Staton use it with great success), but it needs to have a grammatical consistency that is just absent here. When Porter chooses to go casual and still has a book riddled with errors, it comes off as unprofessional more than it does accessible.
All in all, Porter is on the right track here—many of the points he begins to develop are essential, prophetic observations that the church is in desperate need of. In this sense I am glad for Porter’s having written this, and I’d be interested to see what a bit more research could do to his arguments. In the meantime, check out some other works from writers who have succeeded with similar goals as Porter’s in the three ways he fails here:
1. Art + Faith: A Theology of Making, by Makoto Fujimura
2. The Divine Commodity: Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity, by Skye Jethani
3. All Things Beautiful: An Aesthetic Christology, by Chris E. W. Green
4. Bridge To Wonder: Art as a Gospel of Beauty, by Cecilia González-Andrieu
5. For The Beauty of the Church: Casting a Vision for the Arts, edited by W. David O. Taylor
6. How (Not) To Read The Bible, by Dan Kimball
June 14, 2024
It challenged me, it convicted me, it showed me my shortcomings and it showed me how to love others through the art that I make and the art that I observe
June 3, 2024
I can’t wait to discuss more over book club @faitholsen. This book was stretching. I like to think in terms of right/wrong or black/white but art is full of gray. Joshua Porter encourages us to be discerning disciples of Jesus that practice the spiritual discipline of art appreciation, and I’m concluding this book with a higher value and knowledge of art!
January 17, 2024
This book was incredibly healing and full of aha moments for me. For those of us who were brought up in a Christian bubble, there was so much devaluing and suspicion of art. As a Christian who wants to create, it's been hard not to feel a conflict between art and faith. The voices of my past have used Scripture to say "make sure your art follows the explicitly Christian" rulebook. On the other side, there's a temptation to throw everything out and say whatever. Josh shows us a better way.
Josh lays a solid theological foundation and explores:
-God as THE artist who often prefers to speak through art
-art for art's sake
-the nonsense of "Christian" vs secular
-how art that depicts things that are not "lovely or admirable" can communicate something that is
-how God speaks symbolically and artistically all through scripture (the Bible is art)
-how Jesus intentionally tells stories that He knows will be lost on his audience or offend them
-conviction, discernment, sex, profanity, violence, and so much more!
If you're a Christian and an artist, or want a rich theology of art appreciation, or just an excellent defense of Robert Eggar's The VVitch, then pick this dang thing up now.
Josh lays a solid theological foundation and explores:
-God as THE artist who often prefers to speak through art
-art for art's sake
-the nonsense of "Christian" vs secular
-how art that depicts things that are not "lovely or admirable" can communicate something that is
-how God speaks symbolically and artistically all through scripture (the Bible is art)
-how Jesus intentionally tells stories that He knows will be lost on his audience or offend them
-conviction, discernment, sex, profanity, violence, and so much more!
If you're a Christian and an artist, or want a rich theology of art appreciation, or just an excellent defense of Robert Eggar's The VVitch, then pick this dang thing up now.
March 1, 2024
This is the only book I’ve read on the Christian approach to art that makes sense.
Most Christian communities are still pretty inundated by a Victorian sensibility when it comes to media consumption, which creates an odd binary of self-righteous consumption of Jesus-approved content (you know, the stuff we feel comfortable sharing on our Instagram stories: listening to Elevation Worship on the way to work, proclaiming our excitement about the new season of the Chosen, sharing articles from Desiring God dot org, etcetera) on one side and then a vague guilt for the inevitable consumption of non-church-ish content on the other.
But rather than generating a polarity between “approved” and “non-approved” content, Josh Porter helps us see how all content, with the help and discernment of both the Holy Spirit and genuine community, can turn all content consumption into a spiritual discipline.
American Psycho can be just a life giving as Fireproof. Ari Aster’s Hereditary is just as good of a meditation on the dynamics of spiritual evil as the writings of a desert monastic bent on fighting demons.
This book provides the only fitting, sensible, and theologically astute answer for the question of “What art can Christians consume?” that I’ve ever read. Thank you, Mr. Porter!
Most Christian communities are still pretty inundated by a Victorian sensibility when it comes to media consumption, which creates an odd binary of self-righteous consumption of Jesus-approved content (you know, the stuff we feel comfortable sharing on our Instagram stories: listening to Elevation Worship on the way to work, proclaiming our excitement about the new season of the Chosen, sharing articles from Desiring God dot org, etcetera) on one side and then a vague guilt for the inevitable consumption of non-church-ish content on the other.
But rather than generating a polarity between “approved” and “non-approved” content, Josh Porter helps us see how all content, with the help and discernment of both the Holy Spirit and genuine community, can turn all content consumption into a spiritual discipline.
American Psycho can be just a life giving as Fireproof. Ari Aster’s Hereditary is just as good of a meditation on the dynamics of spiritual evil as the writings of a desert monastic bent on fighting demons.
This book provides the only fitting, sensible, and theologically astute answer for the question of “What art can Christians consume?” that I’ve ever read. Thank you, Mr. Porter!
September 1, 2025
Reading this book felt like a good stretch in the morning, but for my brain :)
I've learned to enjoy (most of the time) confronting beliefs that I don't fully realize I hold. There is something so good about examining my thoughts, comparing them to what God says, and adjusting accordingly. & that is what this book has led me to do. I don't know that I have a lot of concrete conclusions, or even that I have come to all the same conclusions as the author. However, I feel that I've been set on a journey to re-evaluate the way I perceive and interterpret art, and I think it'll be a good time :)
I've learned to enjoy (most of the time) confronting beliefs that I don't fully realize I hold. There is something so good about examining my thoughts, comparing them to what God says, and adjusting accordingly. & that is what this book has led me to do. I don't know that I have a lot of concrete conclusions, or even that I have come to all the same conclusions as the author. However, I feel that I've been set on a journey to re-evaluate the way I perceive and interterpret art, and I think it'll be a good time :)
February 19, 2024
I think every Christian needs to read this book. I think as we’ve grown in church, our view of art has changed, unintentionally. This book is eye-opening! Never read a book about art before but it was awesome! The beginning was a bit slow for my taste but overall excellent book!
August 1, 2025
“Art encompasses the entire spectrum of the human experience and invites us into the place of pain as often as the place of joy. In both places, we stand to better understand what it means to be human. God is in both places. Art records moments in time, and God is in every moment.”
July 8, 2024
Art Is Not In the World, Art Is In Our Hearts ... (Don't!) Stab Art To Death
I was already a fan of Josh Porter based on his music, teaching, and previous book (the flawed, but impactful Death To Deconstruction ), so when I found out he was doing a book on the arts, to say I was excited would have been an understatement. I was hoping for a vindication of the kind of art I make -- dark and weird, lyrical and symbolic, not remotely "Christian fiction" or even discernibly religious, portraying the ugly realities of the world with the intent to condemn rather than endorse them, but not being in any way obvious about it.
Well, this was all that and more: a treatise on art theory, an expository Biblical teaching on God's role as an artist, a polemic on the ways the Evangelical Christian world metaphorically (or sometimes literally!) stabs art to death, and a reasoned case for discernment.
I'm an artist myself (a novelist and musician), so naturally my book review turned into a whole essay. There's a TLDR/summary at the end for those who want the quick points.
Enjoy!
Act I: Art, The Bible, and God
The book starts with a lightning-quick overview of art theory for beginners (is art always beautiful? Is it necessarily born of personal experience? Who gets to decide what counts as art, anyway?). It's heady stuff, but Porter does a good job of keeping things accessible. I already knew a fair bit about art theory from college, but this is a good overview for those who are less familiar (which I would guess is most people, especially within the Church). It's nice to be able to have the shared vocabulary.
Where things *really* start to get good is when Porter starts going into the Bible as art. I have to say, that is one aspect of the Bible that I've found is rather underappreciated in the Christian world (and well-appreciated outside of it) - the Bible is, among many other things, a great work of genre-bending, groundbreaking, gorgeous ART. Porter's biblical exegesis is creative, but always doctrinally on-point. God creates beautiful things that showcase His glory and majesty; He puts Easter eggs (as it were) of love and redemption into physical and human nature. That much most of us have probably heard before, but Porter goes a step further. Sometimes, God makes art that is hard to understand, like the parables of Jesus. Sometimes, God's art is even ugly and offensive, like the absolutely bonkers symbolic street theater of Ezekiel, which a friend of mine once semi-jokingly referred to as "Biblically Accurate Street Preaching".
So good!
Another, related topic that Porter dives deep into is something that has been in my mind and heart for a while as someone who is a writer of dark and gritty things, and has also read the Bible cover to cover. Namely this: (some) Evangelical Christians consider it akin to heresy to so much as watch an R-rated movie. Furthermore, if an artist claims faith in Christ, and she creates something with heavy content, especially if that content is confronted rather than ushered offscreen and vaguely alluded to, her fellow brothers and sisters in Christ will rush to condemn her for wallowing in darkness and will often even question the validity of her salvation. (This hypothetical artist is *totally* not me...). Yet, the Bible is full of all kinds of R-rated content that would never make it into the Christian family bookstore -- and (most) Christians wholeheartedly believe it is the holy and inspired word of God. This has always struck me as odd.
That's one heck of a trigger warning right there.
Which brings us to ...
Act II: The Dilemma of the Christian Artist: A Rant, An Appreciation, An Autobiography
I think Porter's passionate case for the value of art that is ugly and not overtly redemptive is what truly sets With All Its Teeth apart from other Christian books on the arts and makes it far more relatable and encouraging to someone like me who makes really dark and intense art. There are other excellent Christian-written books on the arts, of course, and I could recommend each of them in turn. Andrew Peterson's Adorning the Dark is a lovely memoir-slash-writing-guide-slash-manifesto written by a true artist who gives Christian music a *good* name (his Wingfeather Saga is also one of the better things to come out of Christian publishing in the last couple of decades). Leland Ryken's anthology The Christian Imagination is a veritable treasure house of spiritual and artistic wisdom. C.S. Lewis has all manner of wise and pithy things to say about the matter. On his Stories Are Soul Food podcast, writer N.D. Wilson makes the point that moral excellence, artistic quality, and honest-to-goodness fun shouldn't be mutually exclusive (at least, when he's not busy fighting the culture wars or just being contrary for contrary's sake...). Story Embers is an online writers' community that runs frequent, and helpful, articles about how to weave Christian themes into stories in a way that feels more natural than that of the cringey Christian fiction of yore.
All of the books and other resources above are wonderful and inspiring in their own ways, but they leave one with the distinct impression that Christian art is all about beauty, craftsmanship, and moral wholesomeness. That Christian art, even if it has MASSIVELY, and I mean MASSIVELY, improved in the last ten years or so, still has to follow the unspoken "rulebook" of being overtly Christian, overtly redemptive, and free of any objectionable content that might offend your ten-year-old or your Southern Baptist grandmother.
That mindset gives us some quite good art -- The Chosen being the most obvious recent example; and even some truly great art -- the Chronicles of Narnia and the Screwtape Letters are widely acknowledged as classics even "out there" in the big bad secular world. Of course, works like The Chosen and Narnia belong in the library of any art-loving Christian, and I truly admire them, I do; but I myself am quite simply not wired for writing the kinds of stories that could get published by Zondervan or filmed by Angel Studios, and I suspect I am not alone. What about those of us who want to consume, or create, horror? fantasy? murder mysteries? an experimental artsy punk rock opera about an arrogant charity hospital owner and her stripper sister going through absolute hell and ultimately coming to faith in Christ? works that deal with the heights and depths of the human soul and illuminate sin and salvation, but never mention Jesus? books, films, and albums that are most definitely NOT for your ten year old or your Southern Baptist grandmother? What about those of us who encounter Jesus in anime, Stephen King novels, or Nine Inch Nails albums?
Josh Porter wrote With All Its Teeth for us, for the weird ones, and for that I am grateful.
Act III: The Power of Discernment
Josh Porter is an avid fan of works of art that most Christians wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole (or rather, a nine inch nail ... haha). Whether it's the famously transgressive novels of Bret Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk, the edgy but emotionally devastating music of Trent Reznor, or disturbing horror movies like Dawn of the Dead and The Witch , Porter delights in finding worthy tidbits on the human experience in all its depravity and glory through secular, non-clean art.
One starts to get the impression that he is personally fine with any and all art, and that he's saying you should be, too.
"But wait!" the discerning Christian reader/reviewer might ask. "You're making it sound like anything goes! Like art is all subjective anyway, so it's all cool! Aren't there things that are objectively bad and sinful, like, y'know, Game of Thrones/Taylor Swift/[You Fill In the Blank]?"
Well, Porter does certainly err on the side of "everything goes," I'll admit that. I don't personally have a problem with that: I think any art, no matter how ugly or offensive to culturally Christian tastes, CAN have value for the right person at the right time. But that's the thing, which Porter gets into: for the right person, at the right time. Whether, say, sex or violence is gratuitous pornography or a necessary revelation of the human experience depends on the context in which it is used. Song of Songs and 50 Shades of Grey both have explicit sexual content, but one of these things is clearly morally and artistically superior to the other (I'll give you a hint: it ain't 50 Shades). And where any individual person's convictions lie will depend a lot on their past experiences, distinctive personality and weaknesses, and the urging of the Holy Spirit. Whether someone avoids Game of Thrones because his church tells him it's Bad and Evil, or because he's struggling against a porn addiction and/or feels uncomfortable with the treatment of the show's actresses on-set, makes all the difference. Cultural expectations are arbitrary, and Porter rips into them with glee; but conviction, he respects.
Together as a community, we can learn to appreciate and discern art, empowering our artistically-inclined disciples and growing in love for one another and insight into God's creation.
Well, in an ideal world, anyway...
OK, what follows is a bit of a personal rant, take with a grain of salt:
** Rant Begins **
I'm personally a bit torn about Porter's final take on the value of discernment. On one hand, as a Christian I am glad that he affirms the importance of community accountability because that is an important value for those of us who are really trying to live out our lives all-in for Jesus and His teachings. On the other hand, as an artist, and a dark and intense one at that ...
Here's the thing: I've been a Christian and an artist for a few years, and I've been in a lot of the places where faith and art are discussed. Here's something I've learned: pretty much ANYONE in the Christian community who is trying to be an artist has some horror story about their work being drastically misunderstood and condemned by their church/pastor/family member. And not even necessarily authors who write especially dark and transgressive stories - even just artists who write Lord of the Rings or Star Wars -esque, solidly PG-13 sci-fi and fantasy or closed-door romance that acknowledges the intensity of physical attraction. Many Christian authors I know write overtly Christian but gritty books and find that their work is treated far more kindly by secular readers who can take or leave the faith elements and appreciate the honest handling of hard topics, than by fellow Christians who should be encouraged by the characters' faith journeys but instead fall into nitpicking about bad words and too much description of premarital kissing (I am ... actually not even exaggerating).
So, yes, I understand the value of community accountability for the Christian life, but when it comes to art, I just don't feel like an artist should be accountable to a community that devalues and abhors his or her contribution. Some of us make clean, faith-filled art to encourage the Church -- and that is noble and admirable. Some of that art, for what it's worth, is really good. But some of us want to challenge and confront the Church's complacency with our art. And some of us are making art for anyone and everyone, or for the outside world (and not some kind of "outreach" art that is ostensibly trying to win over the unconverted but instead ends up just preaching to the choir). Art that isn't overtly Christian or redemptive and explores parts of the human condition that would be off-limits to most Christian or Clean publishers.
Sometimes, even people in the Church who love us just won't get it. And that's okay. It's not for them.
** Rant concludes **
Epilogue: The Short Version
I appreciated the way this book not only argued for the importance of beauty and craftsmanship in Christian arts, but also showed us how even seemingly dark and ugly art can be made or appreciated for the glory of God. Porter makes a convincing case that God is an artist and the Bible is art, so art appreciation is actually an important skill for even the non-artistic Christian. He rejects the easy paths of fundamentalism (all art that isn't overtly Christian is bad!) or license (it's all subjective anyway, so anything goes!). Instead, each believer must use discernment individually and with community to figure out which art is, or can be, upbuilding, and what is better avoided.
This book will be much appreciated by those of us in the Christian world who are either artists, or who like and appreciate art that many of our fellows clutch their pearls at. Funny, wise, and vindicating, this one is now full of highlighted quotes and I will keep it close to my writing desk for years to come. 5/5.
May raw rock kill you forever and ever,
AMH
I was already a fan of Josh Porter based on his music, teaching, and previous book (the flawed, but impactful Death To Deconstruction ), so when I found out he was doing a book on the arts, to say I was excited would have been an understatement. I was hoping for a vindication of the kind of art I make -- dark and weird, lyrical and symbolic, not remotely "Christian fiction" or even discernibly religious, portraying the ugly realities of the world with the intent to condemn rather than endorse them, but not being in any way obvious about it.
Well, this was all that and more: a treatise on art theory, an expository Biblical teaching on God's role as an artist, a polemic on the ways the Evangelical Christian world metaphorically (or sometimes literally!) stabs art to death, and a reasoned case for discernment.
I'm an artist myself (a novelist and musician), so naturally my book review turned into a whole essay. There's a TLDR/summary at the end for those who want the quick points.
Enjoy!
Act I: Art, The Bible, and God
The book starts with a lightning-quick overview of art theory for beginners (is art always beautiful? Is it necessarily born of personal experience? Who gets to decide what counts as art, anyway?). It's heady stuff, but Porter does a good job of keeping things accessible. I already knew a fair bit about art theory from college, but this is a good overview for those who are less familiar (which I would guess is most people, especially within the Church). It's nice to be able to have the shared vocabulary.
Where things *really* start to get good is when Porter starts going into the Bible as art. I have to say, that is one aspect of the Bible that I've found is rather underappreciated in the Christian world (and well-appreciated outside of it) - the Bible is, among many other things, a great work of genre-bending, groundbreaking, gorgeous ART. Porter's biblical exegesis is creative, but always doctrinally on-point. God creates beautiful things that showcase His glory and majesty; He puts Easter eggs (as it were) of love and redemption into physical and human nature. That much most of us have probably heard before, but Porter goes a step further. Sometimes, God makes art that is hard to understand, like the parables of Jesus. Sometimes, God's art is even ugly and offensive, like the absolutely bonkers symbolic street theater of Ezekiel, which a friend of mine once semi-jokingly referred to as "Biblically Accurate Street Preaching".
[God] is concerned not only for communicative clarity--sometimes, He seems completely uninterested in it. And that's because God doesn't want to simply explain things to you. He wants to know you and for you to know Him. What He is like, how He talks, and why He wants to speak truth to you at the deepest level of your soul. Artists are like that.
So good!
Another, related topic that Porter dives deep into is something that has been in my mind and heart for a while as someone who is a writer of dark and gritty things, and has also read the Bible cover to cover. Namely this: (some) Evangelical Christians consider it akin to heresy to so much as watch an R-rated movie. Furthermore, if an artist claims faith in Christ, and she creates something with heavy content, especially if that content is confronted rather than ushered offscreen and vaguely alluded to, her fellow brothers and sisters in Christ will rush to condemn her for wallowing in darkness and will often even question the validity of her salvation. (This hypothetical artist is *totally* not me...). Yet, the Bible is full of all kinds of R-rated content that would never make it into the Christian family bookstore -- and (most) Christians wholeheartedly believe it is the holy and inspired word of God. This has always struck me as odd.
Intense language, violence, sex poems, adultery, betrayal, deception, incest, nihilism, orgies, dismemberment, rape, genocide, war, murder, hope and hopelessness. Some of it literal, some of it figurative. Some of it redemptive, some of it somber and bleak. Some of the crazy stuff is in there to teach something, some to record history. Some of it continues to defy easy explanation.
That's one heck of a trigger warning right there.
Which brings us to ...
Act II: The Dilemma of the Christian Artist: A Rant, An Appreciation, An Autobiography
I think Porter's passionate case for the value of art that is ugly and not overtly redemptive is what truly sets With All Its Teeth apart from other Christian books on the arts and makes it far more relatable and encouraging to someone like me who makes really dark and intense art. There are other excellent Christian-written books on the arts, of course, and I could recommend each of them in turn. Andrew Peterson's Adorning the Dark is a lovely memoir-slash-writing-guide-slash-manifesto written by a true artist who gives Christian music a *good* name (his Wingfeather Saga is also one of the better things to come out of Christian publishing in the last couple of decades). Leland Ryken's anthology The Christian Imagination is a veritable treasure house of spiritual and artistic wisdom. C.S. Lewis has all manner of wise and pithy things to say about the matter. On his Stories Are Soul Food podcast, writer N.D. Wilson makes the point that moral excellence, artistic quality, and honest-to-goodness fun shouldn't be mutually exclusive (at least, when he's not busy fighting the culture wars or just being contrary for contrary's sake...). Story Embers is an online writers' community that runs frequent, and helpful, articles about how to weave Christian themes into stories in a way that feels more natural than that of the cringey Christian fiction of yore.
All of the books and other resources above are wonderful and inspiring in their own ways, but they leave one with the distinct impression that Christian art is all about beauty, craftsmanship, and moral wholesomeness. That Christian art, even if it has MASSIVELY, and I mean MASSIVELY, improved in the last ten years or so, still has to follow the unspoken "rulebook" of being overtly Christian, overtly redemptive, and free of any objectionable content that might offend your ten-year-old or your Southern Baptist grandmother.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that explicitly Christian themes are always bad; it's that explicitly Christian expectations and requirements always cripple artistry. Think about it. If the only safe zone for Christian art is the cultural standard of 'explicitly Christian,' then most of the human experience is off-limits. Things like romance, sexuality, loneliness, despair, apathy, simple beauty, and delight are all off the table unless they are crowded with readily apparent nods to God and the Bible.
[...] This unforgiving rulebook empties the artist's toolbox. No subtlety, no metaphor, no shock, no thoughtfulness. Spoon-feed the audience. Make plain the intended message. Clear away the ambiguity, comrade! According to these rules, God Himself would be denied creative license
That mindset gives us some quite good art -- The Chosen being the most obvious recent example; and even some truly great art -- the Chronicles of Narnia and the Screwtape Letters are widely acknowledged as classics even "out there" in the big bad secular world. Of course, works like The Chosen and Narnia belong in the library of any art-loving Christian, and I truly admire them, I do; but I myself am quite simply not wired for writing the kinds of stories that could get published by Zondervan or filmed by Angel Studios, and I suspect I am not alone. What about those of us who want to consume, or create, horror? fantasy? murder mysteries? an experimental artsy punk rock opera about an arrogant charity hospital owner and her stripper sister going through absolute hell and ultimately coming to faith in Christ? works that deal with the heights and depths of the human soul and illuminate sin and salvation, but never mention Jesus? books, films, and albums that are most definitely NOT for your ten year old or your Southern Baptist grandmother? What about those of us who encounter Jesus in anime, Stephen King novels, or Nine Inch Nails albums?
Josh Porter wrote With All Its Teeth for us, for the weird ones, and for that I am grateful.
Act III: The Power of Discernment
Josh Porter is an avid fan of works of art that most Christians wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole (or rather, a nine inch nail ... haha). Whether it's the famously transgressive novels of Bret Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk, the edgy but emotionally devastating music of Trent Reznor, or disturbing horror movies like Dawn of the Dead and The Witch , Porter delights in finding worthy tidbits on the human experience in all its depravity and glory through secular, non-clean art.
One starts to get the impression that he is personally fine with any and all art, and that he's saying you should be, too.
"But wait!" the discerning Christian reader/reviewer might ask. "You're making it sound like anything goes! Like art is all subjective anyway, so it's all cool! Aren't there things that are objectively bad and sinful, like, y'know, Game of Thrones/Taylor Swift/[You Fill In the Blank]?"
Well, Porter does certainly err on the side of "everything goes," I'll admit that. I don't personally have a problem with that: I think any art, no matter how ugly or offensive to culturally Christian tastes, CAN have value for the right person at the right time. But that's the thing, which Porter gets into: for the right person, at the right time. Whether, say, sex or violence is gratuitous pornography or a necessary revelation of the human experience depends on the context in which it is used. Song of Songs and 50 Shades of Grey both have explicit sexual content, but one of these things is clearly morally and artistically superior to the other (I'll give you a hint: it ain't 50 Shades). And where any individual person's convictions lie will depend a lot on their past experiences, distinctive personality and weaknesses, and the urging of the Holy Spirit. Whether someone avoids Game of Thrones because his church tells him it's Bad and Evil, or because he's struggling against a porn addiction and/or feels uncomfortable with the treatment of the show's actresses on-set, makes all the difference. Cultural expectations are arbitrary, and Porter rips into them with glee; but conviction, he respects.
The solution to modern Protestant Christianity's art phobia is not anything goes or censorship. The solution is thoughtful, nuanced discernment, submitted to the teachings of Jesus and the Scriptures, fueled by maturity in the Holy Spirit, worked out in the accountability of community with other disciples of Jesus
Together as a community, we can learn to appreciate and discern art, empowering our artistically-inclined disciples and growing in love for one another and insight into God's creation.
Well, in an ideal world, anyway...
OK, what follows is a bit of a personal rant, take with a grain of salt:
** Rant Begins **
I'm personally a bit torn about Porter's final take on the value of discernment. On one hand, as a Christian I am glad that he affirms the importance of community accountability because that is an important value for those of us who are really trying to live out our lives all-in for Jesus and His teachings. On the other hand, as an artist, and a dark and intense one at that ...
Here's the thing: I've been a Christian and an artist for a few years, and I've been in a lot of the places where faith and art are discussed. Here's something I've learned: pretty much ANYONE in the Christian community who is trying to be an artist has some horror story about their work being drastically misunderstood and condemned by their church/pastor/family member. And not even necessarily authors who write especially dark and transgressive stories - even just artists who write Lord of the Rings or Star Wars -esque, solidly PG-13 sci-fi and fantasy or closed-door romance that acknowledges the intensity of physical attraction. Many Christian authors I know write overtly Christian but gritty books and find that their work is treated far more kindly by secular readers who can take or leave the faith elements and appreciate the honest handling of hard topics, than by fellow Christians who should be encouraged by the characters' faith journeys but instead fall into nitpicking about bad words and too much description of premarital kissing (I am ... actually not even exaggerating).
So, yes, I understand the value of community accountability for the Christian life, but when it comes to art, I just don't feel like an artist should be accountable to a community that devalues and abhors his or her contribution. Some of us make clean, faith-filled art to encourage the Church -- and that is noble and admirable. Some of that art, for what it's worth, is really good. But some of us want to challenge and confront the Church's complacency with our art. And some of us are making art for anyone and everyone, or for the outside world (and not some kind of "outreach" art that is ostensibly trying to win over the unconverted but instead ends up just preaching to the choir). Art that isn't overtly Christian or redemptive and explores parts of the human condition that would be off-limits to most Christian or Clean publishers.
Sometimes, even people in the Church who love us just won't get it. And that's okay. It's not for them.
** Rant concludes **
Epilogue: The Short Version
I appreciated the way this book not only argued for the importance of beauty and craftsmanship in Christian arts, but also showed us how even seemingly dark and ugly art can be made or appreciated for the glory of God. Porter makes a convincing case that God is an artist and the Bible is art, so art appreciation is actually an important skill for even the non-artistic Christian. He rejects the easy paths of fundamentalism (all art that isn't overtly Christian is bad!) or license (it's all subjective anyway, so anything goes!). Instead, each believer must use discernment individually and with community to figure out which art is, or can be, upbuilding, and what is better avoided.
This book will be much appreciated by those of us in the Christian world who are either artists, or who like and appreciate art that many of our fellows clutch their pearls at. Funny, wise, and vindicating, this one is now full of highlighted quotes and I will keep it close to my writing desk for years to come. 5/5.
May raw rock kill you forever and ever,
AMH
February 3, 2024
A deeply necessary exploration of interacting with art as a Christian in the 21st century. Both the insular Christian and the wider American cultures can tend towards flat dogmatism, and ultimately fall into stale, anemic relationships with art. This book is a bracing antidote to mediocrity and invitation to a more robust understanding of art and its place in the Christian life. The writing is thoughtful and nuanced with lots of research balanced with personal experiences, and complex topics are explored in an accessible way. Highly recommended!
May 14, 2024
3.5 rounded up :)
Porter is opening a very important conversation: why is christian art so bland? Why do Christians struggle to engage with and appreciate art that does not adhere to a "clean outlook" on the world? How van we engage with art better? Is all art Christian art in some way, since all creation is a way that people, Christian or not, reflect the image of God?
The three big take aways I have are this:
1- to depict something is not the same as condoning or celebrating that thing. Therefore, art which has violence, sex, or other difficult themes need to be viewed in their context. What was the artist trying to say? How does this portrayal of this thing affect me and my own personal weaknesses?
2- there are multiple examples of artistic expression commissioned by God in the bible which are uncomfortable, offensive, and difficult to understand. The prophecy-turned-performance-art in Ezekiel. The sacrament of communion as an image of cannibalism and sacrifice. The parables of Jesus which require thought and context to understand. God's art isn't just about beauty or being accessible to all people. Why should ours be?
3- to limit what art can affect and bless people limits the work of God and the creativity He has given. Understanding art needs to be carried out in community where we challenge each other in Why we accept or dislike certain things, whether we are ignoring a violation of our conscious, or whether we are judging what another person can or cannot learn from based off our own sensitivities. There isn't a black and white picture of what art appreciation should be for believers.
I struggled with this book because it's so repetitive. Large amounts of it feel like the author is making the same point over and over again. Maybe that was intentional- but it would have been more impactful to me if it had been condensed.
Porter is opening a very important conversation: why is christian art so bland? Why do Christians struggle to engage with and appreciate art that does not adhere to a "clean outlook" on the world? How van we engage with art better? Is all art Christian art in some way, since all creation is a way that people, Christian or not, reflect the image of God?
The three big take aways I have are this:
1- to depict something is not the same as condoning or celebrating that thing. Therefore, art which has violence, sex, or other difficult themes need to be viewed in their context. What was the artist trying to say? How does this portrayal of this thing affect me and my own personal weaknesses?
2- there are multiple examples of artistic expression commissioned by God in the bible which are uncomfortable, offensive, and difficult to understand. The prophecy-turned-performance-art in Ezekiel. The sacrament of communion as an image of cannibalism and sacrifice. The parables of Jesus which require thought and context to understand. God's art isn't just about beauty or being accessible to all people. Why should ours be?
3- to limit what art can affect and bless people limits the work of God and the creativity He has given. Understanding art needs to be carried out in community where we challenge each other in Why we accept or dislike certain things, whether we are ignoring a violation of our conscious, or whether we are judging what another person can or cannot learn from based off our own sensitivities. There isn't a black and white picture of what art appreciation should be for believers.
I struggled with this book because it's so repetitive. Large amounts of it feel like the author is making the same point over and over again. Maybe that was intentional- but it would have been more impactful to me if it had been condensed.
March 16, 2024
". . . then yeah, hail Satan I guess." Typical Joshua Porter.
What an enjoyable and powerful read. I felt supported and convicted by Porter on multiple fronts. I find J. Cole's album "2014 Forest Hills Drive" (and honestly along with the majority of his discography) to be and incredible work of art. Cole meditates on innocence, self-discovery, fame, corruption, generational trauma, existentialism, poverty, and more, behind a wealth of profanity laced, impressively powerful poetry. I am often frustrated when others write him off as profane, crass, and sinful. I've been searching for this book. Porter's apologetic for Christians to participate arts in all forms, beyond just what is explicitly Christian, is well balanced with awareness of the individual. Colbert and Seinfeld's contrasting reactions to Bill Cosby's works are both justified reactions, but universal censorship on subjects or artists is irresponsible. We as individuals must be conscious of our own constitution, and consume responsibly.
Well researched, well written, well argued, with plenty of biblical examples, this is a fantastic book and a must read for Christians.
What an enjoyable and powerful read. I felt supported and convicted by Porter on multiple fronts. I find J. Cole's album "2014 Forest Hills Drive" (and honestly along with the majority of his discography) to be and incredible work of art. Cole meditates on innocence, self-discovery, fame, corruption, generational trauma, existentialism, poverty, and more, behind a wealth of profanity laced, impressively powerful poetry. I am often frustrated when others write him off as profane, crass, and sinful. I've been searching for this book. Porter's apologetic for Christians to participate arts in all forms, beyond just what is explicitly Christian, is well balanced with awareness of the individual. Colbert and Seinfeld's contrasting reactions to Bill Cosby's works are both justified reactions, but universal censorship on subjects or artists is irresponsible. We as individuals must be conscious of our own constitution, and consume responsibly.
Well researched, well written, well argued, with plenty of biblical examples, this is a fantastic book and a must read for Christians.
February 14, 2024
Some ideas here are very well-said and useful. I agree with the overall message that evocative art; good, bad, dark, horrifying, ugly, or otherwise; should not be cast out by Christians based on some half-baked moralizing. Furthermore, I appreciate our author's connection of human creativity with divine creativity and that he sees art appreciation as a spiritual discipline.
This book may be a bit too long, however. Furthermore, Our author only ever discusses western art; and generally this is limited to contemporary art. I feel adding some appreciation of non-western art could have challenged our author to tighten up his initial, loose, philosophical dialogue. Not enough time is given to defining our author's aesthetic philosophies in the beginning.
Overall a worthwhile read that is less concerned with making a rigorous aesthetic argument than it is with making an ecclesiological and moral point. I must say, I am more motivated to create art now then I was before reading. And that really means something.
This book may be a bit too long, however. Furthermore, Our author only ever discusses western art; and generally this is limited to contemporary art. I feel adding some appreciation of non-western art could have challenged our author to tighten up his initial, loose, philosophical dialogue. Not enough time is given to defining our author's aesthetic philosophies in the beginning.
Overall a worthwhile read that is less concerned with making a rigorous aesthetic argument than it is with making an ecclesiological and moral point. I must say, I am more motivated to create art now then I was before reading. And that really means something.
August 19, 2024
This might be the most important book I’ve ever read (besides the Bible, okay?) and I wish everyone in my life would read it, too. I’ve always been fascinated with art and the way it says something about the artist, but that *something* can be difficult to interpret or understand. Every page reminded me of conversations I’ve had with people in my life about beauty, intent, what makes art “good,” and how Christians should view art. I was reminded of people I’ve challenged when it comes to art. I myself was challenged. Usually I read books and then move on, but I have a feeling this one will be sitting with me for a long time. Maybe the best book I’ve read this year. (And that’s saying a lot.)
August 27, 2024
I wasn't sure what to expect going into it but I found it to be a compelling read. Both in his wrestling through a definition of art AND in his practical steps for how Christians can better engage with it. I was confronted with a few of my own assumptions which led to some thoughtful contemplation for me. In the end, I grew in my appreciation of the role that art plays in my spiritual growth and once again to the place of wisdom in all that we consume as disciples of Jesus. Legalism doesn't help us. Discernment and wisdom in the context of Christian community is the true path to freedom.
February 7, 2024
Joshua Porter continues the tradition of writing books that are incredibly readable and relatable. As if having a conversation over coffee, there are pieces of poignance as well as noteworthy rabbit trails that are interesting if not fully necessary. All of it concludes to a wholesome and beneficial read sparking my own desire to create and enjoy the creations of The Creator and the creatives around me.
December 30, 2024
In my limited exposure to the dialogue around art, theology, and the Christian experience therein, I can recall no other book that navigates this subject with more excellence.
I found Porter’s prose enjoyable and accessible. I found the nuance throughout the book to be similarly accessible and practical.
I anticipate this book becoming a regular recommendation to others in and even outside of the church.
I found Porter’s prose enjoyable and accessible. I found the nuance throughout the book to be similarly accessible and practical.
I anticipate this book becoming a regular recommendation to others in and even outside of the church.
February 27, 2024
Such an important read for Christians. I’ve long appreciated music, film, and books. But I’ve definitely failed to appreciate visual art, and have dismissed it as not for me, and dismissed artists as out there, artsy-fartsy types who don’t add much value to life. This book had made me reconsider and repent of that, and inspired me to steep my children more fully in art.
Well done, Mr. Porter.
Well done, Mr. Porter.
August 20, 2024
Josh does it again.
Every once in a while I find an author/thinking that I align with 100%, but it's rare. Josh is one of those for me. Reading WITH ALL ITS TEETH was like a hug & a high five all at once.
If it were a sermon, I would've shouted "Amen, brother!" several times from the back of the church.
Very worthwhile. Thank you, Josh.
Every once in a while I find an author/thinking that I align with 100%, but it's rare. Josh is one of those for me. Reading WITH ALL ITS TEETH was like a hug & a high five all at once.
If it were a sermon, I would've shouted "Amen, brother!" several times from the back of the church.
Very worthwhile. Thank you, Josh.
August 26, 2024
Good perspective on art I hadnt heard. He also has the only definition of art I havent been able to disprove. He lays out the principle of "the only art it is immoral to view is art that causes you to sin" and then takes it to its logical conclusion. Good book
September 14, 2024
“All of life is an art museum without exits.”
As a child of the satanic panic generation, I found this book beautifully nuanced and insanely challenging. This book leaves me with much to chew on and even more to discern.
As a child of the satanic panic generation, I found this book beautifully nuanced and insanely challenging. This book leaves me with much to chew on and even more to discern.
April 7, 2025
This would have been an incalculably impactful book to 2017 me, and that’s a compliment. I’ve fleshed out much of the arguments here on a personal theological level over the years, but there were still more than a couple quotes that hit like a ton of bricks. Worth the read.
June 9, 2025
Really excellent and thoughtful perspective on art and Christianity. Some parts I definitely agreed with, a few i'll have to chew on more, but that helped me engage deeper with the author's thoughts.
July 1, 2025
Without a doubt, the most compelling, challenging, and insightful reflection on creativity in the Christian life that I've ever read. Changed my view on the topic, and opened up so many artistic options in my life.
Read
March 5, 2024A very needed patient and understanding vision for a Christian beholding art.
Recommend.
Recommend.
March 6, 2024
An easy read. I really appreciate the writer's perspective and arguments for Christians to take art seriously.
March 26, 2024
I got fired from a church for watching a rated R movie, so it should come as no surprise this book resonated with me. Art appreciation as a spiritual discipline is important. Great book.
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