Last week I started off our thoughts on children’s literature by discussing the moral values we require from a children’s book. This week I’ll touch on our controversial contention that literary excellence matters just as much as moral content.
1. High-quality writing and artwork reflect the excellence of the Creator.
We want our kids to experience art that is a reflection of God’s character. The Creator of the universe is the ultimate artist; the beauty and order of Creation proclaims His glory.
Some might think that artistic excellence doesn’t matter, that art is of secondary importance compared to the spiritual realm. This is a form of asceticism, and Paul has harsh words on this topic in 1 Timothy:
4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
I’m indebted to Jerram Barrs for his article “Christianity and the Arts,” where he discusses this issue at length. He says,
Repeatedly in the history of the Church, Christians have been tempted to devalue the richness of creation and therefore to devalue also the arts, as if it would be somehow more “spiritual” to live a life devoid of beauty, of good things, of music, of literature, of painting, of color, etc…In this view, the arts are thought of as an optional, rather extravagant, and unnecessary extra in life. But this belief is nonsense, and is, according to Paul, a heresy of the most serious kind, for in the end it is a denial of the goodness of creation.
The literature our children read should reflect the beauty our Creator lavished on every aspect of creation. If we allow our children to read books with “safe” moral content that are poorly written or sloppily illustrated because aesthetics don’t matter, we’re communicating a false view of God’s role as a creator. God created a beautiful world and said that it was Good!
I know a couple people who really disagree with us here! Responses? More tomorrow…
(to part four)
how do you decide what is excellent or not?
That is the question, isn’t it! You’ve anticipated tomorrow’s post. =)
I agree with you that artistic excellence matters in a moral sense as we are the creations of the Master Artist and he gives us the ability to create and reflect him. The problem seems to be that just as some Christians may reject aesthetics, other Christians may overvalue artistic beauty. Just because something is beautiful doesn’t mean it’s good. But I know you haven’t said that. You’re only saying (quite persuasively) that aesthetics matter.