The Key to Good Literature
What Is Art?
Beauty is so intrinsically linked to art and what is artistic. You could have a book that’s good and true, but if it’s not beautiful, it’s not artistic. The whole scope of the Bible emphasizes how much God loves beauty and how he gives beauty as a gift to his people and to the world.
In the first book of the Bible, God places the first parents in the beautiful garden. When Scripture describes the directions for the priestly garments, we’re so struck by all the beauty that surrounds and is reflected in the directions for building the temple.
Recovering the Lost Art of Reading
Leland Ryken, Glenda Faye Mathes
In today’s technology-driven culture, reading has become a lost art. Recovering the Lost Art of Reading explores the importance of reading generally and of studying the Bible as literature, while giving practical suggestions on how to read well.
Even at the end of Scripture, you read the description of the New Jerusalem looking like a bride dressed for her husband. Scripture details beautiful descriptions of the city, the gates, the gemstones, the river, trees, different fruits, and leaves.
He is the source of beauty, and he is beauty himself.
Obviously, God loves beauty, and he gives it to us as a gift. He is the source of beauty, and he is beauty himself. As his image-bearers, then, we should learn to recognize beauty in what we read, and cherish it.
Glenda Faye Mathes is the coauthor with Leland Ryken of The Lost Art of Reading: A Quest for the True, the Good, and the Beautiful.
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