Justin Taylor's Blog, page 212

A Classical Christian School’s Reading List: 6th-8th Grades

It’s taken me a lot longer than I could have imagined, but I’ve now published a reading list for grades 1-3, a reading list for grades 4-5, and now here below is a reading list for grades 6-8. These are from the lists provided by Calvary Classical School—a classical Christian school in Hampton, VA.

A couple of notes on the nomenclature below: “+” indicates that any title in that series would be acceptable.

Some titles also contain a label: L – Language, V – Violence, C – Coarse actions, M – Mature theme

Again, I hope this proves fruitful for many Christian families, schools, and homeschooling co-ops.

Sixth Grade Reading List

Read in class or assigned for outside reading:

Adams, Richard. Watership Down

Bishop, Claire. Twenty and Ten

Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage

Doyle, Arthur Conan. Sherlock Holmes (excerpts)

Lewis, C. S. The Magician’s Nephew

Lewis, C. S. The Last Battle

Orwell, George. Animal Farm

ten Boom, Corrie. The Hiding Place

Level 1

Alexander, Lloyd. The Prydain Chronicles +

Bradbury, Ray. The Martian Chronicles

Kjelgaard, James. Big Red +

Lester, Julius. The Tales of Uncle Remus

Rawlings, Marjorie. The Yearling

Sorensen, Virginia. Miracles on Maple Hill

Speare, Elizabeth. The Bronze Bow

Van Leeuwen, Jean. Bound for Oregon

Level 2

Baum, Frank L. The Wizard of Oz

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451

Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol

Eareckson, Joni. Joni

Fisher, Dorothy. Understood Betsy

Irving, Washington. Rip Van Winkle

Irving, Washington. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Jacques, Brian. Marlfox +

London, Jack. White Fang

Marshall, Catherine. Christy

O’Hara, Mary. My Friend Flicka

Sterling, Dorothy. Freedom Train

Taylor, Theodore. The Cay

Trapp, Maria Augusta. The Story of Trapp Family Singers

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Level 3

Field, Rachel. Hitty: Her First Hundred Years

Henty, G. H. By Right of Conquest

Henty, G. H. In the Reign of Terror

Kipling, Rudyard. The Jungle Book

London, Jack. The Call of the Wild

Orczy, Emmuska. The Scarlet Pimpernel

Stevenson, Robert Louis. Kidnapped

Taylor, Mildred. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Tunnell, Michael. Candy Bomber

Twain, Mark. The Prince and the Pauper

Verne, Jules. Around the World in Eighty Days

Wells, H. G. War of the Worlds

Yates, Elizabeth. Amos Fortune, Free Man

Seventh Grade Reading List

Following is the list of adopted titles used for the seventh grade reading program. Although certain titles are assigned to specific grades, when necessary, teachers may use a list of titles above or below their grade. It is desired that at least 5 adopted books are read each year. Some books will be assigned and read in class, and others will be assigned for outside reading. Every effort has been made to pick the best available literature. As with everything, each book must be read with scripture as our final standard. All Landmark books are acceptable on the literature list.

Aldrich, Thomas. The Story of a Bad Boy

Brother Andrew. God’s Smuggler

Bunyan, John. The Pilgrim’s Progress (original)

DeJong, Meindert. The House of Sixty Fathers

DeKruif, Paul. Microbe Hunters

Dickens, Charles. Nicholas Nickleby

Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist

Dumas, Alexandre. The Count of Monte Cristo

Dumas, Alexandre. The Three Musketeers

Eaton, Jeanette. David Livingstone, Foe of Darkness

Field, Rachel. Calico Bush

Forester, C. S. Horatio Hornblower

Freedman, Ben. Mrs. Mike

Grant, George. The Last Crusader

Henry, O. The Best Short Stories of O. Henry

Henty, G. A. By Pike and Dyke +

Henty, G. A. In Freedom’s Cause +

Hugo, Victor. Les Miserables

Kipling, Rudyard. Captains Courageous

Latham, Jean Lee. This Dear-Bought Land

Lewis, C. S. Out of the Silent Planet

Lewis, C. S. Perelandra

Lewis, C. S. That Hideous Strength

Little, Paul. Know What You Believe

Little, Paul. Know Why You Believe

MacDonald, George. The Baronet’s Song

O’Dell, Scott. Streams to the River, River to the Sea

O’Dell, Scott. The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt By Day

Orczy, Baroness. The Scarlet Pimpernel

Seredy, Kate. The Good Master

Speare, Elizabeth George. The Bronze Bow

Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Black Arrow

Stevenson, Robert Louis. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Thomson, Andy. Morning Star of the Reformation

Seventh Grade History List

This year in history the students will be studying Explorers to 1815. Students will be reading numerous books from this time period in class. Outside reading is also encouraged, especially historical fiction which engages the imagination and makes the time period come alive. We encourage you to read aloud with your children from books that may be above their reading level. Suggestions for reading are offered below. We are endeavoring to purchase as many of these titles as possible for the classroom.

Four books must be read from the following list:

Bliven, Bruce. The American Revolution (Landmark) – H

Blos, Joan. A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal – H, NN, YC

Bond, Douglas. Guns of Thunder

Bond, Douglas. Rebel’s Keep

Calabro, Marian. The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party - H, NN

Carter, Alice. The American Revolution

Collins, David. Noah Webster: Master of Words

Cousins, Margaret. Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia (Landmark) – H

Cox, Clinton. Mark Twain – H, NN, YC

Cox, Clinton. Undying Glory: True Story of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment – H, NN

Dafoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe – H, NN, YC

Daugherty, James. Of Courage Undaunted – H, NN

Daugherty, James. The Landing of the Pilgrims – CCS, H

de Trevino, Elizabeth. I, Juan de Pareja – H, NN, YC

DK Eyewitness. North American Indian – NN

Forbes, Esther. Johnny Tremain – CCS, H, NN, YC

Forbes, Esther. Paul Revere and the World He Lived In – H, NN

Fenimore, James. The Last of the Mohicans – H, NN, YC

Foster, Genevieve. George Washington’s World – H

Freedman, Russell. Out of Darkness: The Story of Louis Braille – H, NN, YC

Fritz, Jean. The Double Life of Pocahontas – H, NN, YC

Fritz, Jean. Why Not, Lafayette? – H, NN, YC

Hamilton, Alexander, et al. The Federalist Papers – H, NN, YC

Haugaard, Erik. Cromwell’s Boy – H

Jackson, Shirley. The Witchcraft of Salem Village – H, YC

Lasky, Kathryn. Jahanara: Princess of Princesses – H, NN, YC

Lawton, Wendy. The Captive Princess

Lawton, Wendy. The Tinker’s Daughter – CCS

Mansfield, Stephen. Forgotten Founding Father: George Whitefield – CRPC

McPherson, Joyce. The Ocean of Truth: The Story of Isaac Newton

Murphy, Jim. A Young Patriot – H, NN, YC

Newman, Shirlee. The African Slave Trade – H, NN, YC

O’Dell, Scott. Streams to the River, River to the Sea – H, NN

Roosevelt, T. and Lodge, H. Hero Tales from American History

Savery, Constance. The Reb and the Redcoats

Schanzer, Rosalyn. How We Crossed the West – NN, YC

Severance, John. Thomas Jefferson: Architect of Democracy – H, NN

Speare, Elizabeth. George. The Witch of Blackbird Pond – CCS, H, NN, YC

Speare, Elizabeth George. Calico Captive – H, NN, YC

Speare, Elizabeth George. The Sign of the Beaver – CCS, H, NN, YC

Stevenson, Robert Louis. Kidnapped- H, NN, YC

Stevenson, Robert Louis. Treasure Island – H, NN, YC

Vaughn, David. Give Me Liberty – CRPC, YC

Yates, Elizabeth. Amos Fortune, Free Man – H, NN, YC

Eighth Grade Reading List

Following is the list of adopted titles used for the eighth grade reading program. Although certain titles are assigned to specific grades, when necessary, teachers may use a list of titles above or below their grade. It is desired that at least 5 adopted books are read each year. Some books will be assigned and read in class, and others will be assigned for outside reading. Every effort has been made to pick the best available literature. As with everything, each book must be read with Scripture as our final standard. All Landmark books are acceptable on the literature list.

Austen, Jane. Emma +

Austen, Jane. Northhanger Abbey +

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice +

Braithwaite, Edward. To Sir, with Love

Chesterton, G. K. The Complete Father Brown

Chesterton, G. K. The Best of Father Brown

Colson, Charles. Born Again

Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe

DeKruif, Paul. Microbe Hunters

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities +

Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield +

Douglas, Lloyd C. The Robe

Forester, C. S. Horatio Hornblower +

Gilbreth & Carey. Cheaper By the Dozen – L

Gilbreth & Carey. Bells on Their Toes – L

Henry, O. Best Short Stories of O. Henry

Herriot, James. All Creatures Great and Small – L

Herriot, James. All Things Bright and Beautiful – L

Herriot, James. All Things Wise and Wonderful – L

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird – M

Lewis, C. S. The Screwtape Letters

Scott, Sir Walter. Ivanhoe

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet

Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth

Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing

Shakespeare, William. Othello

Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night

Sheldon, Charles. In His Steps – C

Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels

ten Boom, Corrie. The Hiding Place – V

Twain, Mark. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – L

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – L

Wallace, Lew. Ben Hur

White, T. H. The Sword in the Stone

Eighth Grade History List

This year in history the students will be studying 1815 to Present. Students will be reading numerous books from this time period in class. Outside reading is also encouraged, especially historical fiction which engages the imagination and makes the time period come alive. We encourage you to read aloud with your children from books that may be above their reading level. Suggestions for reading are offered below. We are endeavoring to purchase as many of these titles as possible for the classroom

Four books must be read from the following list:

Abernathy, Alta. Bud & Me: The True Adventure of the Abernathy Boys

Ambrose, Stephen. The Good Fight: How WWII Was Won – H, YC

Beatty, Patricia. Turn Homeward, Hannalee – H, YC

Bierman, Carol. Journey to Ellis Island – NN, YC

Bliven, Bruce. Invasion: The Story of D-Day – H

Bradley, James. Flags of Our Fathers – H, NN, YC

Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee – CCS classroom, H, NN, YC

Catton, Bruce. A Stillness At Appomattox – CCS classroom, H, NN, YC

Cornelissen, Cornelia. Soft Rain: A Story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears – NN, YC

Crockett, Davy. Davy Crockett: His Own Story

Derry, Joseph T. Story of the Confederate States – H, NN

De Vries, Anne. Journey Through the Night

Doswell, Paul. War Stories: True Stories from the First and Second World Wars

Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition – H, NN, YC

Freedman, Russell. Immigrant Kids – H, NN

Grant, George. Carry a Big Stick: The Uncommon Heroism of T. Roosevelt – CPRC

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea – H, NN, YC

Henty, G. A. With Lee in Virginia

Hersey, John. Hiroshima – H, NN, YC

Hunt, Irene. Across Five Aprils – H, NN, YC

Ingold, Jeanette. Hitch – NN, YC

Irwin, James. Destination: Moon

Kantor, MacKinlay. Gettysburg – H

Lester, Julius. To Be A Slave – H, NN

Levitin, Sonia. Journey to America – H, YC

Linnea, Sharon. Raoul Wallenberg: The Man Who Stopped Death – NN

Mansfield, Stephen. Never Give In: The Extraordinary Character of Winston Churchill

Marrin, Albert. The Yanks Are Coming – H, YC

Marrin, Albert. Stalin: Russia’s Man of Steel – NN

Marrin, Albert. Hitler – H, NN

Marrin, Albert. America and Vietnam: The Elephant and the Tiger – H, NN

McMurdie, Jean McAnlis. Land of the Morning

McMurdie, William. Hey, Mac!

Murphy, Jim. The Boys’ War: Confederate & Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War – H, NN, YC

Nolan, Peggy. The Spy Who Came in from the Sea

O’Grady, Captain Scott. Basher Five-two – NN, YC

Prins, Piet. The Lonely Sentinel (The Shadow Series) +

Raven, Margot. Theis Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot – H, NN, YC

Reynolds, Quentin. The Wright Brothers – H, NN

Serraillier, Ian. Escape From Warsaw

Sperry, Armstrong. All Sail Set – H

Steele, William. We Were There on the Oregon Trail – NN

Steele, William. We Were There with the Pony Express

Taylor, Theodore. Air Raid—Pearl Harbor! – H, NN

Taylor, Mildred. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry- H, NN, YC

ten Boom, Corrie. The Hiding Place- CRPC, CCS, H, NN, YC

Trapp, Maria Augusta. The Story of Trapp Family Singers – H, NN, YC

Van Leeuwen, Jean. Bound for Oregon – YC

Velde, Vivian. A Coming Evil

Wilkins, J. Steven. Call of Duty: The Sterling Nobility of Robert E. Lee

Winik, Jay. April 1865: The Month That Saved America – H, NN, YC

York, Alvin. Sergeant York and the Great War — CCS

Josh Hamilton and the Means of Grace

David Mathis has a good post here on baseball superstar Josh Hamilton, his relapse with alcohol, and the means of grace.

Here is Hamilton’s “I Am Second” testimony:

Don’t Sacrifice Family on the Altar of Ministry; Don’t Idolize Family to the Neglect of Ministry

David Sunday, my pastor and fellow elder who models what he preaches, writes at TGC:

As my friend Mike Bullmore says, God has a design for your family and ministry so that faithfulness in the family enhances faithfulness in the church, and faithfulness in the church enhances faithfulness in the family.

These callings can seem to be in tension with one another, but it is a dynamic tension in which we can experience God’s goodness. God never separates the assignments he gives us from his sanctifying process in us. He is at work within your family ministry to sanctify you for your church ministry—and he is at work within your church ministry to sanctify your family.

He goes on to talk about the opposite errors of (1) sacrificing family on the altar of ministry and (2) idolizing family to the neglect of ministry, and then writes:

Both these pitfalls—sacrificing and idolizing family—spring from a common error: they see ministry and family as taking from one another instead of enhancing one another.

What if, instead of bristling at the inherent tensions between our ministries in our families and ministries in the church, we embraced the fact that this is a healthy tension? Indeed, there are many situations when doing God’s will involves tension. A “balanced” Christian life still involves tension, fatigue, and difficult decisions. If we expect anything else, we will inevitably experience frequent frustration.

A wiser course is to embrace the tension as healthy, and to believe that God’s goodness is at work in the tension. How? By believing that our families belong to God to be freely submitted to him to be used for his purposes, to glorify his name through the advancement of the gospel of his Son. There is a way to walk faithfully in your responsibilities to our families and still “spend and be spent in the service of our bountiful Master.”

Your ministry and family are not designed by God to take from one another, but rather to enhance one another. You do not separate your life as a husband and father from your life as a pastor—in fact, you believe that through your ministry as a husband and father, God is using you to shepherd your church, and through your shepherding of the church God is equipping you to build up your family.

Especially if you are in vocational ministry or preparing for it, I’d encourage you to read the whole thing.

A Classical Christian School Reading List: 4th-5th Grades

There are hundreds of thousands of books written for children. The challenge is discerning what is best for them to read, given so many options.

Last week I published a reading list for grades 1-3 provided by Calvary Classical School—a classical Christian school in Hampton, VA.

Below is the list for grades 4-5.

For outside reading, the books are divided into three levels. Books with a “+” denote that any title in that series would be acceptable. At times I’ve linked to a box set of paperbacks if available—at other times I’ve just linked to the lead-off book in a series.

I’ve done my best to link to the paperback or cheapest version at Amazon. One interesting thing I’ve discovered in trying to provide these links is how hard it is to find well-done critical editions, rather than self-published efforts that take advantage of the text being in the public domain in order to turn a quick buck. A good rule of thumb is to look for the “Puffins Classic” versions, which seem to be well done.

I hope this proves helpful for a lot of parents and teachers!

As time permits, I’ll pull together the final list for the middle school years of grades 6-8.

Fourth Grade Literature List

Read in class or assigned for outside reading:

Blackwood, Gary. The Shakespeare Stealer

Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden

Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Dahl, Roald. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

D’Aulaire, Ingri & Edgar. Leif the Lucky

Daugherty, James. The Magna Charta

de Angeli, Marguerite. The Door in the Wall

Du Bois, William Pene. Twenty-one Balloons

Estes, Eleanor. Ginger Pye

Henry, Marguerite. King of the Wind

Green, Roger Lancelyn. King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table

Konigsburg, E. L. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basel E. Frankweiler

Lewis, C. S. Prince Caspian

Norton, Mary. The Borrowers

Prum, Deborah M. Rats, Bulls, and Flying Machines

Rebsamen, Frederick. Beowulf

Sis, Peter. Starry Messenger: Galileo

Stanley, Diane and Peter Vennema. Bard of Avon

Stanley, Diane. Joan of Arc

Vernon, Louise A. Thunderstorm in the Church

White, E. B. The Trumpet of the Swan

Level 1

Alexander, Lloyd. The Book of Three +

Armstrong, William. Sounder

Babbitt, Natalie. Tuck Everlasting

Burnett, Frances H. A Little Princess

Carlson, Natalie. The Family Under the Bridge

Estes, Eleanor. The Hundred Dresses

Knight, Eric. Lassie Come-Home

L’Engle, Madeliene. A Wrinkle in Time +

Lenski, Lois. Prairie School +

Lenski, Lois. Strawberry Girl

Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars

McSwigan, Marie. Snow Treasure

Seredy, Kate. The Good Master

Speare, Elizabeth. The Sign of the Beaver

Taylor, Sydney. All-of-A-Kind Family

Thurber, James. Many Moons

Verne, Jules. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Wilson, N. D. 100 Cupboards +

Level 2

Farley, Walter. The Black Stallion +

Funke, Cornellia. Inkheart +

George, Jean C. My Side of the Mountain

Grahame, Kenneth. The Reluctant Dragon

Hanes, Mari. Two Mighty Rivers

Jacques, Brian. Redwall +

Lofting, Hugh. The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle +

Morey, Walt. Gentle Ben

Peretti, Frank. The Cooper Kids Adventure +

Riordan, Rick. The Lightning Thief +

Smith, Dodie. The 101 Dalmations

Street, James. Good-bye My Lady

Travers, P. I. Mary Poppins +

Wilson, N. D. Leepike Ridge

Level 3

Adamson, Joy. Born Free

Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women +

Burnford, Sheila. The Incredible Journey

Field, Rachel. Calico Bush

Lawson, Robert. Ben and Me

Robertson, Keith. Henry Reed, Inc. +

Robinson, Barbara. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Sewell, Anna. Black Beauty

Sidney, Margaret. Five Little Peppers +

Fifth Grade Literature List

Read in class or assigned for outside reading:

Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe

Forbes, Esther. Johnny Tremain

Lathan, Jean. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

Lewis, C. S. The Silver Chair

Lewis, C. S. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Speare, Elizabeth. The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels (excerpts)

Level 1

Beatty, Patricia. Turn Homeward, Hannalee

Brink, Carol. Caddie Woodlawn

Byars, Betsy. The Summer of the Swans

Cleary, Beverly. Dear Mr. Henshaw

De Jong, Meindert. The Wheel on the School

Enright, Elizabeth. Thimble Summer

Gates, Doris. Blue Willow

Gipson, Fred. Old Yeller

Hanes Mari. Two Mighty Rivers

O’Brien, Robert. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Rawls, Wilson. Where the Red Fern Grows

Selden, George. The Cricket in Times Square

Level 2

Cameron, Eleanor. Mushroom Planet +

De Jong, Meindert. The House of Sixty Fathers

George, Jean Craighead. Julie of the Wolves

Montgomery, Lucy. Anne of Green Gables

O’Dell, Scott. Island of the Blue Dolphin

Pearce, Philippa. Tom’s Midnight Garden

Porter, Eleanor. Pollyanna +

Rawks, Wilson. Summer of the Monkeys

Spyri, Johanna. Heidi

Wyss, Johann. Swiss Family Robinson

Level 3

Alcott, Louisa. Little Men

Burnett, Frances. Little Lord Fauntleroy

De Jong, Meindert. Journey from Peppermint Street

Dodge, Mary. Hans Brinker

Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows

MacDonald, George. The Princess and Curdie

MacDonald, George. The Princess and the Goblin

North, Sterling. Rascal

Seredy, Kate. The White Stag

Stevenson, Robert Louis. Treasure Island

Terhune, Albert. Lad: A Dog

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit

Verne, Jules. Around the World in Eighty Days

Verne, Jules. Journey to the Center of the Earth

Mohler and Dever on Gay Marriage and the Church

A panel at Together for the Gospel 2012:

HT: Z

Are Our Churches Really on the Same Page?

Kevin DeYoung:

Have you ever been talking to a pastor or someone from another church and it seems like you should be kindred spirits. The person you meet is obviously a warm-hearted, sincere Christian. They don’t have a problem with any of the doctrines you mention as precious to you and your church. They don’t affirm liberal positions on major theological questions. They nod vigorously when you talk about the Bible and prayer and church planting and the gospel. And yet, you can’t help but wonder if you are really on the same page. You try to check your heart and make sure it’s not pride or judgmentalism getting the best of you. That’s always possible. But no, the more you reflect on the conversation and think about your two churches (or two pastors or two ministries) you conclude there really is a difference.

Kevin lists 10 areas of difference “that distinguish between what I would call a vibrant, robust Bible-believing church and one that gets the statement of faith right but feels totally different.”

It’s worth reading the whole thing.

Our Churches Aren’t Missional Because We’ve Taught People to Be Afraid to Die

Jeff Vanderstelt:

My Favorite Crossway Book Trailers

I love Crossway’s creative department. Josh Dennis, Jon Marshall, and others produce—and work with other filmmakers to create—short films that share some of the message behind the books we are privileged to publish.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Darrin Patrick’s Church Planter:

Russell Moore’s Tempted & Tried:

Stephen Altrogge’s The Greener Grass Conspiracy:

John Piper’s Bloodlines:

Is It Orientation or Is It Choice?

Jared Wilson looks at the sin and answers Yes.

Discussion! Discussion! Discussion!

I know that title doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as “Fight! Fight! Fight!” But so be it.

Here are a couple of good discussions going on right now.

(1) Christian Filmmaking

John Starke writes:

Reflecting on the movies produced by Sherwood Baptist Church, Andy Crouch imagined the scenario where “one or two Christian kids with real talent somewhere in this vast land are going to see these movies, get the sacred-secular dichotomy knocked out of them at an early age, move to Los Angeles, work their tails off, dream, fail, and try again . . . and one day make truly great movies.” What would these movies look like? What advice would you give to a Christian screenwriter, director, or producer who wants to make a film with artistic excellence from a Christian worldview? The Gospel Coalition posed these questions to writers, filmmakers, and artists to reflect together about Christianity and film.

Here are the three responses TGC commissioned:

Don’t Discard the Drama for Words, by Brian Godawa
Create Culture, Not Subculture, by Mike Cosper
Unsolicited Advice from a Failed Filmmaker, by Joe Carter

See also Cosper’s response to Joe over at his own blog—along with their interaction in the comments section.

All of this is worth reading, and I won’t try to summarize the various points and counterpoints. I do think this point, raised by Joe in the comments of Mike’s blog, is worth considering as some want to swing the pendulum away from the heavily evangelicalized version of art:

I understand that many Christian artists don’t want to be relegated to the “Christian subcultural ghetto.” I can even sympathize. But how do we ever get out of that ghetto if our best artists refuse to consider their art Christian?

To me it is similar to Christian scholarship. Young academics are afraid to produce work that is overtly Christian for fear of not gaining tenure. And why do they have that fear? Because older academics were also too afraid to have their work labeled as Christians, they’ve created a self-perpetuating system. How will it ever change unless a few Christians are willing to courageously take a stand?

Doug Wilson recently commented on the criticism that Reformation Protestants don’t make good art because they tend to downplay or denigrate images in contrast to Roman Catholics. Along the way he made this point:

I have no problem with evangelicals receiving criticism for producing schlock. That is what criticism (rightly conceived) is for. What I cannot abide is schlock criticism — memes that make no sense getting endlessly repeated as though they were some kind of wisdom. One of those memes is that evangelicals are unique in their ability to produce this stuff. Anybody who says this cannot have been in a video rental store recently. Evangelicals make bad movies because making good movies is hard, which turns out to be the same reason why people generally make bad movies. Evangelicals make bad movies for the same reason evangelicals have ten toes — they are people and people tend to generate lots of crapola.

You can read that whole post here, along with this take by Wilson after Fireproof came out:

This was not what we should call a successful attempt at the movie-makers art. The phrase tour de force does not come to mind.

But it was a very successful motion picture tract. This was edifying propaganda, and when I use the word edifying I am not putting quotation marks around it. The word propaganda is, if memory serves, the Latin passive periphrastic, meaning “things to be propagated.” Most made-for-tv movies and soap operas have low production values and they propagate the most frightful didactic drivel. This was a movie within that same genre that communicated the gospel clearly, and which walked people through some very basic and very real principles that contribute to the success of marriage relationships. It was not sophisticated at all, and revolved around a rudimentary come-to-Jesus appeal. And you know what? That is just what a lot of people need.

If I set myself to think of couples in marriages that I think would be greatly helped by watching this movie, I would run out of fingers inside of a minute. I can also think of Christians who would be offended by the schlock, but many of them would be those who know more about how a movie ought to be made than about how a woman ought to be treated. And they would rather watch a movie about a woman being abused so long as the movie was made right than to have the woman treated right in a movie that offended their refined sensibilities. So which is the altar and which is the sacrifice? Makes me think of Augustine’s comment about rhetors who cared far more about avoiding grammatical misuse of the word man than they cared about their actual treatment of actual men.

One more additional reading you can add to the list: Peter Leithart’s First Things post contrasting the storytelling of October Baby and Tree of Life. Here’s his conclusion:

My advice to earnest filmmakers with a message: Make movies. Let the message take care of itself. Or, as the St. Francis school of cinematography has it: Preach always and everywhere; when necessary, use words.

This seems like it’s saying the more explicit one is about the gospel the less artistic it is. But read through these pieces yourself and come to your own conclusions.

(2) Masculinity, Femininity, and Gender Stereotypes

Speaking of Joe Carter, he’s begun a nice new feature at TGC—called “Debatable“—summarizing (and “scoring”) key discussions in the blogosphere. Here he looks at a recent post by Mike Horton—responding to some “things in the air” by John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Doug Wilson, and others—along with a response by Wilson and one by Denny Burk.

Since in a previous post I highlighted some of Horton’s arguments, let me highlight a clip from both Wilson and Burk on the interplay between creational differences and cultural differences.

Wilson:

Suppose you overheard one of the kids from your church telling one of the sweet little church ladies to “eff off.” Suppose you confronted him about it, and he defended himself by saying that the meaning assigned to those particular sounds were assigned by our culture, and not by the Holy Spirit speaking in Scripture. Suppose further that he scoffs and says that the whole thing is “linguistically arbitrary.” And, you know, he’s right, and I suppose you also know that he is entirely and completely in the wrong. It is linguistically arbitary, and he still doesn’t get to speak that way.

The Bible never tells us that men should take out the garbage, or that a gentleman holds a seat for the lady, or that opening a car door for your wife is a class act, and so on. Never. But that is irrelevant. Our culture gives us the vocabulary of honor, but the Bible tells us how we must do something with that vocabulary.

And Burk, on 1 Corinthians 11:14-15:

So here is an instance in which the apostle Paul himself says that God-ordained gender roles must be lived-out with an eye toward cultural expectations of masculinity and femininity.

There are other texts that we could go to that illustrate this same principle (e.g., Deut. 22:5), but let’s leave it at just the one for now. The point is that we have to live out our gender roles in the culture that we find ourselves in. The apostle Paul probably never wore trousers. But that doesn’t mean that he was less masculine for wearing something that would probably have looked more like a dress to us. His own culture informed the way he obeyed God, even though the creation norm remained an ever-fixed mark. He had an eye to his culture’s impressions about masculinity and femininity. I don’t think we can do any different.

I commend all these posts to you as time and interest permit. It’s a joy to see iron sharpening iron as brothers dwell together in unity—and are able to discuss things like grown-up gentlemen.