And in theology? So you’ve taught your students Christian Smith’s Rule 18 (http://www.amazon.com/Evangelical-Committed-Ninety-Five-Difficult-ebook/dp/B00579Y51Y/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_8), an “anomaly” not easily accounted for within Protestant culture: we are not mere “minds” apart from our bodies. Better be careful Prof. Milliner: you’re gonna turn those Evangelicals Catholic!…

For starters, the opening sentence doesn’t ring right with me, because it seems to equate “secular” with “contemporary art.” Even though most of what we would call “contemporary art” does come from a secularist mindset, the two are not the same thing. To put this in reverse perspective, consider this statemen: “Secularists shouldn’t complain about Christians misunderstanding them while they themselves continue to misunderstand the Contemporary Christian Music industry.”

Secondly, how many people anywhere, Christian or otherwise, would actually be able to name five contemporary artists? The truth is that the artists who are creating the sort of art that normal people pay attention to are working in the basements of Disney, Pixar, Blizzard Entertainment, and whoever it is that produces those zany Super Bowl ads.

I’m sure that when Christian college professors talk about “redeeming art,” they are thinking about the elitist, insular sort of art that you will often find in galleries but rarely in anyone’s homes. But when folks like me talk about redemption, we’re thinking of what is popular. And if you asked us to name more than five major film makers, movie stars, hip hop musicians, or vampire novelists, you’d get a very different answer.

The “high art” stuff is an easy target, because it really is absurd. But the true challenge is to engage with quality art and respond with something better.