Gritty Hope and the Gift of the Art: From Sentimentality to Eucatastrophe

We are desperate for hope, but what kind of hope can art provide? Some claim that art should portray reality rather than seeking to provide hope. Others run to art as an escape, seeking sentimental comfort but failing to deal with reality. Art at its best, however, can bear witness to a weighty, gritty hope, one that does not evade the brokenness of life while pointing to a beauty that lasts. Art that reflects this kind of beauty can portray things as they currently are while giving glimpses of how things could be and even will be in a new heavens and earth. These visions can activate our individual imaginations and collective will to stay with the trouble as we are sustained by hope. Art can help us grapple with catastrophe while orienting our lives toward eucatastrophe, allowing our troubled souls to breathe more deeply.

The Nicaea Study Center and the Anselm Society is partnering to host theologian Dr. Wesley Vander Lugt from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. Dr. Vander Lugt teaches theology and is the Acting Director of the Leighton Ford Center for Theology, the Arts, and Gospel Witness. Dr. Vander Lugt also co-founded the organization Kinship Plot, which is a community dedicated to uplifting resonant relationships. Dr. Vander Lugt has served in ministry roles of many kinds, and is an advocate for beauty and the arts. He recently published a book titled Beauty Is Oxygen.

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