Salutations!

This is my second blog, the first was more polemical in nature, and was, let us say, "mugged." So this time I intend to write mostly about theological topics, and also the intersection of theology and the arts, especially poetry, but also music and the visual arts.

This will be a non-polemical site, but I reserve the right to occasionally foam at the mouth and make some snide comments. As a conservative, orthodox, Calvinist, Reformed, evangelical Christian (yes I know some of those seem redundant, but they are not, really), I believe that we are called to imitate God by creating things to show Him, as a child shows its parents a painting from school. This is essentially J.R.R. Tolkien's doctrine of "sub-creation," and I think he's got it right (see his article in "Essays Presented to Charles Williams"). I'd like to think that in heaven there is a giant refrigerator where all our works are before God's face - and in which He delights.

As a Christian Platonist, alongside of the cardinal doctrines of the faith, few things are more important or meaningful than the study and the pursuit of the good, the true and the beautiful. In a world of ugliness, where sin and death seem to reign, there is an alternative vision of grace, redemption, and renewal. This vision can be found in the most surprising places, which is why I begin with a Jewish poet, Karl Shapiro.