In this podcast, I speak with Dr. Reg Grant, professor at Dallas
Theological Seminary, published novelist, actor, and apparently
tap-dancer. We discuss a healthy artistic life and the formation and
transformation of the artist.

Dr. Grant says something that reminds me of C.S. Lewis, who, in Mere Christianity, said we must lose ourselves and be in Christ, but instead of this making us all the same, "the more truly ourselves we become…There is so much of Him that millions and millions of ‘little Christs,’ all different, will still be too few to express Him fully" (p. 189). The only real personalities exist in God, but we can’t go to him in order to pursue ourselves. Our real selves come when we’re looking for him. "Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in" (p. 190).

I think this applies to our art. The fullness of our creativity can only be found in Christ. This is not to say that unbelievers can’t make beautiful art, but that as Christians fully pursuing Christ, we find our art fuller, more able to express him. But if I pursue Christ for the sake of my art, I’ll find only emptiness.

This podcast segment is 7 minutes.