“Piety kills the creative mind.”
- Flannery O’Connor
“A comprehended God is no God.”
- Madeleine L’Engle
Why We Are
We believe that the purpose of art is to glorify God by reflecting His creative nature. Too often evangelical Christians view art as primarily an evangelistic tool. We reject that view and instead insist that since the first act of God within Scripture is creation, then we also should be creative to the degree to which He has called us as individuals.
The ‘art as evangelism’ concept, though, dominates many threads of Christianity. We believe that this often results in trite and cliched artistic expressions. The ‘Realist’ in our name refers to our belief that all art, to be successful, should reflect the reality of existence as much as possible: we laugh, we cry, we doubt, we praise, and our art should reflect that. This does not, however, limit our expressions to those modes traditionally labeled ‘realist’.
Our effort here is a modest attempt to stand up for the creative soul with which God has imbued His creations.
What We Are
You could say that we are a bunch of disaffected religious nuts. And in a sense we are. But more accurately, we’re an online community of artists (illustrators, writers, musicians, and even a potter) who believe in the integrity of art as well as an honest commitment to Christ.
How to Join Us
You can join in our Web site discussions by registering and leaving a comment. (Do not fear: the reason we ask you to register is to avoid comment spam; we don’t use the information for anything.) We also have an email list for discussions that are not quite ready for the blog. You can drop us a line to let us know what’s on your mind.
Who We Are
Johne Cook
Jennifer Ould
Joshua Ellis
Paul Christian Glenn
Phil Kemp
Priscilla Larkin
Sandra Barrett Leroux
Patty Mitchell
Sharon Shannon
Matthew Scott Winslow
The above list does not include everyone associated with the Christian Realists. You’ll probably encounter many more names than those listed above.