Saving Leonardo

I have recently finished reading Nancy Pearcey's new book Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning, and will very likely be re-reading it again soon. To anyone who has found the kinds of things I have been writing about on this blog of interest, I could not recommend it more highly. It is a must read book for anyone interested in art history and the way that worldviews are shaped by and exemplified in literature, paintings, sculpture, architecture, music and movies. The book is full of beautifully reproduced illustrations, and would make an excellent textbook for a class on recognizing how worldviews are expressed through the arts.

What are the messages that are being expressed through these art forms, and how do we absorb them into our own way of thinking and seeing the world around us? What relationship do they have to truth? To beauty? How do the arts reflect the ideas and values held by a culture? In what ways can the arts inform and influence individuals and cultures of the truth of a biblically informed Christian worldview? These are the kinds of questions Nancy Pearcey very ably tackles in Saving Leonardo.

As a scholar of the writings of the late Francis A. Schaeffer, Pearcey has extended the legacy of his work and thought. Her insights will be invaluable to any Christian who wishes to influence the ideas of their culture rather than fall victim to them.