Sunday, February 24, 2008

Lutheran artists

I'm intrigued by something that's missing. Or seems to be missing.

It's Lutherans in the arts. A Google search for "Lutheran novelists" basically brings up 2: Walter Wangerin and Lars Walker. Looking for a sculptor who's identified as Lutheran brings up one, Elimo Njau, who's Tanzanian. Lutherans abound in church musicians, meaning folks who write hymns. Which isn't bad, by any means, but there are no contemporary, non-religious Lutheran musicians that I can find.

It's all well and good to talk about Luther's doctrine of vocation, but I wonder why wide swaths of vocation (in America, at least) have few Lutherans in their midst. I'm thinking about artists today, but I wonder, too about other areas. I don't know a reason for this. Does anyone have a guess?

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