For eight weeks we’ve looked at the purpose of art including most recently a basic look at how to determine whether an artistic text is any good. For the last part of this series I want to spend some time talking about the “how to’s” of experiencing art. How do we read a book to get the most out of it? How do we watch a movie or listen to a song—what are the best ways to enjoy, examine, and learn from many different art forms?

After spending six weeks talking about the nature and purpose of the arts, we need to start asking some practical questions: How can we tell good art from bad art? How do we watch movies, listen to songs, and read books in order to get the most meaning and the most entertainment out of them? When should we ask, “Is it true?” This week we talk about what makes art good or bad.

Art is meant to entertain us, to give us pleasure, and to offer fun. It’s also meant to show us beauty—that’s part of the pleasure it gives—and sometimes that beauty points us to the glory of God. Art reaches us through imagination, showing us things rather than telling us things—putting us through experiences which allow us to learn more deeply than we can from abstract explanations or simple statements. That any of this is possible is because there are different kinds of meanings.

I’m writing a series on art because I think Christians in America no longer know what art is for, and we need to learn its purposes again. Last week I suggested that art is first of all meant to entertain and delight us by being beautiful. Other purposes, like showing truth, will only make sense once we understand this. I concluded saying beauty, at least in part, is recognized by our five senses and makes us respond emotionally when we experience it.