You Tube Theology

Art has the power to inspire, provoke and draw out our best qualities. Quantifying these effects, however, is a beguiling challenge. How can the cognitive effects of art be separated from the art itself? Dr. James K.A. Smith relates a story, perhaps apocryphal, about the poet TS Eliot. The story goes that Eliot gave a public reading of his masterpiece The Wasteland, and was then asked by an incredulous audience member, "What does the poem mean?" Eliot's response was simple: he proceeded to reread the entire poem. "Because the only way that you could ever get the meaning of the poem," says Dr. Smith, "is in the encounter with the work itself."