Christendom College recently hosted a thought-provoking discussion on the nature and significance of art, featuring philosophy professor Dr. Daniel McInerny alongside College President George A. Harne, Ph.D. The event, part of the college’s major speaker series, explored the question: “What is Art, and Why Does It Matter?”
McInerny, author of the highly acclaimed Beauty and Imitation: A Philosophical Reflection on the Arts, opened the evening with a lecture arguing that art is a distinctly human endeavor that provides both sensory delight and deeper contemplation of existence. Drawing from Aristotle, J.R.R. Tolkien, and others, he emphasized that art shapes lives and cultures by influencing what people love — making it crucial to surround oneself with great art.
Dr. Daniel McInerny opened the evening with a lecture arguing that art is a distinctly human endeavor that provides both sensory delight and deeper contemplation of existence.
“Art is important because it can change an individual life — it can even change an entire culture,” said McInerny. “It’s not automatic. It’s not strict cause and effect. It’s not like Ebeneezer Scrooge’s experience in A Christmas Carol, it doesn’t happen overnight. Yet, great art, at any rate, has a very subtle, very mysterious influence over us. And over time, if we experience it enough, we will begin to conform to it. So, it’s absolutely essential for an individual in a culture to be immersed in great art, and I would contend particularly by stories. We know ourselves and we understand the meaning of our lives most of all through stories.”
Harne then joined McInerny for a dynamic conversation on the relationship between beauty and art, the importance of artistic craft, and the challenges facing Catholic artists today. Referencing C.S. Lewis, Josef Pieper, and Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Harne highlighted how beauty has the power to shape culture for the better.
College President George A. Harne, Ph.D., joined McInerny for a dynamic conversation on why art matters.
The discussion also tackled contemporary concerns, including the decline of great art in modern culture. McInerny argued that many artists focus too much on conveying a message at the expense of artistic excellence, leading to a lack of truly great Christian art.
“A lot of the reason that we have bad art in general, and I think this definitely applies to bad Christian art, is that we’re reluctant to get our hands dirty in the particular,” said McInerny. “Yes, we have a message as Catholics. But the persuasiveness of a work of art is really only going to work if it delivers on that sensory level, and it has to be persuasive to us on the sensory level. For example, if it’s a work of fiction, the characters, even if they are comic characters or grotesque characters, have to be totally convincing within the rules of the world that is being depicted in the story. If the characters don’t convince in all of their particularity, then whatever meaning that the artist wants to deliver us, it’s going to seem preachy. It’s going to seem like it’s hitting us over the head.”
The event concluded with a Q&A session.
The event concluded with a Q&A session, where students and faculty asked about artistic interpretation, the moral responsibilities of artists, and the role of beauty in daily life. Both McInerny and Harne encouraged students to actively engage with meaningful art, both as consumers and creators.
“Don’t be afraid to jump in and co-create,” said Harne. “Don’t be afraid to write a sonnet. Don’t be afraid to write a song. But, also find good models to imitate, and don’t be afraid to submit yourself to a teacher and to the craft. That’s one of the biggest obstacles for people is that they aren’t willing to submit themselves to the years it can take to learn how to write good poetry or to write good music. Don’t be afraid to do it.”
McInerny and Harne’s discussion was a continuation of their recent conversation on Harne’s new Christendom Conversations podcast, where the two discussed how best to appreciate beauty and how to understand the nature of art.
Christendom’s Major Speaker Series is a key aspect of Christendom College’s academic life, providing cultural, intellectual, and spiritual enrichment beyond the classroom. The speaker series allows students, faculty, staff, alumni, and others to gain greater insight into important issues and to interact with leaders in the Church and in society.