What on a break point, daily look, and an ever-changing culture through the lens of

unchanging truth for the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Russian novelist, Fiodor Dostoevsky once said that,

Beauty will save the world.

Reflecting on those words in his 1970 Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Alexander Sultzenitz

and asked the question,

What sort of statement is that?

How could that be possible?

When in bloodthirsty history did Beauty ever save anyone from anything?

What's the legitimate question in a sin-curse world like ours?

So racked with natural disasters, human violence,

deceit, disease, war, famine, cancer, and mental illness in the face of such evil and suffering,

Beauty can seem quaint and powerless, at best a distraction, certainly not a solution.

And yet, Beauty is particularly effective in bringing joy and appreciation to the forefront of our lives.

Introducing us to names from the past we may not otherwise know,

and placing the image of God and men and women on full display.

Take, for example, Vincent Van Gogh, the 19th century Dutch painter of glowing flowers and evidently lights,

a man whose art so starkly contrasted with his troubled life.

Writing recently in the Wall Street Journal, John Miller argued that Van Gogh's art testifies to a stubborn faith,

even during his darkest moments.

Not only is that faith evident in the Dutch master's work,

it was evident in his words,

...