We've got no idea

From today’s New Zealand Herald [originally published in the UK's Observer], this

”History shows that true innovation has disappeared from our society…”

But the sheer lack of fundamental innovation now may explain the tenacity of traditional religion, and why contemporary art seems so flat, banal and repetitive, why television and movies are obsessed with safe repeats (such as Star Wars) and feel-good endings (Bridget Jones, Love Actually) and why fiction, as John Banville commented recently, is likewise lacking in edge.

I was reminded of a comment by Steve Taylor, reported by Rachelle Mee-Chapman, “Steve Taylor said on the last day [of the recent Allelon gathering], ‘I’m not sure we are really as creative as we think.’”

Am I? Are we?

Comments

[+ Alan]

Do we need to be??

[gavin]

is only our creativity represented in the modern arts (which i wouldn't always call great, but they are edgy), movies, music, and literature. can we define our creativity in architecture, technology, and/or exploration? i don't know if we are less creative, our energies might have shifted.

[Evers]

I think we believe we are more creative, but are often repeating the errors of the past.

We could be repeating the "faithfulnesses" of the future, which would (by virtue of the nature of "faithfulness") be in and of itself a creative exercise. But it would not feel as "edgy" or "sexy" as the ways in which our society dresses up past mistakes and calls them "new."

Peace!

[steve]

if we believe we are made in the image of God, who is a creator, then not needing to be creative is to deny our fully intended God shape.