“Why this Waste?”

Art, Excess, and Human Need

How can Christians justify making and enjoying art in a world where people die of starvation and curable diseases? Is art a luxury Christians can no longer afford? Is it, in other words, waste? Natalie Carnes approached these questions by outlining the demands of Christian asceticism. Drawing on theologies of creation and eschatology, she argued that Christianity offers a radically different understanding of waste than one prevalent in contemporary culture—one that points to the importance of art in a world of need, even as art retains a family relationship to poverty.