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critiques

In one of my art classes at Wake Tech, every Friday we had to place our work on the board in a line, and go through each piece as a class and offer a critique. In the beginning, I was terrified, both of offering anything as well as hearing what anyone had to say about my work that I knew was seriously in need of improvement. And yet, with each passing week the process became easier for those of us who participated in class (we actually brought our notebooks and pencils and stayed for the lectures) because of one simple reason: our teacher taught us the basics of a critique.

In the beginning I thought a critique was negative criticism. But I quickly learned that it was so much more. A true critique is more like a book report. While there is opinion, it MUST be centered on facts to have any merit.  When we studied light placement in paintings, then that week's critiques included viewpoints on how the artist used light and shadows in their drawing. It's one thing to say "That painting makes me feel sad."  That's an opinion based on feeling. It's a totally different thing to say "The lack of light and use of extreme shadows gives the painting a dark or sad feeling."  It's an art principle that the usage of light highlights elements of a painting, and the absence of light or highlights is used to create something dark or serious. Once you've studied that, then leaving out light or highlights in painting is a way of making a statement or a point. In the same way, when teaching students how to write a book report, I always required them to back up their statements about the book with examples from the book itself (otherwise it's not a report but a review of feelings). I had never thought about book reports in essence being critiques, but they are.

Today in church both of our sermons centered on Proverbs 4, about guarding our hearts. Tonight's sermon, which was more practical in principle, took a look at Hebrews 4:12,13. I've heard that verse all my life, have studied it in depth in different classes and studies, but I don't recall ever hearing that the phrase "to judge" (in reference to God's word judging or revealing the contents of our heart) is the same Greek root as the word "critique" and is similar to our English word for criticism.

That put a whole new spin on the passage for me.  It's not just a matter of how we feel or react, but that God's Word/Spirit is discerning/critiquing our lives and thoughts based on what is actually there in every aspect of our being. The meaning of the passage hasn't changed, but it does shed a somewhat different light on the subject matter for me. It makes the passage seem less harsh and austere, and more of what it's meant to be: an evaluation based on what is there, based on the facts/principles we know to be true, and meant as a basis for improvement and building.  And I find that very refreshing. It almost makes me laugh to think back to that first week in class when I heard the week "critique" and panicked inside, and now I look back on that semester as one of the more rewarding classes I ever took. I think my teacher would be shocked to find out the applications I'm using today, but I also think she would not only understand, but would also be pleasantly startled. Somehow I don't think Fundamentals of Drawing 101 was designed for the purpose of understanding the Christian faith better, but it's wonderful and amazing how things we learn in one area of life are applicable to other areas as well.

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