Art in the Ruins: Engaging Secular Culture

de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture

Available on-demand

Join a Cambridge scholar and former Sons of Bill guitarist, a surf-instructor-turned-governance expert, and a missionary priest as they navigate secular culture. From “balancing the ship” of institutions to finding grace in pop music, this panel reveals how to engage the world with intellectual humility and bold faith.

Men and women of faith continue to draw on the wisdom, wonder, and beauty of the evergreen Catholic tradition to inform a particular mode of understanding and engaging with the world around them. Inspired by a sacramental vision of reality, the Catholic arts in particular grapple with the mystery and meaning that permeate the created order, giving shape and expression to the transcendent.

At its 24th annual Fall Conference, the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture considered the idea of the Catholic imagination, its enduring and inexhaustible nature, and how it continues to illumine our modern world. With a particular focus on the literary arts, the conference explored unique expressions of the Catholic imagination in more than 150 presentations, performances, and discussions across the disciplines, including philosophy, theology, ethics, law, history, and the natural and social sciences, as well as the creative domains of film, music, theater, and the visual arts.

For 2024’s Fall Conference, the de Nicola Center was pleased to partner with the Biennial Catholic Imagination Conference, which aims to enhance the understanding and appreciation of the richness and variety of contributions by Catholic artists; to explore the critical and theoretical foundations of the Catholic imagination; and to foster community and collaboration among writers and readers who share a knowledge of and respect for the Catholic tradition.

The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture Fall Conference recently addressed the strategic intersection of literary studies, institutional governance, and missionary discipleship. This dialogue is vital for navigating modern secular dynamics, as it provides a roadmap for preserving core institutional goods and finding theological resonance in the fragmented “ruins” of contemporary culture.

2.1. Beyond the Hermeneutics of Suspicion

James, a Cambridge scholar and former guitarist for the band Sons of Bill, composes a critique of modern humanities by identifying an “intellectual Stockholm syndrome.” He notes that literary study is often bound to a “hermeneutics of suspicion”—a pre-resolved paranoia that seeks only to unmask hidden power dynamics. James likens this to a “clever kid in an Iron Maiden t-shirt” who drives the teacher out but is unprepared to lead the class. To move forward, he proposes a return to “Augustinian humility” centered on the concept of superbia (pride). By recognizing the critic’s own propensity for self-deception, we allow art to “disenchant” us of our illusions. This reorientation shifts the reader from a posture of paranoia to one of metanoia, where the text becomes a sacred encounter that transforms the self.

2.2. The Virtue of Institutional Restraint

Patrick navigates the complexities of modern governance with the steady balance he once employed as a surf instructor. Analyzing the turbulent waves of corporate and artistic sectors, he addresses the “So What?” of institutional politicization. Since the 2010s, organizations have increasingly taken public stances on contested social issues unrelated to their core mission. Patrick argues that to “balance the ship” without sinking it, leaders must exercise “corporate restraint.” By focusing on an institution’s “core good”—whether education, art, or service—leaders avoid alienating diverse stakeholders and polluting public discourse. This restraint is not a white flag of neutrality; it is a strategic necessity that protects the internal diversity of an organization and preserves its primary mission in a polarized society.

2.3. Missionary Discipleship in Secular Spaces

Father Damian, a priest and author, interprets the Gospel of Mark as a manual for “offense-oriented” engagement. He views the biblical mandate to “handle serpents” and “drink poison” as a call to engage secular culture—including pop icons like Chappell Roan—without fear. He contrasts the “press-release culture” of administration, which seeks merely to “put out fires,” with his own missionary goal to “set them.” This bold engagement is only possible through an “antidote” found in a “lonely place” of prayer and sacramental life. By seeking the “light of the Gospel” in unexpected fiction and film, the missionary disciple finds that secular art can become a bridge for mercy rather than a site for condemnation.

The common thread across these fields is a call for humility and encounter, serving as the necessary bridge between ancient faith and a secularized world.

These takeaways provide a practical framework for Catholics and professionals to move beyond defensive isolation and toward meaningful cultural contribution in secular environments.

• The Vocation of Artistic Disenchantment: Art’s true power lies in its ability to “disenchant” us of self-justifying illusions. Impact: By making the world “strange,” great art dispossesses us of habituated perceptions, exposing our pride and opening us to grace.

• Practicing Institutional Restraint: Organizations must resist the urge to take stances on contested social issues outside their mission. Impact: This creates a “safe space” for diverse views, preventing workplace politicization and ensuring the institution continues to serve its “core good.”

• A Primal Hermeneutics of Suspicion: Borrowing from John Cavadini’s interpretation of Augustine, scholars should apply suspicion to themselves before the text. Impact: Moving from “I judge the text” to “I have become a great question to myself” prevents intellectual arrogance and fosters genuine inquiry.

• Offense-Oriented Evangelization: Strategic engagement means moving beyond defensive posturing to actively “setting fires” with the Gospel. Impact: By engaging secular works with a sophisticated theological lens, believers reach those on the peripheries who are alienated by traditional religious rhetoric.

• The Necessity of the “Lonely Place”: Handling cultural “serpents” requires a robust life of prayer and community. Impact: Without daily, undistracted time for God, the individual risks being corrupted by secular “poison” rather than transforming the culture.

The poet may use magic, but for the purpose of disenchanting the reader of their illusions about themselves and the world.” — James McFetridge Wilsonn(quoting W.H. Auden)

• “Institutions should exercise the virtues of corporate restraint… out of respect for the diversity of views that exists within their own organization.” — Patrick Langrell

• “My job is not to put out fires, but to set them.” — Rev. Damian Ference

• “What if we engage great works of literature not merely to put them on the rack and make them confess their secrets [as Francis Bacon did to nature], but in the hopes that they… might lead us to confess our own?” — James McFetridge Wilson

• “If we are not making time for conversation with Jesus daily… if we are not resting daily in that lonely place of prayer, those serpents and poison will kill us.” — Rev. Damian Ference