The Christian Worldview of Bruce Cockburn: Prophetic Art in a Dangerous Time

Abstract

Art, like any other human cultural activity, is a child of its time, and the artist must be related to the culture within which his or her artistry is practiced. But Wassily Kandinsky has rightly argued that art must never be only the child of its time. 'Since it [such art] is not germinative, but only the child of the age', he writes, 'and unable to become the mother of the future, it is a castrated art. It is transitory; it dies morally the moment the atmosphere that nourishes it alters.' In contrast to this kind of castrated art, Kandinsky describes 'another art capable of further developments which also springs from contemporary feeling. Not only is it simultaneously its echo and mirror but it also possesses an awakening prophetic power which can have far reaching and profound effect. ' To produce such art requires that the artist possesses prophetic vision ... and Canadian singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn is an artist of such vision.