Have you ever sat and wondered:
what, really, is the purpose of criticism?

What is the purpose of finding fault
and showing that a person
or a culture or a work of art
hasn’t lived up to its full potential?
Why do we always nitpick over negatives,
and does such a skill really have any redeeming value?
Also, on a larger scale, should we be disturbed
that the critic and the cynic and the skeptic
have become our culture’s dominant voices?
Are snark and sarcasm our only choices,
and can such criticism really be constructive?

Perhaps we need to reframe what criticism really means and what criticism really does.

For many, criticism is the first step into art.
When young artists are training in their craft,
they study the works of those who have gone before;
they recreate those works;
they critique themselves;
they critique one another;
and they even critique the masters from generations past.
It is through this criticism that they learn their craft.
We might be quick to say that criticism is much easier than innovation,
and this is true,
but proper criticism can be innovation’s training wheels.

Criticism is a valuable teaching tool,
but criticism that never grows into innovation is a form of spiritual and artistic death.
We must never settle for criticism when,
with just one more step,
we could stumble forward into artistry.

Nowhere have I seen this more than in the Christian blogosphere. I see so many voices calling out what church shouldn’t be. I see so many voices decrying clergy in the public eye as inept and unfit. I see so many voices calling out injustices, and rightfully so! All of these voices are correct, and we need their insights, but at the same time, there is something lacking. As I have argued on this blog before, I believe that criticism of church is welcome and helpful, but now I want to offer one caveat.

It isn’t enough to point out the problems we see.
We have to explore what we actually want our world and our church to be.
It’s not enough to name an injustice; we must learn to propose a remedy.
Criticism is the first step, but the harder part comes next.
Our culture needs critics, and our church needs critics,
but we need critics who are willing to be artists and architects as well.