There’s really no excuse for Christian art to be anything less than the best of all art available.
As CS Lewis reminds us, Christians have the best of all myths, because it has the benefit of actually being true. But more than that, we are called to excellence in all of our endeavours and are invited (commanded, even) to imbue all of our work with the excellence one would expect if we were personally commissioned to do the work by — whoever your favourite billionaire celebrity might be.
We wouldn’t slack off or cut corners on a job like that. It would be done with a pride and purpose that takes us to the very edge of our ability. And artists among us have the opportunity to do that — and more! — for the same God that inspired a couple of artists by filling them His own Spirit so the could get the job of building His Tabernacle done right.
Now, that same Spirit fills ‘whosoever believeth’.
Jeremy Boering has had great success with his retelling of the Arthurian Legend ‘The Pendragon Cycle’ tearing up the box office rankings.
The legend itself unfolds back when the dawn of Christian belief was just beginning to break through to the warring pagan tribes that filled the Island. It’s a fantastic story that in no way requires that damning parenthetical phrase (well, good for a Christian art piece, anyway).
Here’s a look at how it’s been performing:
The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin has broken into the Top 10 TV Shows in the US on Prime Video.
#1 in Fantasy TV
#3 in Drama TV
#6 in All TV Series
A huge first week, and we couldn’t be more thrilled.
Thank you to everyone enjoying the show. pic.twitter.com/9E8d32caDK
— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) September 7, 2026
Boering understands that success in art really SHOULD be a commercial success. If nobody wants to watch it, then it probably wasn’t all that great in the first place.
Here’s a video where he goes gloves-off on Christians abandoning the field in the fight to create a culture worth passing on to our kids. The first section is him making this case. The rest is certainly worth watching as well.
Here’s a taste of what he’s saying in the video:
[…Unlike the French retellings of Arthurian legend] “Lawhead’s story explores the fall of the Roman occupation in Great Britain and the preservation of Christianity in the blood soaked British Isles. The Pen Dragon Cycle confronts challenging questions that are as pressing today as they ever were then. What does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to have a mission? What does it mean to believe in the true God in a world that rejects him? These ideas cut against the prevailing sentiments of the Christianity of my youth. America in the 1990s was a place where cultural Christianity was ascendant, where God’s people were soft, and where the character trait that best described a Christian man was nice. Lawhead’s Christianity is not nice. Neither are Lawhead’s Christians. And things seem to have only gotten worse since then.
Today, as when I was young, the American church often presents a feminized, sanitized Christianity. The grit and brutality of the Bible have been neutered for a young Sunday school audience. Modern pastors have abandoned the role of shepherd, protector of the sheep, and slayer of the lion and exchanged it for the role of a sweater vest-wearing Mr. Rogers type who does PR for Jesus. In so many ways, Christianity has retreated from the messiness of the public square to maintain a false piety free from the reality of the world, or at least superficially free from it.
We’ve retreated from politics. We’ve retreated from the culture. We’ve retreated from the fight. The Pen Dragon Cycle offers a stark contrast. It presents a faith that entered the muck and the violence and the doubt of human experience. A faith lived out imperfectly, but with courage. A faith that conquered an island full of savage warlords and pagan tribes and turned it into a beacon of justice and mercy. Arthur is our best king, but not our real one. His men are our best selves, but they’re not our real selves. The Arthurian legend is our highest aspiration. It’s a myth about what we might yet be if only we dared to try.”
Why would we choose this particular story to highlight, with so many other options in the news cycle?
Because Christians producing great content is a hill our own Doug Giles is willing to die on. Besides being a pastor and successful businessman, he’s written best-selling books. He’s a public speaker. He could fill a large gallery with the original art pieces he’s painted in subjects as diverse as nature, historical figures, pop culture, faith and news-of-the-day level politics.
His art gallery has a website.
You can find his book list on Amazon.
And in case you missed our announcement…
Strange Days: Doug Giles Will Be On TBN Again This Tuesday 9/8/26
TBN is running his interview tonight. Catch it on the TV or the free APP
8pm and 11pm Eastern time.
