America's great museums of art are forsaking their provenance and compromising their mission.

That, at least, is the concern expressed by James Panero in an excellent article published in the March, 2012, issue of The New Criterion.

Mr. Panero recalls the origins of the great art museums, particularly those in New York City. They came into being out of the desire on the part of their founders to preserve what was best in culture and most expressive of their view of the American character and mission.

"Civic virtue" was the motivating idea behind many of these museums: How could the virtues that make a republic great be preserved for all generations, so as to instruct the public in matters of beauty, goodness, and truth?

The founders of our great museums of art had a keen sense of what was worthwhile in the arts; they were also versed in the kinds of civic virtues - extolled by Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and others - that make for a great and good nation. The museums they created enshrined that heritage and those values, not only in their collections, but in their architecture and the decorum they instilled among the viewing public.

Over the last generation, however, many museums have begun to embrace a new mission, one based firmly in the values of entertainment and novelty. Museums have been transformed from sacred places of quiet contemplation to bustling mini-malls, complete with gift shops, performers, cafes, and upscale restaurants. Their traditional architecture has been added to or redone to reflect a more contemporary mode.

At the same time, these museums are selling parts of their collections, which were contributed or at least highly revered by the museums' founders, in order to invest in the latest modern and postmodern art.

The goal of these museums is no longer to preserve what is great and good from the past. What matters now is to continue attracting new attendees and to keep up with whatever is latest and new in the arts.

I couldn't help but think about Esau as I read this article. Here he is, eager for something to eat, and willing to abandon the traditions of the past and the legacy of the future for a full belly in the present. Esau despised his birthright - what was given to him by his culture and his fathers - because he valued immediate gratification more than long-term blessing.

And as I thought about Esau and today's museums, I couldn't help thinking about the Church. Many churches today have rejected the heritage of Christian thought and liturgy in order to make room for whatever is new, hip, young, and contemporary in their teaching and worship. Hungry to fill their pews with new faces, churches have traded their birthright and future blessing for a mess of contemporary pottage that may satisfy for the moment, but can never achieve the promise of God's Covenant.

James Panero writes of today's museums of art, "They undermine the art and architecture their supporters had given to the public trust. All along they sell their own expanding ranks and bureaucratic sensibilities to a complicit donor base as a way to counter, conceal, update, and 'reinterpret' the influence of their museums' dubious histories."

They have swapped their inheritance and legacy for a mess of contemporary pottage.

And many churches are marching in exact lockstep with this contemporary beat.

Related texts: Romans 12.1, 2; Romans 15.4; 1 Peter 2.9, 10

A conversation starter: "Have you ever considered that many churches today are like Esau, swapping his inheritance and future to fill his belly in the present?"

T. M. Moore

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