Home › Browse › Issues ›Winter 2013
Winter 2013 |Volume 31, Issue 3
Patronage: Why We All Need to Invest in Culture
All of us are patrons. We are patrons, even if we might be poor grad students or young married couples barely eking out an existence. We are patrons, not just in our "charitable" giving, but in our day-to-day lives.
By our decisions, we are saying "yes" to some version of the good life.
I hope this issue of Comment will prompt you to ask questions you haven't considered before, so that you might see your daily life anew.
—James K.A. Smith
- 01
- Keats's Phrase
- 02
- Let's Talk About Your Investment Strategy
We are all patrons, even if we don't mean to be.
- 06
- Letters
Continuing the conversation.
- 08
- World View
An annotated reading of your world, including poetry, sledgehammers, and the Religious Right.
- 14
- Culture Care: Called to be Patrons
Let's lay down our weapons of culture war and become patrons of beauty, tending our culture with care.
- 21
- Institutional Faithfulness and the Christian School
Who are the patrons of the Christian school, and what does that role mean?
- 28
- Welcoming Kickstarter into the Clubhouse
While it can and should never replace the deep patronage necessary for shalom, online crowdfunding can have a valuable place in positive culture-building.
- 36
- Philanthropy as Culture-Making
All of life is a gift lived under grace and the only appropriate response is gratitude expressed through generosity.
- 44
- The End of Patronage?
An art historian with an insatiable curiosity discusses what it meant to be a patron of the arts—and what it means today.
- 53
- Why Philanthropy Matters
Despite tunnel vision, Acs's book raises important questions about philanthropy's impact on culture.
- 59
- iDevotion
Just how much do you love your iPhone?
- 64
- Learning to Care
For parents, education is about growing in our children the capacity to care, regardless of the education system we choose for them.


