recommended reading

There is a broad conversation today on a God-centered theology of arts & culture with a large wealth of pertinent resources.  This is our humble attempt to provide a few literary inroads into that conversation.  While we may not agree with everything in all these books, they provide an excellent springboard to stretch your understanding and step in and join the conversation.  Its divided into three sections: theological, cultural engagement, and practicing artist.

THEOLOGICAL

Voicing Creation’s Praise, Jeremy Begbie (T&T Clark: 1991) For those interested in serious theological reflection on art, this volume is a must-read.  Begbie’s unique background as a classically-trained musician and Cambridge theologian gives him wonderful insight and Spirit-led authority in dealing with this critical cultural topic.  Moreover, Begbie breaks free of the Modernist stranglehold on aesthetic philosophy, and presents a refreshing and deeply Christocentric analysis of the relationship between the character and action of God and human creativity.  

Beholding the Glory: Incarnation through the Arts, Jeremy Begbie (Baker: 2000) Beholding the Glory demonstrates the indispensable role the arts play in disclosing God’s wisdom to us.  Writing from different Christian traditions, practicing artists, theologians, and professors—all well-versed in the relationship between imagination and theology-focus on the incarnation and draw out a wealth of meaning in the belief that God entered our world as one of us.

 

The Mind of the Maker, Dorothy Sayers (Harper San Francisco: 1987) This classic examines anew such ideas as the image of God, the Trinity, free will, and evil.  In these pages a wholly revitalized understanding of them emerges.  She continually refers to each in a way that illuminates all.

 

Art and the Bible, Francis A. Schaeffer (Intervarsity: 1973) Dr. Francis Schaeffer, a theologian with a deep interest in the arts, shows how the Bible records the use of various art forms in Old Testament times.  Then, turning to the contemporary scene, he suggests eleven perspectives within which a Christian view of art can take shape.

 

Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art, Madeleine L’Engle (Shaw: 2001) In this classic book, Madeleine L’Engle addresses the questions, “What makes art Christian?”  “What does it mean to be a Christian artist?” “What is the relationship between faith and art?”  Through L’Engle’s beautiful and insightful essay, readers will find themselves called to what the author views as the prime tasks of an artist: to listen, to remain aware, and to respond to creation through one’s own art.  Scribbling in the Sand: Christ and Creativity, Michael Card (Intervarsity: 2002) In this book Card explores the biblical foundations of true Christian creativity.  Whether we think of ourselves as creative or not, all of us are created in the image of our Creator God, and thus creativity is a vital expression of our discipleship.  With Jesus as his model, Card shows how understanding God’s creative imagination leads to a lifestyle of humility, obedience and servanthood.  And he invites us to follow God’s creative call through worship and community.

Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, Hans R. Rookmaaker (Crossway: 1994) Rookmaaker’s classic analysis looks at modern art in a broad historical, social and philosophical context, laying bare the despair and nihilism that pervade our era.  He also shows the role Christian artists can play in proclaiming truth through their work… The book moves freely and with a sense of urgency between the worlds of high culture, popular art and music, and Christian faith.

 

Art and Soul: Signposts for Christians in the Arts, Hilary Brand and Adrienne Chaplin (Intervarsity: 2002)In Art and Soul, Hilary Brand and Adrienne Chaplin explore the full spectrum of issues and concerns that face a Christian who is interested in working within any of the creative arts.  They address questions ranging from postmodern assumptions about art through the very practical issue of who might (or should) support the artist in his / her work.  This book seeks to explain why and how the arts impact the audience, and even if a reader may disagree with some of the author’s conclusions, the very fact that they have attempted to find purpose and meaning in the arts distinguishes the book from the multitude of contemporary aesthetic theories which tend to emphasize the utter subjectivity and “meaninglessness” of works of art.

 

Visual Faith: Art, Theology and Worship in Dialogue, William Dyrness (Baker: 2001) How can art enhance and enrich the Christian faith?  What is the basis for a relationship between the church and visual imagery?  Can the art world and the Protestant church be reconciled?  Is art idolatry and vanity, or can it be used to strengthen the church?  Grounded in historical and biblical research, William Dyrness offers students and scholars an intriguing, substantive look into the relationship between the church and the world of art.

 

Rainbows for the Fallen World, Calvin Seerveld (www.seerveld.com/tuppence.html) This book is out of print and hard to find, but recommended by many as a classic for art and faith.

 

 

  CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT 

Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue, Robert Johnston (Baker Academic, 2000) “Reel Spirituality will not only help us develop a Christian wisdom about film; in turn, it will make us ask searching questions about the Christian faith and the way we express it.  Throughout, the book is accessible and engaging.  I commend it most warmly.” Jeremie Begbie, director, Theology through the Arts, University of Cambridge

 

The Rock that is Higher: Story as Truth, Madeleine L’Engle (Shaw: 2002) Drawing upon her own experiences, well-known tales in literature, and selected narratives from Scripture, Madeleine L’Engle gently leads the way into the glorious world of story in The Rock That is Higher.  Here she acknowledges universal human longings and considers how literature, Scripture, personal stories, and life experiences all point us toward our true home.

 

Christ and Culture, H. Richard Niebuhr (Harper San Francisco: 1956) Being fully God and fully human, Jesus raised an enduring question for his followers: what exactly was His place in this world?  In the classic Christ and Culture, H. Richard Niebuhr crafted a magisterial survey of the many ways of answering that question—and the related question of how Christ’s followers understand their own place in the world.  This edition is not easy reading.  But it remains among the most gripping articulations of what is arguably the basic ethical question of the Christian faith: how is Christ relevant to the world in which we live now?

 

Art in Action, Nicholas Wolsterstorff (Eerdmans: 1980) Taking vigorous issue with the pervasive Western notion that the arts exist essentially for the purpose of aesthetic contemplation, Wolterstorff proposes instead what he sees as an authentically Christian perspective: that art has a legitimate, even necessary place in everyday life.  Developing an aesthetic that is biblically grounded, yet always sensitive to the human need for beauty, Wolterstorff makes a brilliant contribution to understanding how art can serve to broaden and enrich our lives.

 

A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture, Craig Detweiler and Barry Taylor (Baker: 2003) Ross and Rachel had a baby, Britney and Justin broke up, and Time magazine asked if Bono could save the world.  From the glittering tinsel of Hollywood to the advertising slogan you can’t get out of your head, we are surrounded by popular culture.  “This book is ambitious in scope and smartly structured.  Detweiler and Taylor begin with chapters on advertising and the role of celebrities, topics that other Christian commentators have generally ignored, and they are consistenly alert to the commercial forces that drive pop culture’s production and consumption.  They are also witty, readable and passionate about both pop culture and their evangelical faith.  But their cultural analysis borrows heavily from previous writers, and their claim to be discovering a “theology” of pop culture may surprise readers” (Reed Business Information, 2003) for as wiser readers know, this is a conversation that has been going on for a long time.

 

Explorations in Theology and Film: Movies and Meaning, Clive Marsh (Blackwell: 1998) This book brings together theologians, biblical scholars, film and media specialists, and experts in language and literature to consider the potential of film to contribute to contemporary theological discussion.  The focus of the book is on the creative conversation between film and theology in the contemporary West, and it raises crucial questions about the interaction between theology and culture.  It will be an invaluable resource to students and those researching in the areas of theology, religion, as well as media and cultural studies.

 

Bearing Fresh Olive Leaves, Calvin Seerveld (Toronto Tuppence Press: 2000) A key thinker and teacher of philosophical aesthetics encourages mature, bold, Christian engagement with the arts.

 

The Invisible God, Paul Corby Finney (Oxford University Press, 1997) This revisionist study challenges the received opinion that in its earlierst manifestations Christianity was a form of religiosity opposed both on principle and in fact to the use of pictures.  The book documents the origins of Christian art based on some of the oldest surviving Christian archaelogical evidence, and it seeks to show how the Christian products conformed to the already-existing pagan types and models.

 

The Lantern and the Looking Glass: Literature and Christian Belief, Nigel Forde (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: 1997) An exploration of how literature works and how it can illuminate Christian faith by examining human experiences of love, death, mercy, sacrifice, forgiveness and redemption.

 

Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri Nouwen (Image: 1994 reissue) This classic is largely an extended contemplation of Rembrandt’s painting The Return of the Prodigal Son, weaving together art history and memoir in the painting and the story that changed Nouwen’s life.

 

The Image of Christ, Gabriele Finaldi (Yale University Press: 2000) Christ is readily recognizable to us in all sorts of images, in painting, sculpture, film and illustration; his likeness is familiar, and yet the Gospels and the early Christian texts do not provide any information about his appearance.  This book explores how the challenge of representing Christ has been confronted.  How do you represent someone who is both God and man, both human and divine, immortal but with a mortal body?  Every act of representing Christ requires a choice about what kind of Christ one wants to show.  Every image is laden with assumptions about who Christ is.  The making of the image of Christ becomes a statement of belief, a sort of visual theology.

 

Seeing Salvation: Images of Christ in Art, Neil and Erika Langmuir MacGregor (Yale: 2000) Without contemporary accounts of Jesus’ appearance, artists through the ages have been free to create many images of him—images that sometimes reflect the spiritual world of the artist and other times the desires of the patron or the needs of the spectator.  In this magnificently illustrated book, Neil MacGregor traces the life of Christ and the development of Christian culture in the work of artists from different times and diverse cultures.  Co-published with the National Gallery, London.

 

Painting the Word: Christian Pictures and Their Meaning, John Drury (Yale: 2002) In this beautifully written book an Anglican priest and theologian looks at religious paintings through the ages and presents them to us in a fresh way.  John Drury shows how the Christian images in paintings by artists from Duccio to Velazquez have a universal quality that fills the works with passion, stories, and meaning not only for audiences of the past but also for viewers today.

  State of the Arts: From Bezalel to Maplethorpe, Gene Edward Veith (Crossway: 1991) We cannot escape the arts.  They permeate our lives and our culture.  The imagination of this age, its ideas and concerns, percolate throughout culture via the arts.  These ideas affect us for good or for evil.  Christians cannot abandon the arts but can use them to display God’s glory.  This book will help us develop an informed and artistic taste, open yet critical, discerning yet appreciative of what is truly excellent.

Art and the Beauty of God: A Christian Understanding, Richard Harries (Andrew Mowbray Incorporated: 2000) In recent times, Christian theology has failed to find a place for beauty.  The Bishop of Oxford shows how a biblical faith can give a key place to it, and he argues for a Christian approach to art which is also sensitive to the spiritual dimension.

 

The Art of the Soul: Meditations for the Creative Spirit, Joy Sawyer (Broadman & Holman: 2000) Here you’ll find fresh meditations on film, fiction, poetry, visual art, music, theatre, interior design, architecture, cooking—inspirational readings that connect creativity and the Scriptures with our everyday lives.

PRACTICING ARTIST 

Art and Fear, David Bayles (City Lights Books: 2001) An artist’s survival guide, written by and for working artists.  The authors explore the way art gets made, the reasons it doesn’t get made, and the nature of the difficulties that cause so many artists to give up along the way.

 

Addicted to Mediocrity, Franky Schaeffer (Crossway: 1981) A challenge to strive towards excellence as artists.  Schaeffer shows how Christians today have sacrificed the artistic prominence they enjoyed for centuries and settled instead for mediocrity.

 

Imagine: A Vision For Christians and the Arts, Steve Turner (Intervarsity: 2001) This is the book for you if you feel called into the arts, work in the arts, and: 1) want some biblical and historical perspective, 2) want to impact mainstream culture, 3) wonder why there aren’t more Christians impacting popular culture, and 4) struggle with how far to go with the gospel in secular arts.  It takes no specific position on how aggressive or overt to be in presenting the gospel.  Rather, it gives wisdom in helping determine where God wants you.

 

It was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God, edited by Ned Bustard (Square Halo Books: 2000) The goal of this book is to provide a deeper discussion of what believers practicing their discipline for God’s glory would (or should) look like.  Rather than defending the believer’s place in the arts—which has been done very well in other works—this book is intended to be primarily about issues related to making art.

 

The Art Spirit, Robert Henri (Westview Press: 1984) In this book are the essential beliefs and theories of a great teacher and American artist, Robert Henri.  While it embodies the entire system of his teaching, with much technical advice and critical comment for the student, it also contains inspiration for those to whom the happiness to be found through all the arts is important.

 

The Creative Call, Janice Elsheimer (Shaw: 2001) Your creativity was meant to be used.  Whether you are an artist who has already identified your gifts or you believe that you have artistic talent that has never been developed, working through this book will help you grow closer to becoming the person God has designed you to be.

 

Objects of Grace: Conversations on Creativity and Faith, James Romaine (Square Halo Books, 2002)This book is a collection of conversations with some of today’s most intriguing artists which focuses on the intersection of Christianity and creativity.  Objects of Grace promises to enrich our understanding of the artistic process and works of art as they offer insights into the Creator God.

 

Roaring Lambs, Bob Briner (Zondervan: 2000) In his book Bob Briner issues a clear call for Christian to engage culture rather than running from or boycotting it.