Cascade Books has now published a set of essays coming out of the 2021 Wheaton Theology conference on God and “wonder.” Biblical scholars, theologians, and artists collaborated to engage on the subject of theology, imagination, and the Arts. I got to sit in on some of the presentations, and they were fascinating and inspiring. I wrote a chapter called “The Doxological Apostle,” looking at Paul through the lens of his own personal moments of worship that are clear in his letters.

Also, for this book I crafted a short historical fiction story which has Paul engaging with a pagan and talking about religion. I tried to capture what it would have looked like not only for Paul to present to someone else why he honors Jesus, but also various snapshots of what I imagine Paul’s own worship looked like in practice. I am not the best fiction writer, but I had fun with it and I hope others find it insightful.

Table of Contents

Prelude
1 Wonder and Theology | Emily Hunter McGowin

Part I | Wonder and Method
2 A Theology of Imagination | Jeffrey W. Barbeau
3 Children, Wonder, and the Work of Theology | Emily Hunter McGowin
4 Imagination, Knowing, and Supposing | Scott Cairns

Part II | Wonder and Creation
5 Making as an Act of Longing and Lament | Tish Harrison Warren
6 The Artistry of Place | Andrew Peterson
7 Placed Wonder through the Arts | Jennifer Allen Craft

Part III | Wonder and Wisdom
8 Encountering the Uncontainable in the Arts | Jeremy Begbie
9 The Doxological Apostle | Nijay K. Gupta
10 The Wonder of Cinema in Dorothy Sayers and Spike Lee | Crystal L. Downing

Part IV | Wonder and the Church
11 Disciplining Wonder in the Orthodox Christian Tradition | Marcus Plested
12 Songs and Symbols for an Overcoming Church | Cheryl J. Sanders
13 Evangelical Theology and the Christian Church | David Lauber

Postlude
14 Waiting on Wonder | Jeffrey W. Barbeau

On Wonder…(musical score) | Misook Kim