10 Recent Books About Faith and the Arts

A few weeks ago we had a schedule conflict and couldn’t make a trek to Grand Rapids, Michigan to the bi-annual CIVA (Christians in the Visual Arts) conference.  Although we truly enjoyed being with local friends, pastors and lay delegates of a Central PA denominational gathering, we missed  being at the remarkable national meeting of CIVA. We need to publicly thank the leadership of CIVA and our stalwart supporter from Lancaster, PA,  Ned Bustard, for helping us get a display of books there, sans Beth & Byron, and for Mr. Bustard for representing us at the event.

Since we couldn’t have dozens of tables, display racks, or take our boards and shelves to make a pop- up bookstore the way we do at some large events, we only sent a handful of titles and, still, the artists, art teachers, art historians, patrons, museum curators, critics and those who do ministry among and for artists all seemed glad to see our titles. We thank those who browsed and bought books from us — it means a lot.  It reminds us of how important cultural creatives and those thinking about aesthetics have been to us in our work. We are grateful.

LISTS LISTED

Over the years we have developed numerous lists of books or columns about our book-selling at IAM or CIVA or other gatherings where we’ve served serious artists and those interested in culture-making. Please see (and send to others, if you know anyone who’d appreciate it) lists of books about the interface of faith and thea arts here, here or here, or, just for instance, see my review of Beauty Given by Grace: The Bible Prints of Sadao Watanabe,here. Or our review of Art That Tells the Story edited and compiled by Chris Brewer, here.

Not long ago I insisted  in a Hearts & Minds BookNotes column that last year’s release of a multi-volume set by Calvin Seerveld was “the publishing event of the year.”  His stunning and influential classic,Rainbows for the Fallen World (Toronto Tuppence Press; $30.00), appears on nearly every list on the arts I do, so these newly compiled anthologies of essays, articles, scholarly pieces, sermons and sundry projects  — like Normative Aesthetics or Redemptive Art in Society — are important.  For what it’s worth, I had the great privilege of being asked to pre-read and then write a blurb for Redemptive Art.  More important and knowledgeable critics have offered better endorsements, but since you are a Hearts & Minds fan, figure you might like to see part of this quote of mine, from the back of the book:

Can high quality, properly nuanceful, allusive theatre, sculpture, painting or song help heal the world? Can art expose injustices, bring comfort to the hurting, shake the idols of our age? These chapters are amazing pieces, a true gift for those wanting to go further along the journey towards “seeking the peace of the city.” Wise leaders and faithful artists simply must read them.

Dr. Seerveld was at the CIVA conference this year, as were a fine array of other very important writers and supporters of artists. Nicholas Wolterstorff (who – I might shamelessly note – has a chapter in the book I edited called Serious Dreams: Bold Ideas for the Rest of Your Life) was there.  His book Art in Action: Toward a Christian Aesthetic (Eerdmans; $26.00) is a classic in this field, published by Eerdmans in 1980, the same year as Rainbows for the Fallen World.  I like to tell the story that I learned of both in a splendidly stimulating pair of reviews in Vanguard magazine that year, called “Cal on Nick, Nick on Cal.” It was important for me to learn of these two Christian philosophers, understanding from their excellent academic work what people meant by the “integration of faith and scholarship” as well as the realization that even those within the same worldview community could disagree about how to go about doing “uniquely Christian scholarship” in a  particular field of the Lord.  Perhaps I took it a bit too much to heart, since are bookstore is very diverse, with “left right and center” viewpoints on offer, enhancing, we hope, principled discussions within each area of life, and each academic or vocation arena, as we ponder and discern what it truly looks like to “think Christianly” and live faithfully, in but not of the world. I thank God for Cal and for Nick, and to realize they were both at this historic CIVA conference and that we would not, was nearly painful. If you don’t have Art in Action, you really should.

Another person we admire from a far was there, poet and author (and publishing hero) Luci Shaw. We stock her several volumes of lovely, thoughtful poetry, and her wonderful book about being a Christian in the arts, Breath for the Bones: Art, Imagination and Spirit: Reflections on Creativity and Faith (Nelson; $13.99.) I recently skimmed it again, for the umpteenth time, alongside an old favorite, a classic by her best friend, the late Madeline L’Engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art (Waterbrook; $18.99.) I would tell those uninitiated to this genre – books about faith and the arts – to read Shaw before L’Engle, but anyone who keeps a library of a few books across the broad school curriculum — campus ministers, say, or “faith in the work-world” geeks or just those who like to read very widely — should have them both.

Luci’s most recent book of prose is Adventure of Ascent: Field Notes from a Lifelong Journey (IVP; $15.00) which wonderfully surveys the landscape of her experience of aging.

One of the great additions to this field was edited by David O. Taylor, and I really would have liked meeting and hear him at CIVA – Taylor gave the opening address, so, of course, we had a big stack of his edited volume For the Beauty of the Church: Casting a Vision for the Arts (Baker Books; $15.99.)  If you are somewhat new to this body of literature, I guarantee you that this will be a great on-ramp, a way into reading about the myriad blessings of beauty, the important issues and concerns, the joys of church-based art ministry.  Some of the contributors here are professional artists, a few write about aesthetics and the arts professionally (Jeremy Begbie, John Witvliet, Barbara Nicolosi) and some are just solid church folk interested in the field (Lauren Winner, Eugene Peterson, Andy Crouch.) There is a lovely foreword by Luci Shaw. This is a great book, enjoyable and helpful.

Faith+ Vision: Twenty-Five Years of Christians in the Visual Arts, edited by Cameron J. Anderson and Sandra Bowden with an Introduction by Nicholas Wolterstorff (Square Halo Books) $44.99

It was Square Halo Books, in fact, that partnered a few years ago with CIVA to create and publish a large coffee table book of contemporary Christians in the arts, to honor their 25th anniversary.  Modern, postmodern, classic, iconoclastic, heavy, playful, the work represented in Faith+ Vision: Twenty-Five Years of Christians in the Visual Arts, is broad, mature, and evocative.  The paintings and other visual art pieces shown are “suggestion-rich” and “allusive” as Seerveld might say, and we are honored to continue to stock it.  In fact, I was honored to get to do an endorsement on the back — next to serious scholars in the field such as Ena Heller and Wayne Roosa and William Dyrness.  I wrote, very sincerely,

In word and image, the pages of this book record the glorious work of an organization dedicated to support the Christian artist. CIVA is a wonderful association and this book shows off the God-blessed glory of the their members’ work in extraordinary fashion. Thank God for the gentle steadfastness of CIVA,. For those who compiled this excellent books.  And for Square Halo who publishes manna like this.

I so wish I knew how to get folks to buy this handsomely designed, inspiring showcase book. The artists deserve to be known, and this organization needs to be supported.  It really does make a great gift!

Now, I’d like to share with you a handful of newer titles, including some of what we showcased at our small showcase in Grand Rapids last month. These are others to celebrate.

Click below for the list!