Nurturing Creativity With Monastic Wisdom

The Artist's Rule
Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom
By Christine Valters Paintner
Foreword by Macrina Wiederkehr

In her new book The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom, author and spiritual director Christine Valters Paintner invites readers to discover and develop their creative gifts in a spirit of prayer and reflection. This twelve-week course draws on the insights and practices of Benedictine spirituality to explore the interplay between contemplation and creativity.

About the Book
Summarized in the phrase "pray and work," The Rule of St. Benedict provides the inspiration for Valters Paintner's newest exploration of the mutually nourishing relationship between contemplative practices and creative expression. Artists of all stripes and stations in life-poets or painters, potters or photographers-will discover how traditions of Benedictine, Celtic, and desert spirituality can offer new sources of inspiration for their work.

Through this twelve-week course, themes like "Sacred Tools and Sacred Space," "Creative Solitude and Community," and "Nature as a Source of Revelation and Inspiration" are enriched by Paintner's perceptive discussion and enhanced by insightful quotations from well-known artists and writers. Each week offers suggestions for grounding both the creative and the spiritual life through three basic practices: walking, lectio divina, and journaling. In sync with Paintner's vibrant Internet presence, The Artist's Rule is supplemented with online resources, including guided meditation podcasts, video lessons, and discussions.

About the Author
Christine Valters Paintner is the online Abbess of Abbey of the Arts (www.AbbeyoftheArts.com), a virtual monastery offering online courses on contemplative practice and creative expression. She serves as adjunct faculty member at Seattle University's School of Theology and Ministry and is a Catholic Benedictine Oblate.

Paintner is the art editor for Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction and holds a PhD in Christian spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union, an MA in systematic theology from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, and a BA in philosophy from Fordham University. She is a Registered Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator through the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association and has earned certificates in spiritual direction and supervision. She is the author of Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire and writes a regular column at Patheos called Seasons of the Soul.