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March 10, 2006
Reading a Theology of Art
I spent most of today sitting out on my trampoline, chomping away at my new pile of books-to-read-for-personal-and-professional-development. Noel and I are planning on going to the Wheaton Theology Conference (The Beauty of God: Theology and the Arts)* in a few weeks, and, in preparation, I asked one of Covenant's Bible professors to suggest some pre-conference reading material.
He responded with a roughly three page bibliography.**
My trimmed -- and hopefully manageable -- list now contains:
Theology and Culture
Begbie, Jeremy. Beholding the Glory : Incarnation through the Arts. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000.
Dyrness, William A. Visual Faith : Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue, Engaging Culture. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001.
Holness, Lyn. Theology in Dialogue: The Impact of the Arts, Humanities, and Science on Contemporary Religious Thought. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman's Publishing, 2002.
The Trinity
Augustine. The Trinity. Translated by Edmund Hill, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century. Brooklyn, N.Y.: New City Press, 1991.
Vanhoozer, Kevin J. The Trinity in a Pluralistic Age. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman's Publishing, 1997.
Christology
Greene, Colin J. D. Christology in Cultural Perspective: Marking out the Horizons. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2004.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. The True Image: The Origin and Destiny of Man in Christ. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1989.
The idea, should you be wondering, is to think about framing a broader and more theologically rich view of the visual arts. Ever since I took Historiography and read "Traditional Christianity and the Possibility of Historical Knowledge" by Mark Noll, I've been fascinated by the idea that the key doctrine for understanding and participating in culture may be the Incarnation -- not just "God as Creator" or the cultural mandate, as Reformed folk often suggest.
So far today I've finished off the Begbie book and have waded a couple of chapters into Dyrness. Oh, graduate school. Could you really offer such cerebral pleasures on a daily basis?***
--- Footnotes ---
* If you would like to help us fund this endeavor, feel free to buy this fabulous pressure cooker that we have up for sale! Just in time for all those summer weddings you have to lug a gift to!
** Christology and Trinitarian theology are, after all, two of his primary areas of interest.
*** Well, not the theology side. But I could be paid to read all day, and that would be awesome.
Art , Culture, Yo , Faith | By elissa | 03:37 PM
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Comments
The best three best books I've read on this are, in order: st. Athanasius, On the Incarnation; Paul Evdokimov, The Art of the Icon: A Theology of Beauty; Jacques Maritain, Creative Intuition in Art and Poetry
Posted by: mark at March 10, 2006 04:15 PM
Hey,
no cutting in line. The getting paid to read all day line is around the back!
best regards
Posted by: glenH at March 10, 2006 06:14 PM
Elissa,
It looks like a great conference. Could you email me more from the list of those books? you don't have to include the publishing information...just the authors and titles. I have "Visual Faith," I think I had to read it for intro to art with Mr. Kellogg. How's Morty doing these days?
Katie
Posted by: rubykate at March 12, 2006 05:42 PM
are you really selling your pressure cooker? how big is it? I've been looking for one to use with shibori.
Posted by: rubykate at March 12, 2006 05:45 PM
Mark, I read Athanasius' "On the Incarnation" a while ago, but I definitely wasn't thinking too much about art's connection to the Incarnation when I did so. I need to reread that. Thanks for the suggestions.
Posted by: elissa at March 13, 2006 09:35 AM
