Overview

Throughout its history, the Christian church has had a troubled relationship with the arts, whether literature, poetry, music, visual arts, or other forms of artistic expression. This volume is not designed to resolve the issues, but it is designed to present a number of different statements about various dimensions of the arts in their relationship to the Bible. The Bible is the document that stands behind the Christian church as an inspiration to it and to its arts. As a result, we have divided this volume into six parts: perspectives on the arts, culture and art, visual enactments, contemporary interpretations, music, and the Bible and literature. Many of the issues that the history of the interaction of the arts and the Bible within the Christian church has uncovered are insightfully and artfully addressed by this book. The wide range of contributors runs the gamut from practicing artists of various media to scholars within varied academic fields.

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9781725279759

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Reviews

"""The Arts and the Bible is an ambitious and wide-ranging discussion of diverse art forms and their relationship to Scripture. The contributors--including traditional academics as well as hands-on practitioners--approach this topic boldly, drawing on a huge body of influences and personal experiences. The picture they paint is tremendously varied and complex. Readers interested in faith and aesthetics are sure to find something here that resonates and informs."" --Katie Kresser, professor of art history, Seattle Pacific University ""An embarrassment of riches, this impressive collection opens fresh vistas on both art and Scripture. It opens spaces where practicing artists, biblical scholars, and cultural commentators meet and explore together the arts' role in history, liturgy, and contemporary life. It is a book to be prayerfully savored and experienced."" --William Dyrness, senior professor of theology and culture, Fuller Theological Seminary ""In recent decades, Protestant churches in particular have begun to appreciate anew the place of the arts as a stream of theological engagement with Scripture. It is to be hoped that the rich insights contained in this collection will serve this growing appreciation, ensuring that continuing appeals to 'tradition' as an authoritative source and norm for theology will grant due place to the distinctive contribution made by artists alongside others more typically consulted."" --Trevor Hart, honorary professor of divinity, University of St. Andrews"

Author Information

Stanley E. Porter is president, dean, and professor of New Testament and holder of the Roy A. Hope Chair in Christian Worldview at McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, ON, Canada. Besides his research and writing in Greek language and linguistics, he is a keen advocate for the arts within the Christian church. In particular, he is very interested in how literature can help to enlighten and elevate Christian faith. Wendy J. Porter is professor of music and worship at McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, ON, Canada. She is an accomplished musician in both classical and contemporary idioms. She has recorded three CDs of contemporary Christian music and done major research on most areas of church music, from the earliest Christian hymn to contemporary worship music. She recently published Early English Composers and the Credo.

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