Resources
Home > About Us > Collaborating Institutions > SCS > Luce Seminars > 2002The Arts and Christian Worship:
A Selected Bibliography for an Orientation
to History, Theory and Practice
.intended for clergy, artists, and lay-leaders
who wish a general introduction issues and directions
in worship and the visual arts.
Introductory Remarks
Many pastors and lay leaders are becoming more and more interested in the connections between Christian worship and the visual arts. If you and your congregation are curious about becoming more intentional about using the gifts of the visual artists in your midst to deepen and enrich your church's life, the following books may be helpful as you orient yourself to an increasingly active area of inquiry. This bibliography is part of a larger project that grew out of a Calvin Summer Seminar in Christian Scholarship, led by Dr. Nicholas Wolterstorff and hosted by Calvin College. The title of the seminar was "The Arts, Aesthetic Theory, and The Practice of Christian Worship" and it took place in July, 2002. My thanks go to Dr. John Cook from the Henry Luce Foundation, Dr. Susan Felch, former director of the Seminars, and to the seminar staff, all of whom worked to make this seminar a reality. I also thank Dr. Wolterstorff and my fellow seminar participants for challenging and helpful conversations around these themes.
My overall intent has been to provide a resource useful for ordinary, interested readers; this is not an exhaustive, academic bibliography. I have limited the number of books in each category to a fairly small number of key works. These are books that I have found useful in my own work, that are widely referenced by scholars working in these areas, or are commonly used as introductions to their field. Interested readers are probably aware of the enormous body of literature on the more general relationships between art and spirituality. I have not included works in that area in order to focus more narrowly on works that aid our understanding of the arts in worship.
Since both worship and the arts can be studied from a number of different perspectives, I've grouped the titles according to five, general starting points: general historical orientation, art historical orientation, philosophical orientation, theological orientation, and practical, hands-on resources. These groupings are not strictly disciplinary. In fact, many of the authors discussed below combine, or make ample use of anecdotes, precedents and scholarship from the other realms to help further their arguments.
Rather, these organizational rubrics should only be taken as helpful starting points for interested readers. Pastors, for example, may be familiar with the history of worship, but lay-leaders and artists may need information in this area. Artists, in turn, may not need an orientation to the history of art in the church, but clergy may find that useful.
I've provided an estimate of the difficulty of each text for ordinary readers by designating each reading with one to three asterisks. Books with little technical language and little presumed expertise in the area are given one asterisk, books or articles with much specialized language and assumed background are given three.
Lisa J. DeBoer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of the History of Art
Westmont College
Santa Barbara, CA
Outline of Bibliography
- Historical Orientation
- The history of Christian (liturgical) art
- The history of Christian worship
- Art Historical Orientation
- More focused studies of art and Christianity, often cited in other works
- Influential interdisciplinary studies of art and Christianity
- Philosophical Orientation
- Theological Orientation
- Intersections of theology and aesthetics
- Intersections of art and worship
- Hands-on Wisdom
- Books
- Magazines, journals and internet resources
The Arts and Christian Worship:
A Selected Bibliography for an Orientation
to History, Theory and Practice
I. Historical Orientation
A. Books on the history of Christian (liturgical) art
*Helen De Borchgrave. A Journey into Christian Art. Fortress Press, 2000.
Written by art conservator and critic Helen de Borchgrave, this lavishly illustrated book is a great introduction to those who have no exposure to the history of art, or to the history of Christian art. The text is very accessible to those only beginning to orient themselves to the field. For such people, de Borchgrave's book will help make sense of John Dillenberger's "formative historical junctures" (for Dillenberger, see below).
**John Dillenberger. A Theology of Artistic Sensibilities: The Visual Arts and the Church. Crossroad Publishing, 1986.
Theologian John Dillenberger, founding member of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, has had a longstanding interest in Christianity and the arts. In addition to A Theology of Artistic Sensibilities, he has published on the art of Benjamin West, on the visual arts in nineteenth-century America, and on the uses of images in the age of reformation and counter-reformation. Dillenberger's faithful and enthusiastic work in the area of art and theological education helped prepare the way for the groundswell of interest in this area that has emerged in the last decade.
The first five chapters of A Theology of Artistic Sensibilities provide a selection of "formative historical junctures" that Dillenberger identifies as necessary for understanding the trajectory of art in the church. This 125 page gallop through the history of art will help readers who have had little exposure to art history gain some orientation to key points in the Church's history with the visual arts. The second section deals with twentieth century art, focusing especially on collaborations between well-known modernist artists and specific Christian communities. For many readers, these modern collaborations will come as an encouraging and inspiring surprise.
**John Drury. Painting the Word: Christian Pictures and Their Meanings. Yale University Press. 1999.
Drury is an Anglican priest with an abiding interest in how the arts, carefully and attentively viewed, can interpret and persuasively convey the Christian faith. Drury begins with sections on looking itself, emphasizing the extent to which there is no "innocent eye," the extent to which what we see is shaped by what are trained to see and what we expect to see. Thus, he believes it is important that contemporary viewers try to re-instate, if only partially, some of the assumptions that earlier viewers brought to these works. The main body of the book is devoted to theologically and art-historically sensitive readings of works of western European art that depict moments in the life of Christ. For readers looking for demonstrations of how images can embody and interpret the tenets of the Christian faith, Drury's readings will be very satisfying. The epilogue, in which Drury develops his own vision for the future of Christianity in the modern world, may not resonate with all readers, but should not be allowed to detract from the central aims of this fine book.
*Jaroslav Pelikan. The Illustrated Jesus Through the Centuries. Yale University Press, 1997.
While not exactly an historical work, this book does help its readers see the ways in which the visual arts can be theologically reflective and informative. Pelikan himself is an historian, and taught for over 30 years at Yale University. Working thematically through many facets of Christ's life, character, and legacy, Pelikan demonstrates the ways in which the arts have interpreted the person and witness of Christ in different ways. While one might wish for more commentary justifying the selection of particular images, this book nonetheless provides powerful evidence for the role of the arts in the history of the church, and for the arts' ability to interpret Christian truths in non-verbal media. The Illustrated Jesus grew out of Pelikan's earlier, longer, more academic work, Jesus Through the Centuries, first issued in 1985 and recently re-released by Yale University Press. Some readers may want to consult that work alongside The Illustrated Jesus.
B.The History of Christian Worship
**James F. White. Brief History of Christian Worship. Abingdon Press, 1993.
White's Brief History has become a staple in curricula on the history of worship. White is a pastor in the United Methodist church and a scholar of the history of liturgy. Within each historical period (White identifies five historical periods: New Testament Era, Early Christian Communities; Middle Ages; Reformation Period; Modern Times) White unifies the book by choosing common themes: "Becoming a Christian," "Living and Dying as a Christian," and "Living Together in Community," each with a consistent set of subheadings. At the end of each chapter White suggests a small number of further readings. Readers interested in a more detailed development of the core themes in Christian worship can consult White's Introduction to Christian Worship, Abingdon Press, 2000.
*Robert E. Webber, editor. Twenty Centuries of Christian Worship. Star Song Publishing Group, 1995.
This is volume II in the Complete Library of Christian Worship, edited by Robert Webber. Drawing on the resources of over 100 publishers and even more scholars, the Library is a wonderful resource for anyone seeking a solid orientation to any aspect of worship. The volumes of the Library are organized in a coherent, organic movement from foundational reflections (i.e. Biblical Foundations for Worship) through all aspects of worship, to the challenges of current practice (i.e. Worship Renewal in the Church). The entries are short, pithy, and easily comprehensible for newcomers to the field. Though not meant to be read from cover to cover, these brief essays, written by experts in each area, are so informative and so engaging, you may be tempted to read beyond your initial interests. In fact, that is one of the merits of this collection. In its structure and style, it aims to educate readers beyond the parameters of their own tradition and experience.
Twenty Centuries of Christian Worship (Volume II) concentrates on the history of worship, beginning with Jewish and early Christian practices in the New Testament era up to today. Then, within a strong historical framework, the volume presents descriptions of worship in a broad array of church traditions and addresses the different models and theologies of worship that ground those practices. The last section contains a discussion of the problems and challenges that each tradition identifies within its own practice.
*Robert E. Webber. Worship Old and New: A Biblical, Historical, Practical Introduction. Revised edition, Zondervan, 1994.
Worship Old and New was first published in 1982 and has, along with White's Brief History been a basic text for many students of Christian worship. Webber, now at Northern Baptist Seminary after many years in the theology department at Wheaton College, emphasizes biblical and theological foundations for worship, using history to highlight these developments. The volume provides an overview of biblical worship, theologies of worship, a brief history of developments in Christian worship, and a survey of the practices of worship. Though not as systematically structured as White's Brief History, Webber's text is more conversational in tone, and in my teaching I've found that it generates very good discussions. This will certainly be an inviting and valuable text for readers seeking meaningful connections between history, theology, and current practices in Christian worship.
II. Art Historical Orientation
A. More focused art historical studies, often cited in other works
**Paul Corby Finney, editor. Seeing Beyond the Word: Visual Arts and the Calvinist Tradition. Eerdmans, 1999.
This book of collected essays is as interesting for what it achieves as for what it lacks. Gathered from papers presented at a 1995 conference at Princeton University, Seeing Beyond the Word covers visual manifestations of Calvinism over a wide variety of geographical and chronological areas. The essays remind us that Calvinism, for all its indifference or even hostility to the arts in worship, nonetheless left a legacy of buildings, objects and images that allow us to trace the contours of its impact on the arts. The authors investigate the graphic arts, metalwork, ceramics, portraiture, landscape painting, and especially architecture for the ways in which the impact of Calvinism can be discerned.
The cumulative effect of these essays, however, is quite curious. There are no guiding frameworks, no common traits, no shared stylistic vocabularies to bind these varied works together as distinctively Calvinist. What the book emphasizes, then, is the extent to which Calvinism in the arts is distinguished more by what it is not than by what it is. The prohibitions against the liturgical use of images forced artists and artisans into the public realm where they creatively adapted their religious convictions to new circumstances.
**Charles Garside. Zwingli and the Arts. Yale University Press, 1966.
Garside's classic study of the impact of Zwinglian reforms on worship will resonate familiarly with many Protestant readers. Though the book deals as much if not more with music, Zwingli's convictions about true worship, about the problems of sensory experience in worship, and about the essential inwardness of devotion still have echoes today in many Protestant assumptions about the visual arts. Garside traces Zwingli's reforms back to Erasmus, leading him to emphasize a reformation of the Christian spirit for which outward forms of worship and devotion were relatively insignificant.
***Jeffrey Hamburger. Nuns as Artists: The Visual Culture of a Medieval Convent. University of California Press, 1997.
In choosing to investigate a small collection of devotional images developed by Benedictine nuns around the turn of the 16th century, Jeffrey Hamburger, a historian of medieval art at Harvard University, provides a glimpse of the powerful, original, and moving role that images can play in devotional life. Though some in the art historical community criticized Hamburger for lavishing so much scholarship on such "naïve" paintings, most scholars lauded the book for its attention to popular, rather than elite, images, as well as for its sensitivity to the functions that such images played in the devotional practices of the convent of St. Walsburg. For contemporary readers interested in art and worship, these small, humble, yet moving images are a reminder of the ways in which the arts can function innovatively within a specific community.
**Thomas F. Mathews. The Clash of Gods. A Reinterpretation of Early Christian Art. Princeton University Press, 1993.
Thomas Mathews is an art historian at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University and has published works on art's role in both the Eastern and Western branches of the church. Clash of the Gods is his most recent and somewhat controversial book. In part due to the sweeping nature of his claims, most people interested in art and Christianity have read, heard of, or will be referred to this book at some point. Previously, this phase of Christian art was thought to be marked by heavy borrowing from roman imperial iconography. Mathews' argument challenges that analysis of early-Christian imagery, by insisting that the first images of Christ were overtly anti-imperial. Though readers may wish to temper the extent of Mathews' claims and perhaps consult the helpful review by Peter Brown [Art Bulletin 77 (September 1995): 499-502], The Clash of Gods remains nonetheless an invigorating account of what is at stake for Christians in the uses of imagery.
*Henk van Os, et al. The Art of Devotion in the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press, in association with the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1994.
The Art of Devotion was the catalogue for an innovative exhibition of medieval religious art organized by Henk van Os at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Though lavishly illustrated, the book cannot convey the full experience of the exhibition, which used dim lighting, ambient music, and minimal wall text to capture something of the original intimate, devotional appeal of these objects-though as one reviewer pointed out, atmosphere could not really compensate for the lack of religious faith on the part of most visitors. But for believers interested in the ways in which the arts direct, focus, and animate religious attentiveness, this book, with its beautiful images and engaging text, will inform and deepen one's understanding of Christianity's artistic past. Though the overall emphasis is on personal devotion, there are ample connections to public, corporate worship in the body of the essays. Van Os aimed this catalogue at a general audience, and separate essays on the practices of prayer, common medieval devotional themes, and on prayer and the imagination expand on the commentary offered in the exhibition.
*Linda Safran, ed. Heaven on Earth: Art and the Church in Byzantium. Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998.
This collection of essays, edited by the art historian Linda Safran, grew out of a lecture series sponsored by the Smithsonian in 1991. Heaven on Earth provides a well illustrated introduction to the role of art in Eastern Orthodox worship. The essays by Anna Kartsonis on icons and Robert Ousterhout on church architecture will be especially helpful in helping readers see the intimate connections between representation and worship in the Eastern church. The essay on theology by Eric Perl reinforces the relationship between liturgical images and theological formulations. This book has become the premier introduction to the history of art in the Byzantine setting for non-specialists.
B. Influential interdisciplinary studies of art and Christianity
***David Freedberg. The Power of Images: Studies in the History and Theory of Response. University of Chicago Press, 1989.
In a 1991 review, Crispin Sartwell, a professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University wrote "works of art history which reach dramatic theoretical conclusions, such as Gombrich's Art and Illusion and Panofsky's Meaning in the Visual Arts, tend to have a pronounced and lasting effect on aesthetics. David Freedberg's The Power of Images is just such a book" [JAAC 49 (Winter 1991): 86]. This was no understatement. Freedberg's Power of Images has become a foundational work, not only in aesthetics, but primarily in the history of art. Widely reviewed in academic journals from an array of disciplines, Freedberg's book continues to be an influential text for anyone interested in how and why images work so powerfully.
Freedberg's convictions about the power of images led him to challenge traditional aesthetic and historical frameworks for explaining the effect of images, and look to ethnography, sociology and psychology to broaden both the range of images that can be considered significant and the ways in which we can see their significance. Making extensive use of popular religious imagery, Freedberg examines the powerful ways in which pictures and people relate to one another. The trajectory of the argument in The Power of Images should encourage, but also give pause to readers who are duly aware, and wary, of the power of visual representation. A book like this reminds us that the arts can help, but also hinder, Christian worship-especially since Freedberg's case studies tend to highlight uses that most Christians would find highly problematic. Readers may also want to consult Arthur Danto's helpful review in the Art Bulletin 72 (June 1990): 341-42, for Danto's sense of the limitations of Freedberg's approach.
**Margaret Miles. Image as Insight: Visual Understanding in Western Christianity and Secular Culture. Beacon Press, 1985.
Since its publication in 1985, Image as Insight has been one of the most cited books in the field of worship, theology and the arts. Miles, now dean of the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley, taught theology for many years at Harvard Divinity School, where she developed an interest in images as an additional set of sources for theological work. For Miles, theologians' over-reliance on textual sources and deep suspicion of visual sources was bound to create omissions and even distortions in our understanding of Christianity and its past. Image as Insight, then, set out with a two-fold purpose. First, Miles hoped to examine some of the roots of our habitual distrust of images as informative historical sources, and second, to demonstrate the kinds of knowledge that could be gained from attentive, careful use of images. In arguing her thesis, Miles develops three "case studies" which allow her to pursue these twin goals: images in the early Christian church, images of the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene in late medieval Italy, the use of images in the Protestant and Catholic Reforms of the 16th century, and an examination of the role of images in current (1980s) culture.
***David Morgan. Visual Piety: A History and Theory of Popular Religious Images. University of California Press, 1998.
In the five years since it appeared, David Morgan's Visual Piety has become a foundational text for those interested in the study of popular religious images. While a handful of art historians had been interested in the many popular images that accompanied the Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation, art history as a discipline has had scant respect for the kinds of images that most ordinary people choose for their homes, classrooms, and other arenas of daily life. Morgan, who holds the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair in Christianity and the Arts at Christ College, the honors college of Valparaiso University, was one of the first to strike out in this field-and certainly the first to do so with such methodological self-consciousness-for the contribution of Visual Piety lies as much in its methodology as in the elucidation of the images. Looking to psychology, sociology, anthropology, the history of religion and the history of art, Morgan helps us appreciate the formative role that popular religious images-Warner Sallman's famous "Head of Christ," for example-play in most of our lives. This book is a must for anyone who has looked at the art on display in his or her local Christian bookstore with either appreciation or despair. Those who would be interested in a detailed study of 19th century religious images can read Morgan's Protestants and Pictures: Religion, Visual Culture, and the Age of American Mass Production, Oxford University Press, 1999.
*Robert Wuthnow. All in Sync: How Music and Art Are Revitalizing American Religion. University of California Press, 2003.
All in Sync summarizes many years of study by Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow. Drawing on extensive survey data and on hundreds of interviews, Wuthnow builds a strong case for the real links between artistic interests, commitment to spiritual growth, and church involvement. "The implication for religious organizations is that the arts hold potential as a source of religious vitalization, at least insofar as artistic activities help to nurture interest in spiritual growth" (77). Wuthnow grounds these connections in a discussion of contemporary spirituality which emerges in this study as highly individual and emotional in character. Wuthnow sees this as an opportunity to connect people with religious communities, but also as a call "to channel these interests in ways that encourage serious commitment to spiritual growth and, in turn, involvement in congregations" (77).
Attentive throughout the book to differences in class, education, gender, geography and denomination, the only factor that consistently emerged as statistically significant in people's openness to the arts was membership in an evangelical, protestant church. Evangelical protestants are much more likely to have negative attitudes towards the arts. Wuthnow proposes that this difference is rooted in a preference for literal rather than figurative readings of scripture, conservative political opinions regarding public funding for the arts, a preference for artistic sub-genres aimed at a religious audience (CCM, for example), little exposure to the arts in church as children, and fairly regular exposure to sermons on the decay of contemporary art and culture (214-224).
In addition to All in Sync, readers might be interested in Wuthnow's Creative Spirituality: The Way of the Artist, a previous study focusing specifically on the religious experiences of artists and arguing for the importance of artistic experience and vision for vital religious communities.
III. Philosophical Orientation
***Paul Oskar Kristeller. "The Modern System of the Arts." Journal of the History of Ideas 12 (1951): 496-527. Also reprinted in Kristeller, Renaissance Thought and the Arts, pp. 163-227, Princeton University Press, 1980.
This little essay is now a classic in the field. Kristeller, who taught on the faculty of Columbia University at the time he wrote this, set himself two problems. First, he wanted to investigate the history of how people have thought about "art" and second, he wanted to identify when and how art came to be defined as we know it today. After briefly laying out how the arts were discussed in ancient, medieval, renaissance and early modern sources, Kristeller goes on to identify the crucial shifts that took place in the 18th century that led to the notion of "fine art" that we assume today. Kristeller does not take many pains over why this shift happened-referring readers in later editions of his essay to Mayer Abram's influential study The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition (Oxford University Press, 1953).
While this essay will only be easily accessible to readers with some prior knowledge of philosophy, all studies listed below are indebted to Kristeller's initial foray into this terrain. Contemporary artists who have encountered prejudice against "craft," or against any form of useful art, will find the history of this resistance outlined here and in the following books. For artists interested in working in, for, and with churches, it is essential to have some understanding of the philosophical (as well as the more familiar religious) assumptions about art that lead us to question, hinder or devalue such work.
**Larry Shiner. The Invention of Art: A Cultural History. University of Chicago Press, 2001.
Shiner states in his introduction that his book was inspired by Kristeller's 1951 essay. The intervening years, however, have brought new methods and perspectives to light, which Shiner uses with great skill to illuminate his subject. Rather than positing, as did Kristeller, that the engine behind the 18th century redefinition of art was Romanticism, Shiner investigates a variety of social and institutional developments that he believes reshaped "art." The rise of a non-aristocratic yet genteel class, the emergence of public galleries, museums and concert halls, the increasing need to distinguish between "art" and "craft" all come into play in an argument that is part philosophy, part history, and part sociology. The Romantics, according to Shiner, rather than inventing "art" simply codified an understanding that had already been in the making for many decades.
In the last section of the book, Shiner discusses some of the voices that have resisted "art" as it came to be defined in the 18th century. This section will be of particular interest for artists and lay people seeking historical and philosophical grounds to justify works that fall outside the boundaries of the so-called "fine arts." For more on how Christians might argue for a different understanding of art, see Wolterstorff's Art in Action, discussed below.
**Mary Anne Staniszewski. Believing Is Seeing: Creating the Culture of Art. Penguin Books, 1994.
Staniszewski's book covers some of the same terrain as Larry Shiner's study, emphasizing in particular the more modern material and the role of contemporary social institutions in defining and providing a value for art. As the title indicates, Believing Is Seeing puts heavy emphasis on the ways in which our social contexts determine what we are able to see and value in the world around us. This book is widely used in courses on modern art.
**Nicholas Wolterstorff. Art in Action: Toward a Christian Aesthetic. Eerdmans, 1980.
In the early pages of Art in Action, Wolterstorff cites Kristeller's essay to help us recognize the relative novelty of our western, enlightenment definition of art. Grounding his arguments in an understanding of the history of aesthetic thought in the west, Wolterstorff then seeks to critique that tradition, using actions and practices as the basis for broadening our definitions of art. After setting this historical and philosophical context, Wolterstorff then turns to Christian doctrine to integrate his broader understanding of art into a Christian world-view. This book, with its clear, trenchant description of the "institution of high art," and its compelling argument for artistic calling and responsibility has been a major influence on the last generation of people working in the arts, theology and worship. The chapters on "the artist as a responsible servant," "the given with which the artist works," and "norms in art," are particularly helpful for Christians seeking grounding for their work that is both philosophically and theologically informed. Near the end of the book, Wolterstorff includes a series of meditations on aesthetic realms that our current notions of art ignore or diminish-the church is one of those realms. Wolterstorff developed this book when he was a professor of philosophy at Calvin College and advising the worship committee of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. Today he holds the Noah Porter Professorship in Philosophical Theology at Yale University.
IV. Theological Orientation
A. Intersections of theology and aesthetics
***Jeremy Begbie. Voicing Creation's Praise: Towards a Theology of the Arts. T & T Clark, 1991.
Dr. Jeremy Begbie has become one of the most active presences in the world of arts and theology today. As the associate director for the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts, based at St. Mary's College, the divinity school of the University of St. Andrew's, Edinburgh; and as the founding director of the "Theology Through the Arts" program, first at Cambridge University and now at St. Andrew's; and as an associate principal at Ridley Hall, the Anglican Seminary at Cambridge University, his energy and vision have been the engine behind numerous academic publications, research projects, and arts programs. In Voicing Creation's Praise, Begbie seeks to position his own views on art and theology with respect to the two most prominent traditions within protestant circles-that articulated by Paul Tillich, and that of the Dutch Neo-Calvinists.
Outlining the main contours of each tradition, Begbie then critiques each, finding Tillich's view insufficiently Christ-centered and ill-equipped to honor all the arts-music, for example, is not well served in Tillich's framework. Begbie critiques the Neo-Calvinists (represented by Kuyper, Bavinck, Dooyeweerd, Rookmaaker and Seerveld.but, interestingly, not Wolterstorff) as unnecessarily constrained by the doctrines of God's sovereignty and creation order, and insufficiently attentive to the drama and freedom of the incarnation. Begbie does not address Roman Catholic traditions or Eastern Orthodox traditions. While this book gives you the most comprehensive statement of Begbie's own thinking, readers could also turn to his shorter, edited collection of essays titled Beholding the Glory: Incarnation Through the Arts (Baker Books, 2000) for a good sense of his theology of the arts.
***Frank Burch Brown. Good Taste, Bad Taste, Christian Taste. Oxford University Press, 2000.
If you've ever longed for a serious discussion of the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, Missouri, you've just found your book. If you are enjoying a snide chuckle at the very thought of such a discussion, you've just found your challenge. Frank Burch Brown, an accomplished musician and professor of religion and arts at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, makes an elegant and eloquent arguement for the need for "ecumenical taste"-a taste both critical and kind, that fosters the development of Christian virtue by seeking an engaged balance between professional and popular artistic standards. As he envisions it, the exercise of such a Christian taste can ultimately contribute to the formation of Christian persons and communities, rather than fracture them.
Contrary to my somewhat humorous introduction to this book, Good Taste. is a serious read. Brown's argument emerges out of his earlier work Religious Aesthetics (Princeton, 1989), and develops at greater depth the consequences of historical and social context for the reception, appreciation and evaluation of the arts in religious communities. After building an argument from history, theology and philosophy that the exercise of taste is not peripheral to the Christian faith, Brown discusses religious kitsch, church music, and sacred architecture, emphasizing again and again the need to balance the aesthetic norms of professional artists with the forms and functions of popular art when evaluating works for the use of the Christian communities. Though the historical and philosophical sections of the book may be hard going for the lay reader, the later chapters are very accessible and still convey the heart of the foundations of Brown's argument. (But if you just want to jump to the Precious Moments Chapel, it's on pages 138-145, where Brown's judicious discussion demonstrates the tenets of his argument.)
**Edward Farley. Faith and Beauty: A Theological Aesthetic. Ashgate Publishing, 2001.
Ordained Presbyterian pastor and emeritus professor of theology at Vanderbilt University, Edward Farley opens this book with a personal confession. After a lifetime of practicing his craft as a theologian, Farley realized that the aesthetic dimensions of life, which had always been central to his experience of God and of faith, were wholly absent in his professional theologizing. As a response to this realization, Farley wrote Faith and Beauty to investigate why (Protestant) Christians tend not to identify beauty as central to theology, and why we should rethink this received position.
As is often the case with books on theological aesthetics, the emphasis on beauty is not always accompanied by a thorough discussion of the arts-for beauty can be apprehended in a number of realms, in addition to that of art. What readers will find compelling, though, is Farley's discussion of beauty as arising from the drama of redemption. As Farley argues, the dynamic and relational heart of the Christian faith affirms and accommodates most of the ways in which beauty has been imagined in the west. Farley then connects the western tradition of beauty to the heart of the gospel-Christ's birth, death and resurrection to atone for our sins, rendering beauty a living force in spiritual life.
**Richard Viladesau. Theology and the Arts: Encountering God Through Music, Art and Rhetoric. Paulist Press, 2000.
Viladesau is a professor of theology at Fordham University, a Jesuit university in New York City. Thus, he brings to this conversation on the arts, aesthetics and theology a deep engagement with the work of Hans Urs van Balthasar, the founding father of modern theological aesthetics in the Catholic tradition. As with Von Balthasar, Viladesau's central theme is beauty-the incarnate Christ whose revelation is at once the substance and source of beauty. Yet, Viladesau emphasizes the ways in which our apprehension of that beauty is firmly located in the experiences and materials of this world.
Beginning with a discussion of beauty as a way of encountering God, Viladesau continues with discussions of the ways in which the arts (music, the visual arts, and rhetoric/preaching) are at once expressions of beauty, representations of theology, and related to sacraments. The latter section of the book will be of particular interest to pastors, as it deals with the aesthetic aspects of proclamation. At the end of each chapter, Viladesau includes a list of further sources-including many websites where readers can view the images he discusses in the (unillustrated) text. In his earlier Theological Aesthetics (Oxford, 1999) Viladesau develops these views for a professional audience. Theology and the Arts is aimed at a broader public.
**John Witvliet. "Toward a Liturgical Aesthetic: An Interdisciplinary Review of Aesthetic Theory." Liturgy Digest 3/1 (1996): 4-87.
Now the director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and Dean of the Chapel at Calvin College, Witvliet produced this very helpful and extensive review essay while pursuing his Ph.D. at Notre Dame University. Dividing his topic into three domains, Witvliet summarizes the main concerns of philosophical aesthetics, theological aesthetics and what he calls liturgical aesthetics, introducing the reader to central authors in each area and interspersing the exposition with questions and insights pertaining to worship. Though not all readers will want to pursue such highly philosophical readings, anyone interested in a general orientation to these fields will find this little volume immensely helpful. At the end of the review essay, an alphabetically arranged "Who's Who in Aesthetics Ancient and Modern: A Representative Sampling" introduces readers to key thinkers from Adorno and Aquinas to Wilde and Wittgenstein. Back copies of this issue of Liturgy Digest are available from the Notre Dame Center for Pastoral Liturgy Tel: (574) 631-5435 or via the internet at www.nd.edu/~ndcpl
B. Intersections of art and worship
**William Dyrness. Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue. Baker Academic, 2001.
William Dyrness's Visual Faith is intended for a wide reading public, and begins with a two-chapter summary of the history of Christian art that pays explicit attention to the interactions between the arts and practices of worship. For readers unfamiliar with the history of art's role in the Christian church, Dyrness' summary will be very helpful. This historical survey lays the foundation for discussions of Biblical notions of beauty and uses of imagery; for a useful discussion of current theological justifications for the arts; and for a helpful outline of challenges and opportunities that anyone interested in the arts and worship will need to address.
At the root of Visual Faith is Dyrness' deep three-fold conviction that 1) the arts and the church need one another, that 2) the arts will be an important component in renewing the church in the 21st century, and that 3) churches can bear witness to the art community at large a renewed vision of the role of art in communal life. Having served as the dean of the School of Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary for ten years, and now serving as a professor of theology and culture, Dyrness' vantage point on contemporary Christianity is impressive, and his vision inspiring.
*Janet R. Walton. Art and Worship: A Vital Connection. Michael Glazier, 1988.
Janet Walton is a professor of worship at Union Theological Seminary. This book grew out of her interest in the aesthetic dimensions of worship. In five sections that move from the historic church through contemporary art, Walton builds a framework for understanding art's role in worship. In the middle of her argument (section III) Walton proffers a set of affective categories that the arts engage in worship, including particularity, meaning, revelation, illusion, emotion, awareness, conversion, memory and values. The last portion of the book gives specific examples of how she and her students have integrated the arts into services at UTS. Most of the examples discussed deal with one-time services focused on specific, topical themes. Yet there is much in Walton's text to give heart to those imagining a more organic, regular and sustained role for the arts in worship.
*Robert E. Webber. Music and the Arts in Christian Worship. Star Song Publishing Group, 1994.
This two-book set constitutes volume IV of the Complete Library of Christian Worship edited by Robert Webber. (See above, Webber's Twenty Centuries, for a general description of this series.) Beginning with a helpful survey of how music and the arts function in distinct Christian traditions, the study continues with specific sections on music, visual arts, dance and theatre. Part III (pp. 487-654) covers the visual arts-addressing historical, theological and philosophical reflections on the uses of the visual arts in worship. As is the case with good reference works, the material here is so well summarized, and so enticingly offered, readers should be prepared to end up reading far beyond their initial interests.
V. Hands-on Wisdom
A. Books.
*Fiona Bond. The Arts in Your Church: A Practical Guide. Piquant Press, 2001.
Fiona Bond has been the project manager for Jeremy Begbie's "Theology Through the Arts" initiative, and this book is one of a growing series of titles resulting from that program. Given her experience in this position, Bond has come to appreciate the logistical savvy necessary for any sort of success in the arts. After a brief section orienting readers to contemporary issues in the arts and laying out her apologia for the arts in worship, Bond moves to the heart of the issue-the kinds of practical matters (salaries, budgets, publicity, insurance and taxes, and follow-up) that can quickly overwhelm even the most visionary group of parishioners and artists. To reinforce her message, the last third of the book consists of brief but illuminating case studies of specific projects undertaken in churches in the US and the UK. While most of these examples represent one-time arts events rather than sustained integration of the arts into the regular life of a church, there is much wisdom and inspiration in these pages. The Arts in Your Church is published by Piquant Press, a small British publisher accessible via amazon.co.uk. I purchased my copy through Hearts and Minds Bookstore in Dallastown, PA (www.heartsandmindsbooks.com).
*Richard Caemmerer. Visual Art in the Life of the Church: Encouraging Creative Worship and Witness in the Congregation. Augsburg, 1983.
Caemmerer's book was recommended to me by several artists who have been working in church communities. Indeed, this hard-to-to-find book would be a worthwhile investment for any artist interested in working with church communities, or for any congregation serious about integrating the arts into worship. Caemmerer, who helped found the Grünewald Guild (a retreat center for artists in the Cascade Mountains, WA) and who has been deeply involved in the arts in Lutheran churches in the United States, condenses a tremendous amount of historical, liturgical, theoretical and practical information into this unassuming little book. While the accent throughout is on the practical, all Caemmerer's advice is solidly grounded in history and theology, gracefully distilled in little paragraphs packed with riches. Coming as he does from the Lutheran tradition which has always been (in theory, at least) more hospitable to the visual arts than other protestant denominations, Caemmerer does not waste his time in apologetics. Nonetheless, for readers who will feel the need to justify art's presence in church, Caemmerer's text will provide ample support. Really, I can't recommend this book enough. Start searching for your copy right now!
*Nancy Chinn. Spaces for Spirit: Adorning the Church. Liturgy Training Publications, 1989.
Nancy Chinn's book is at the moment easier to find, because it is more recent. Look for a copy now, before this book goes the way of Caemmerer's Visual Art in the Life of the Church. Chinn is a career artist who has been working in liturgical settings for over 25 years. She is also an adjunct faculty member at Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. Spaces for Spirit showcases the work she has done in a number of churches over the last years. While the pictures and case studies emphasize her own environmental liturgical art, Chinn's text ranges beyond her own work to discuss a variety of relevant topics, including helpful ways to think about art's place in church, basic design issues which need to be addressed in every work, how to establish an arts committee, and how to help parishioners respond to artworks in their sanctuary.
B. Magazines, journals and internet resources
**Arts Magazine (www.ARTSmag.org)
Arts Magazine comes out of the Theology and the Arts program at the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. In 1987 its general editor, Wilson Yates, published his study The Arts in Theological Education identifying both the opportunities for and the deep necessity of theological curricula that attend more carefully to the arts. Soon after the publication of that book, Arts Magazine was founded to aid in this endeavor. As such, the focus of this periodical is more academic and more theoretical than practical, yet readers who wish to pursue the intersections of theology and the arts will find this an indispensable resource.
*Christianity and the Arts
Founded and edited by Marci Whitney-Schenck, Christianity and the Arts ran from 1994 to 2001. Though working out of the Catholic tradition herself, Whitney-Schenck invited contributors from the entire range of Christianity to foster ecumenical and innovative dialogue. Each issue featured articles on specific artists, issues and events that dealt with the intersection of faith and art, many of which were specifically liturgical. If you can find a library near you that subscribed to Christianity and the Arts, it would be worth a day to peruse the contents of its eight-year run.
*Image: A Journal of Arts and Religion (www.imagejournal.org)
Image was founded in 1989 to provide a forum for writers, poets, artists and composers who wanted a serious, but non-academic forum for their new work. Edited by Gregory Wolfe, Image recently found a home at Seattle Pacific University, where Wolfe is also a writer in residence. A basic tenet of Image is that the arts cannot do without the struggles, insights and dilemmas of faith any more than faith can do without the arts. The result is a pungent and challenging collection of new work, reviews and interviews in each issue. If you want to catch the leading edge of what's happening at the intersection of faith and fiction, poetry or visual art, you will want to turn to Image.
*Reformed Worship Magazine (www.reformedworship.org)
Reformed Worship or RW for short, is published under the auspices of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, but is read by worship planners in a wide variety of mainline and evangelical settings. Though not aimed specifically at the visual arts, RW has published theme issues on the arts (RW 64, for example), and nearly every issue provides resources for visuals for the worship setting.
**Religion and the Arts (www.bc.edu/publications/relarts/)
Religion and the Arts is an academic journal launched in 1996, at Boston College. Though sponsored by a Catholic, Jesuit institution, RA is not aimed exclusively at the intersections of Christianity and the arts, and a majority of the articles in this journal do deal with the Judeo-Christian tradition. This title will be of interest to readers with a broad and theoretical interest in the relationship between art and religious experience in general.
www.st-andrews.ac.uk/itia/resources.html
This extensive, un-annotated bibliography was complied under the auspices of the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts, based at St. Mary's College, the divinity school of St. Andrew's University, Edinburgh. The link above will lead you to a resource page with further links to bibliographies on theology and the arts, and theology and the imagination.
http://www.pitts.emory.edu/theotech
This is the web address for "TheoTech - An Internet Primer for Pastors, Musicians & Worship Planners" maintained by the Pitts Theological Library at the Candler School of Theology of Emory University. Though the Internet is volatile, and some of these links are no longer functioning, there are still helpful sources here for anyone curious enough to poke around. The "Worship Resources" section includes information on the arts.