Visual Faith (Engaging Culture)

How can art enhance and enrich the Christian faith? What is the basis for a relationship between the church and visual imagery? Can the art world and the Protestant church be reconciled? Is art idolatry and vanity, or can it be used to strengthen the church? Grounded in historical and biblical research, William Dyrness offers students and scholars an intriguing, substantive look into the relationship between the church and the world of art.

Faith and art were not always discordant. According to Dyrness, Israel understood imagery and beauty as reflections of God's perfect order; likewise, early Christians used art to teach and inspire. However, the Protestant church abandoned visual arts and imagery during the Reformation in favor of the written word and has only recently begun to reexamine art's role in Christianity and worship. Dyrness affirms this renewal and argues that art, if reflecting the order and wholeness of the world God created, can and should play an important role in modern Christianity.

• Art and the Bible (Ivp Classics)
• Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue (Engaging Culture)
• Echoes of Eden: Reflections on Christianity, Literature, and the Arts
• Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music (Engaging Culture)
• Of Games and God: A Christian Exploration of Video Games
• For the Beauty of the Church: Casting a Vision for the Arts
• Arts Ministry: Nurturing the Creative Life of God's People (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies)
• Beholding the Glory: Incarnation through the Arts
• God in the Gallery: A Christian Embrace of Modern Art (Cultural Exegesis)
• Modern Art and the Death of a Culture