For the Beauty of the Church

Description

Think of your local church. Without art--music, song, dance, etc.--it would be a much poorer place. But if protestants have any vision for the arts, it tends to be a thin one. This unique book is an attempt to contribute to a robust, expansive vision for the church and the arts. Its specific aim is to show how the many parts of the landscape of church and art hold together. You can think of it as a kind of helicopter flyover, but one with expert pilots. The guides include the likes of Eugene Peterson, Lauren Winner, Jeremy Begbie, Andy Crouch, and John Witvliet, helping to inspire readers and empower pastor-leaders with a vision of the church and the arts that is compelling, far-seeing, and profoundly transformative.

Sujets

• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 01 mars 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441207760
• Langue: English

Extrait

FOR THE B EAUTY OF THE C HURCH
FOR THE B EAUTY OF THE C HURCH
Casting a Vision for the Arts
E DITED BY W. D AVID O. T AYLOR
2010 by W. David O. Taylor
Published by Baker Books a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.bakerbooks.com
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-for example, electronic, photocopy, recording-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
For the beauty of the church : casting a vision for the arts / [compiled by]
W. David O. Taylor.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8010-7191-1 (pbk.)
1. Christianity and the arts. 2. Art and religion. I. Taylor, W. David O.,
1972-
BR115.A8F66 2010
261.57-dc22
2009037738
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked KJV is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture marked NASB is taken from the New American Standard Bible , Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture marked NIV is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked NLT is taken from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Photo of Calvin College chapel by Steve Huyser-Honig.
Image of Kyrie Eleison is taken from the Book of Common Worship 1993 Westminster John Knox Press. Used by permission.
Jesus Happy and Sad is reproduced from The Faces of Jesus by Frederick Buechner. Photographs by Lee Boltin. Published by Harper Row, copyright 1989, with permission from Stearn Publishers Ltd.

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the beloved community of artists at Hope Chapel throughout the years and to the beloved community of artists everywhere
Contents
Foreword by Luci Shaw
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Gospel: How Is Art a Gift, a Calling, and an Obedience? Andy Crouch
2. The Worship: How Can Art Serve the Corporate Worship of the Church? John D. Witvliet
3. The Art Patron: Someone Who Can t Draw a Straight Line Tries to Defend Her Art-Buying Habit Lauren F. Winner
4. The Pastor: How Artists Shape Pastoral Identity Eugene Peterson
5. The Artist: What Exactly Is an Artist, and How Do We Shepherd Them? Barbara Nicolosi
6. The Practitioner: Nurturing Artists in the Local Church Joshua Banner
7. The Dangers: What Are the Dangers of Artmaking in the Church? W. David O. Taylor
8. The Future: Looking to the Future: A Hopeful Subversion Jeremy Begbie
Afterword: My Hope and Prayer
Notes
Contributors
Foreword
Partnership? Companionship? Coinherence? I m trying to find the term that best tells how beauty and art interlink and infuse each other with meaning.
Beauty is always available. It is there to be attended to, and art is our human response to whatever we see as beautiful. Not the kind of beauty we might call pretty or decorative-it can be strong, shocking, confusing, boundary-breaking, thrusting forward in experimental ways-but beauty that most often reflects glory, the glory of our God who created us with the capacity for recognizing, responding, and receiving beauty through the work of artists. It is an imperative, particularly for artists who call themselves Christian believers, to glorify God in their creative lives.
This role of the arts has not always been received kindly in Christian churches. Often art has been seen as too experimental, too self-indulgent, or too disturbing to be recognized as a gift of grace. Perhaps this was one of the disjunctions David Taylor had in mind when he called together pastors and artists to Austin for the magnificent symposium Transforming Culture. Face-to-face, ear-to-ear, heart-to-heart, these individuals acknowledged their need for each other and discovered fresh ways to connect and integrate.
I know how transformative this was. I was there at the amazing event orchestrated by David Taylor and Larry Linen-schmidt. I ve attended scores of conferences for writers and artists. I ve been involved in many gatherings for Christian leaders and ministers. But I have seldom seen such an enlivening spirit (Holy Spirit) at work to initiate new partnerships. Symbiosis? Yes! As celebratory as a wedding!
I first knew David Taylor as an undomesticated student at Regent College, stirring up his profs and fellow students with tempestuous ideas and questions. I remember him rushing impetuously into chapel on Tuesdays, sprinting down the auditorium stairs two at a time to make an announcement, red mane flying, seemingly on fire. At the time I thought, This guy is either a maniac or a young prophet . His enthusiasm for God and for the arts was intense and appealing, and I thought, All he needs is time!
And in the grace of God David has put in the time, grown in influence, and committed himself to the care and feeding of the whole church as well as of promising artists (one of whom he married!). I ve witnessed firsthand his deft and exuberant work as Arts Pastor of Hope Chapel in Austin, and have wished for that energy to be contagious across the continent.
In his introduction to this book, David presents a metaphor of the pastor as gardener, a theme that has invigorated my own writing. I m an enthusiastic tiller of soil, one who cultivates and guards the plants in my yard (maybe garden derives from the idea of a guardian?). Another metaphor, this time from Joshua Banner, one of this collection s contributors, is closely related: pastor as farmer. I love these ways of envisioning the task of the pastor. (The words pastor and pastoral reflect their origin in the word for shepherd -one who cares for a flock, leading, feeding, sheltering, sometimes rescuing.) Metaphors can bring theology to life, pinning down abstract ideas into vivid pictures that we can comprehend by way of imagination.
Another metaphor for artful beauty as an exhibition of God s grace keeps visiting my imagination-a reservoir of mountain spring water brimming with marine life. It is glorious. The sun glints from its surface. The wind excites it into ripples. It reflects the blue and white, or thundery gray, of the sky. It is a mirror for the sun and moon. For years it has been building, dammed up, waiting for release, impatient for its generosity to be poured into the valley below with its fields of wheat, its orchards, its forests. Though a narrow spillway has allowed a trickle of life and health to reach the valley, for some valley-dwellers the reservoir has been seen as dangerous, fearful, a symbol of potential flood that could destroy life. Better to keep this bounty under control behind the barrier of rock and concrete. Better not to allow it to pour too freely. Better to narrow its course into the well-worn channels permitted by tradition or custom.
But in the church a surge is happening in response to human thirst! Living water is beginning to gush! Let s welcome the overflowing torrent! Mixed metaphors? Okay. But our God is the God of plenty, who uses multiple word pictures throughout Scripture to illuminate the minds of both writers and readers.
So, welcome pastors! Welcome artists! Be enriched and encouraged as you read the words in this book, sharing its vitality with others in your communities of faith. As you spread the word like water in the desert, I m trusting that God s generosity and glory will spring up in you like good fruit. May it inhabit you, illumine you, join you with each other in an outpouring of divine beauty.
Luci Shaw Bellingham, Washington
Acknowledgments
Heartfelt gratitude goes first to the seven writers who agreed to throw their weight behind this project: Joshua Banner, Jeremy Begbie, Andy Crouch, Barbara Nicolosi, Eugene Peterson, Lauren Winner, and John Witvliet. I m keenly grateful for the ways each of them has spoken into my life. I owe special gratitude to Bob Hosack, acquisitions editor at Baker Books, for believing in me from the beginning. I had met Bob long ago at Regent College. While sitting for coffee one day, he asked if I had any book ideas, to which I said yes, but regrettably only ideas. Ten years later we now have ideas and a book. But this book would be thick and unwieldy if it weren t for the sharp eye of Robert Hand. Robert has been an invaluable ally in this venture.
I wish to acknowledge an intellectual debt I owe to many of my professors at Regent College: J. I. Packer, Gordon Fee, James Houston, Eugene Peterson, Bruce Waltke, Thena Ayres, Paul Stevens, Rikki Watts, Craig Gay, Miriam Adeney, Loren Wilkinson, and Maxine Hancock. They not only inspired me with a vision for a Great Tradition Christian faith, but also willingly indulged my requests to spin every paper toward the arts.
I must certainly thank Larry Linenschmidt for his partnership with me on the symposium. His Texas jokes kept me in good humor throughout. The symposium would not have happened without his encouragement. Thanks to Bob Fullilove for transcribing Nicolosi s talk. Thanks also to First Evangelical Free Church and to the many people who volunteered to make the symposium a great success.
Many thanks go to the fabulous friends who took time to read sections of this book: Adam Langley, Kate Van Dyke, John Wilson, Kelly Foster, Ann Cogdell, Ahna Phillips, and Susanna Banner. Also sincere thanks to Jason