Theology/Arts reading lists
Compiled by Jeremy S Begbie
Contents
Theology OF the Arts
Key texts which treat the arts from a theological perspective.
Introductory
For those new or relatively new to the Christianity/arts conversation.
Ned Bustard, It was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God, Baltimore: Square Halo Books, 2000. (A very readable collection of essays, introducing a Christian approach to the arts.)
Nigel Forde, The Lantern and the Looking-Glass: Literature and Christian Belief, SPCK, 1997.
Richard Harries, The Passion in Art, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004.
Bridget Nichols. Literature in Christian Perspective: Becoming Faithful Readers. DLT, 2000.
Hans Rookmaaker, Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, London: IVP, 1970. (A classic with enormous influence; a critical survey of modernist streams in visual art from a Christian perspective.)
Hans Rookmaaker, The Creative Gift. Leicester: IVP, 1981. (Series of essays on art and creativity from a Christian perspective.)
Leland Ryken, The Liberated Imagination: Thinking Critically about the Arts, Wheaton: Harold Shaw, 1989. (An accessible way in to thinking about how Christian faith impacts the arts.)
Steve Scott, Like a House on Fire: Renewal of the Arts in a Postmodern Culture, (Short, very readable way in to the Christianity/arts relation, set in a postmodern context.)
Steve Turner, Imagine: A Vision for Christians and the Arts, London: Church House Publishing. (A very accessible book for those wanting to think in a Christian way about creativity and artistic production.)
Intermediate
Jeremy Begbie, Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007
Jeremy Begbie, 'Christ and the Cultures: Christianity and the Arts,' in Companion to Christian Doctrine, ed. Colin Gunton, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Jeremy Begbie, 'The Gospel, the Arts and Our Culture,' in The Gospel and Contemporary Culture, ed. Hugh Montefiore, London: Mowbray, 1992, 58-83. (These articles are intended to introduce the reader to the theological issues at stake in a Christian approach to the arts.)
Hilary Brand & Adrienne Chaplin, Art and Soul: Signposts for Christians in the Arts. Carlisle: Solway, 1999; Piquant, 2001. (A very accessible, copiously illustrated book, intended primarily for artists.)
Paul Corby Finney, The Invisible God. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. (This very important study challenges a popular shibboleth, namely that Christianity came into the world opposed in principle to the use of visual images in religious contexts.)
William Dyrness, Rouault: A Vision of Suffering and Salvation. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971. (A profound treatment of the French artist Georges Rouault.)
William Dyrness, The Earth is God's: A Theology of American Culture. New York: Orbis, 1997, ch. 6. (This chapter is a very clear and concise introduction to thinking theologically about the arts.)
William Dyrness, Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue. Baker, 2001.
David Bailey Harned, Theology and the Arts. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1966. (Dated, but clear introduction to the field)
Richard Harries, Art and the Beauty of God: A Christian Understanding. Mowbray, 1993. (Readable, clearly written Christian perspective on art, with special attention to the concept of beauty.)
Robert Johnston, Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000. (A first-rate study of an area virtually untouched by theology.)
Explorations in Theology and Film, Oxford: Blackwell, 1997. (A collection of essays. One of the few major studies of theology and film prior to Robert Johnston's Reel Spirituality.)
Roy Kinnard & Tim Davis, Divine Images: A History of Jesus on the Screen. Citadel Press, 1992.
Stephen May, Stardust and Ashes: Science Fiction in Christian Perspective. SPCK, 1998. (A fine study of science fiction from a Christian perspective. See also: Mike Alsford, Religious Themes in Science Fiction. DLT, 2000. Similar to Stephen May's book in style and level (short, popular, very readable), but with less of a Christian focus.)
John Newport, Christianity and Contemporary Art Forms. Word Inc., 1971, 1979.
Leland Ryken, Culture in Christian Perspective: A Door to Understanding and Enjoying the Arts. Portland: Multnomah Press, 1986. (Fine introduction to the field.)
Calvin Seerveld, Rainbows for the Fallen World. Toronto: Tuppence Press, 1980. (A classic by one of the leading figures in the Christianity and arts world.)
Mitchell Stephens, The Rise of the Image, the Fall of the Word. OUP, 1998. (On the image/word relation. Stephens contends that the image will supersede the word as a means of understanding and entertainment.)
David Thistlethwaite, The Art of God and the Religions of Art. Paternoster, 1998. (A recent, strongly argued biblical treatment of the visual arts. Bold and courageous.)
Gene Edward Veith, Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture. Crossway, 1994.
Gene Edward Veith, Reading Between the Lines: A Christian Guide to Literature. Crossway, 1990.
E. John Walford, Jacob van Ruisdael and the perception of landscape. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991. (First-rate Christian art-historical scholarship.)
Clarence Walhout & Leland Ryken eds., Contemporary Literary Theory: A Christian Appraisal. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991. (A useful 'way in' to a complex area.)
Keith Walker, Images or Idols? The place of sacred art in churches today. Canterbury Press, 1994. (On sacred visual art in the UK.)
Nicholas Wolterstorff, Art in Action. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980. (A classic and thorough Christian aesthetic. Widely read, re-printed in 1997 by Solway.)
Academic/Advanced
Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, ed., Art, Creativity and the Sacred. NY: Crossroad, 1986. (A useful anthology of writing in the field.)
Lloyd Baugh, Imaging the Divine: Jesus and Christ-Figures in Film. Sheed & Ward, 1997.
Jeremy Begbie, Voicing Creation's Praise: Towards a Theology of the Arts. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1991. (An attempt at a trinitarian theology of the arts, including dialogue with Tillich and the Dutch Neo-Calvinists)
Frank Burch Brown, Religious Aesthetics: A Theological Study of Making and Meaning. Macmillan, 1989. (The author shows how aesthetics, no less than ethics, can play a central role in the study of religion and in the practice of theology.)
Frank Burch Brown, Good Taste, Bad Taste, and Christian Taste. OUP, 2001. (Frank Burch Brown offers a constructive, "ecumenical" approach to artistic taste and aesthetic judgment - a non-elitist but discriminating theological aesthetics that has "teeth but no fangs".)
M. A. Couturier, Sacred Art. University of Texas Press, 1989.
John De Gruchy, Christianity, Art and Social Transformation: Theological Aesthetics in the Struggle for Justice. Cambridge: CUP, 2001. (A major work on the role of the arts from a theological perspective, with special reference to the South African setting. Written by a major figure in South African theologian.)
Roland Delattre, Beauty and Sensibility in the Thought of Jonathan Edwards: An essay in aesthetics and theological ethics. Yale Univ Press, 1968. (This illuminating analysis of Jonathon Edwards' philosophical-theological-ethical program focuses on his concept of beauty.)
Jane Dillenberger, Style and content in Christian art, 2nd ed. London: SCM Press, 1986.
John Dillenberger, A Theology of Artistic Sensibilities. London: SCM, 1987. (One of the classics in the field.)
John Dillenberger, Images and Relics. OUP, 1999. (This text explores the extent to which artists of 16th-century Europe were influenced by ideas of religious reform.)
William Dyrness, Reformed Theology and Visual Culture: The Protestant Imagination from Calvin to Edwards. Cambridge: CUP, 2004.
Edward Farley, Faith and Beauty: A Theological Aesthetic. Ashgate, 2001.
Paul Fiddes, The Promised End. Oxford: Blackwell, 2000.
Paul Fiddes, ed., The Novel, Spirituality and Modern Culture. University of Wales Press, 2000.
Paul Corby Finney, Seeing Beyond the Word: Visual Arts and the Calvinist Tradition. Eerdmans, 1999. (A very important and large collection of essays on the visual arts in the Calvinist tradition.)
Peter Fuller, Theoria: Art and the Absence of Grace. London: Chatto and Windus, 1988. (This controversial art critic caused much stir with the second book in particular, with its very theological plea for a 'natural theology', yet without God.)
T. J. Gorringe, A Theology of the Built Environment. Cambridge: CUP, 2002.
Giles Gunn, ed., The Bible and American Arts and Letters. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983. (To what extent has the Bible influenced American arts and letters? In answer to this question, the essayists in this book examine the histories of particular American arts and artistic traditions.)
Jacques Maritain, Art and Scholasticism. London: Sheed and Ward, 1933. (see also: McInerny, Ralph. Art and Prudence, Studies in the thought of Jacques Maritain. Univ Notre Dame Press, 1988. Jacques Maritain was one of the most profound and far-ranging Roman Catholic thinkers in the wave of Thomism that gained momentum after World War I and crested just before Vatican II.)
Margaret Miles, Image as Insight. Boston: Beacon Press, 1985. (A much-discussed discussion of the role of images)
Margaret Miles, Seeing and Believing : Religion and Values in the Movies. Boston: Beacon Press, 1997. (This text explores how recent movies express ideas about religion, relationships, and society.)
Anthony Monti, "Types and Symbols of Eternity: How Art Points to Divinity", Theology, Volume CV, Number 824, March/April 2002, 118-126.
Anthony Monti, A Natural Theology of the Arts: Imprint of the Spirit. Ashgate, March 2003.
David Morgan, Visual Piety: A History and Theory of Popular Religious Images. Univ California Press, Hardcover - 280 pp. 1997. (Debunks the myth that Protestant privilege of the word has brought forth no visual culture and that popular visual piety has no place in scholarship.)
Walter Nathan, Art and the Message of the Church. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1961. (Protestant treatment, mainly of visual art.)
Robert J. O'Connell, Art and the Christian Intelligence in St. Augustine. Harvard: Harvard Univ. Press, 1978. (Important, though some would say over-played, critique of Augustine.)
Sergiusz Michalski, The Reformation and the Visual Arts: the Protestant image question in Western and Eastern Europe. Routledge, 1993. (The author argues that the image question played a large role in the divisions within European Protestantism and was intricately connected with the Eucharist controversy.)
George Pattison, Art, Modernity and Faith. Basingstoke: Macmillan, (2nd ed.) 1998. (A readable theological aesthetic applied to the contemporary Christian attitude to its own artistic heritage and to the dialogue with artistic traditions of other faiths.)
Patrick Sherry, Spirit and Beauty: An Introduction to Theological Aesthetics. Oxford: Clarendon, 1992. (A theological/philosophical study of beauty, especially in relation to the Holy Spirit.)
George Steiner, Real Presences. London: Faber and Faber, 1989. (Now considered a classic - the author presents a vsion of the arts, especially music, underwritten by divine presence.)
George Steiner, Grammars of Creation. London: Faber and Faber, 2001. (A provocative and profound study of creativity in relation to creation's own givenness and order.)
Anthony Ugonlik, The Illuminating Icon. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988.
Richard Viladesau, Theology and the Arts. New York: Paulist Press, 2000. (Porfessor at Fordham, Vliadesau presents a thoughtful book on theology and the arts, including (unusually for books on these themes) music.)
John Walford, Great Themes in Art. Prentice Hall, 2001, with accompanying website: www.prenhall.com/walford.
T. R Wright, Theology and Literature. Oxford: Blackwell, 1988. (A serious study of the theology/literature interface.)
Theology of Film
Robert Johnston, Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000.
Gaye W. Oritz, Clive Marsh (eds.), Explorations in Theology and Film. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997.
Theology THROUGH the Arts
Introductory
Jeremy Begbie, Beholding the Glory: Incarnation through the Arts. DLT/Baker 2000. (The incarnation explored through seven different art forms. A mid-level 'way in' to theology through the arts.)
David S. Cunningham, Reading is Believing: The Christian Faith Through Literature and Film. Grand Rapids MI: Brazos, 2002.
John Drury, Painting the Word: Christian Pictures and Their Meaning. Yale University Press, 1999. (A very accessible way into many theological themes, through paintings of London's National Gallery. Beautifully produced.)
Gabriele Finaldi, The Image of Christ. National Gallery of London/Yale University Press, 2000. (The catalogue for the remarkable millennium exhibition of images of Christ at the National Gallery in London. Like the exhibition, this demonstrates 'theology through the arts' in an accessible and compelling way.)
Neil MacGregor and Erika Langmuir, Seeing Salvaion: Images of Christ in Art. London: BBC, 2000. (A superb book, coinciding with the National Gallery exhibition, 'Seeing Salvation'.)
Henri Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming. London: DLT, 1994. (A classic - Christology through Rembrandt.)
Intermediate and Academic
Jeremy Begbie, Theology, Music and Time. Cambridge, 2000. (An attempt at theology 'through music', where music is given room to do its own kind of theological work, in relation to issues of time and history.)
David Brown, 'The Trinity in Art,' in Davis, Stephen T., et al, ed., The Trinity: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Trinity, Oxford: OUP, 1999, pp. 329-356. (A thoughtful and intriguing study of the depiction of the Trinity in painting.)
David Brown, 'Art as Revelation,' in Tradition and Imagination, Oxford: OUP, 1999, 322-364. (As the title suggests, an essay on art as revelatory - controversial but stimulating.)
Christopher Deacy, Screen Christologies: Redemption and the Medium of Film. University of Wales Press. (An examination of the theme of redemption in modern film)
Paul Fiddes, Freedom and Limit: A Dialogue between Literature and Christian Doctrine. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1991. (A very readable study of some influential writers, eliciting theology through their literature.)
Paul Fiddes, The Promised End: Eschatology in Theology and Literature. Blackwell, 2000. (A fascinating dialogue between the theological and literary treatments of 'the end'.)
Robert Jewett, Saint Paul at the Movies: The Apostle's Dialogue with American Culture. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1993. (Biblical studies through film.)
Robert Jewett, Saint Paul Returns to the Movies. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999. (More biiblical studies through film.)
Larry J Kreitzer, Pauline Images in Fiction and Film. Sheffield, 1999.
Larry J Kreitzer, The New Testament in Fiction and Film. Sheffield, 1993.
Larry J Kreitzer, The Old Testament in Fiction and Film. Sheffield, 1994. (Biblical studies through film.)
Gerard Loughlin, "Looking: The Ethics of Seeing in Church and Cinema," in Mark Thiessen Nation and Samuel Wells, Faithfulness and Fortitude. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2000, 257-285.
Roger Lundin, The Culture of Interpretation. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993. (A penetrating treatment of key theological themes - especially the doctrine of creation - as they emerge in modern (especially North American) literature.)
Aidan Nichols, The Art of God Incarnate, Theology and Symbol from Genesis to the 20th Century. London: Paulist Press, 1980. (Nichols, a Dominican priest, challenges us to discover in the visual arts a model which goes beyond the limitations of words in modern theology.)
Stanley Porter et al, eds., Images of Christ, Ancient and Modern. Sheffield Academic Press, 1997. (A large collection of essays on the 'imaging' of Christ.)
Kathleen Powers Erickson, At Eternity's Gate: The Spiritual Vision of Vincent Van Gogh. Eerdmans,1998. (An intriguing study of Van Gogh's theological world, gleaned through his art and writings.)
On Icons
Jim Forest, Praying With Icons. Bath: Alban Books; Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1997.
Simon Jenkins, Windows into Heaven. Oxford: Lion, 1998. (A very short, but very fine introduction.)
Linette Martin, Sacred Doorways: A Beginner's Guide to Icons. Brewster MA: Paraclete Press, 2002.
Henri Nouwen, Behold the Beauty of the Lord. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1987.
Viktor Nikitch Lazarev, The Russian Icon: From Its Origins to the Sixteenth Century. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1996.
Conrad Onasch & Anne Marie Schnieper, Icons: The Fascination and the Reality. New York: Riverside, 1997.
Leonid Ouspensky, Theology of the Icon. Crestwood, NY: Saint Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1992.
Leonid Ouspensky & Vladimir Lossky, The Meaning of Icons. Crestwood, NY: Saint Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1982.
Michel Quenot, The Icon: Window on the Kingdom. Crestwood, NY: Saint Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1991.
St John of Damascus, On the Divine Images. Crestwood, NY: Saint Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1980.
Theology Through Film
Robert Jewett, Saint Paul at the Movies: The Apostle's Dialogue with American Culture. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1993.
Robert Jewett, Saint Paul Returns to the Movies. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.
Larry J Kreitzer, Pauline Images in Fiction and Film. Sheffield, 1999.
Larry J Kreitzer, The New Testament in Fiction and Film. Sheffield, 1993.
Larry J Kreitzer, The Old Testament in Fiction and Film. Sheffield, 1994.
Christopher Deacy, Screen Christologies: Redemption and the Medium of Film. University of Wales Press, 2001.
Roy Kinnard & Tim Davis, Divine Images: A History of Jesus on the Screen. Citadel Press, 1992.
Lloyd Baugh, Imaging the Divine: Jesus and Christ-Figures in Film. Sheed & Ward, 1997.
Barnes W. Tatum, Jesus at the Movies: A Guide to the First Hundred Years. Polebridge Press, 1997.
Richard C. Stern, Clayton Jefford and Guerric DeBona, Savior on the Silver Screen. Paulist Press, 1999.
Neil P. Hurley, Theology Through Film. New York: Harper & Row, 1970.
Gerard Loughlin, "Looking: The Ethics of Seeing in Church and Cinema", in Mark Thiessen Nation and Samuel Wells, Faithfulness and Fortitude. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2000, 257-285.