"[Author] examines recent art, showing that its insignificance is due to the collapse of cultural values. At the same time Christians have lowered their aesthetic standards and failed to interact with contemporary culture. Ours is certainly a time for a response from Christian artist with the highest of aestihtic sensitivity"--Back cover.

One of the 20th century's most incisive art historians and cultural critics issues a prophetic call to artists-craftsmen, musicians, visual artists, and others in all walks of life to "weep, pray, think, and work."

Pioneering work by the great modernist painter, considered by many to be the father of abstract art and a leader in the movement to free art from traditional bonds. 12 illustrations.

With its demand that works of art be judged according to the their morally didactic content, Tolstoy’s reviled aesthetics has seemed to exclude from the canon far too many works widely accepted as masterpieces, including Shakespeare and Beethoven. This book, first published in 1985, argues that these are not mere oversights on the part of Tolstoy: he knew full well the consequences of his line of reasoning. The author contends that, even if we disagree with and eventually reject much of what Tolstoy concludes, his account of the nature and purpose of art is nevertheless worth consideration. Diffey’s argument by no means accepts all of ‘What is Art?’, but by suggesting that the work is best interpreted as a counterpoint to the amoral aestheticism prevalent in Russia at the time, he does much to restore it to a status deserving attention, particularly in today’s climate of extreme relativism.

In recent years, many prominent and successful artists have claimed that their primary concern is not the artwork they produce but the artistic process itself. In this volume, Kim Grant analyzes this idea and traces its historical roots, showing how changing concepts of artistic process have played a dominant role in the development of modern and contemporary art. This astute account of the ways in which process has been understood and addressed examines canonical artists such as Monet, Cézanne, Matisse, and De Kooning, as well as philosophers and art theorists such as Henri Focillon, R. G. Collingwood, and John Dewey. Placing “process art” within a larger historical context, Grant looks at the changing relations of the artist’s labor to traditional craftsmanship and industrial production, the status of art as a commodity, the increasing importance of the body and materiality in art making, and the nature and significance of the artist’s role in modern society. In doing so, she shows how process is an intrinsic part of aesthetic theory that connects to important contemporary debates about work, craft, and labor. Comprehensive and insightful, this synthetic study of process in modern and contemporary art reveals how artists’ explicit engagement with the concept fits into a broader narrative of the significance of art in the industrial and postindustrial world.

Living Theodrama is a fresh, creative introduction to theological ethics. Offering an imaginative approach through dialogue with theatrical theory and practice, Vander Lugt demonstrates a new way to integrate actor-oriented and action-oriented approaches to Christian ethics within a comprehensive theodramatic model. This model affirms that life is a drama performed in the company of God and others, providing rich metaphors for relating theology to everyday formation and performance in this drama. Different chapters explore the role of the triune God, Scripture, tradition, the church, mission, and context in the process of formation and performance, thus dealing separately with major themes in theological ethics while incorporating them within an overarching model. This book contains not only a fruitful exchange between theological ethics and theatre, but it also presents a promising method for interdisciplinary dialogue between theology and the arts that will be valuable for students and practitioners across many different fields.

Drawing upon his experiences as both a Christian and an artist, Cameron J. Anderson traces the relationship between the evangelical church and modern art in postwar America. While acknowledging the tensions between faith and visual art, he casts a vision for how Christian artists can faithfully pursue their vocational calling in contemporary culture.

The Art of God traces the progressive loss in the West of contact with, or faith in, a real created order, and discusses the manifestations of this loss in fine art. Making detailed reference to specific artists and works, Thistlewaite shows how the diversity ofour responses to modern art, as well as that of previous centuries, inescapably raises the question of truth. This readable and thought-provoking book breaks new ground as it links the pleasures of art to the dynamic character of God, and asks what happens to creativity and to artists when the appreciation of God is absent. It thus offers readers a fresh perspective from which to appreciate art. FROM THE AUTHOR : June 23, 2009 All art historians must find a way of explaining the gap between the 'traditional' art and modern. Older art answered questions such as Ôwhat was Henry VIII like?Õ The new is not so much about the world as about the breakdown in perceiving the world. But some histories are still written as if art has followed a path of inevitable progress. Others, as if all beliefs that produce genuine art, however weird, are equally valid. Ê In my book, I argue that modernism has produced a genuine art that grapples with perceived reality, but that its real lack of content is disastrous. When we see objects that are essentially blank or empty, and start to find them significant and powerful, we ought to be getting worried. To explain this, I have developed an account of art which sees it as a given, and delightful, form of knowing that equips us for living in GodÕs world. But when the Ôart areaÕ becomes part of the human agenda for unbelief, independence, and defining ourselves in the cosmos, it ceases to be a window on reality. It starts to function as a totem replacing thought: a sub-human icon for humanity Ê However, towards the end of the book I focus on the dynamism of the living God and the transformative power of his grace that can turn any modern ÔformÕ, however desolate, into a vehicle of truth and meaning. When modernism plunges into the depths of Ônot-knowingÕ, it can seldom go so far that real humanity and truth are not discovered in the unlikeliest places.ÊÊ

What role does place play in the Christian life? In this STA volume, Jennifer Allen Craft gives a practical theology of the arts, contending that the arts place us in time, space, and community in ways that encourage us to be fully and imaginatively present in a variety of contexts: the natural world, our homes, our worshiping communities, and society.