A Peculiar Orthodoxy: Reflections on Theology and the Arts

by Jeremy S. Begbie

Publisher:

Baker Academic

, 2018

Overview

World-renowned theologian Jeremy Begbie has been at the forefront of teaching and writing on theology and the arts for more than twenty years. Amid current debates and discussions on the topic, Begbie emphasizes the role of a biblically grounded creedal orthodoxy as he shows how Christian theology and the arts can enrich each other. He explains the importance of critically examining key terms, concepts, and thought patterns commonly employed in theology-arts discourse today, arguing that notions such as “beauty” and “sacrament” are too often adopted uncritically without due attention given to how an orientation to the Triune God’s self-disclosure in Christ might lead us to reshape and invest these notions with fresh content. Throughout A Peculiar Orthodoxy, Begbie demonstrates the power of classic trinitarian faith to bring illumination, surprise, and delight whenever it engages with the arts.

Key Features

• Explores the fruits of the church’s “peculiar orthodoxy” in the arena of the arts
• Recovers a fresh confidence in the church’s power
• Examines the nature of theological mystery, ambiguity, and allusiveness

Contents

• Created Beauty: The Witness of J. S. Bach
• Beauty, Sentimentality, and the Arts
• Faithful Feelings: Music and Emotion in Worship
• Openness and Specificity: A Conversation with David Brown on Theology and Classical Music
• Confidence and Anxiety in Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius
• The Holy Spirit at Work in the Arts: Learning from George Herbert
• Natural Theology and Music
• Room of One’s Own? Music, Space, and Freedom
• The Future of Theology amid the Arts: Some Reformed Reflections

Praise for the Print Edition

Any work by Jeremy Begbie is bound to bear instruction and delight, and this one is no exception. Thinkers and writers who give equally serious consideration to theology and the arts are rare birds indeed, so it is a pleasure to see Begbie take flight once more.

—Alan Jacobs, Honors College, Baylor University

Orthodoxy, yes, but not at all peculiar—unless it is peculiar for a person so steeped in orthodox trinitarian theology to be so richly acquainted with the arts, or peculiar for a person so richly acquainted with the arts to be so steeped in orthodox trinitarian theology. Only a person as learned and immersed as Begbie in both of these areas of human endeavor could spy the wide range of connections that he brings to light between theology and the arts, especially music, many of them connections I had never noticed, connections that I will want to think about for quite some time. Extraordinarily perceptive. And the range of reading brought into the discussion, with never-failing generosity of spirit, is amazing. This is state of the art!

—Nicholas Wolterstorff, Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology, Yale University; senior research fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia

Jeremy Begbie has established himself at the forefront of serious Christian engagement with the arts. This selection of pieces bears eloquent witness to the fruitfulness of that engagement and demonstrates how it can be conducted in a way that combines intellectual rigor, constructive theological concern, and elegance of style.

—Trevor Hart, University of St. Andrews

Product Details

• Title: A Peculiar Orthodoxy: Reflections on Theology and the Arts
• Author: Jeremy S. Begbie
• Publisher: Baker
• Publication Date: 2018
• Pages: 224
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Topic: Literature and the Arts

About Jeremy S. Begbie

Jeremy Begbie is the Thomas A. Langford Research Professor at Duke Divinity School, and specializes in the interface between theology and the arts. Previously, he served as the associate principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge, and has also been honorary professor at the University of St. Andrews, where he directed the research project, Theology Through the Arts at the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts.

Begbie studied music and philosophy at Edinburgh University, and theology at Aberdeen and Cambridge. A professionally trained musician, he has performed extensively as a pianist, oboist and conductor. He is an ordained minister of the Church of England, having served for a number of years as assistant pastor of a Church in West London. He is author of a number of books, including Voicing Creation’s Praise: Towards a Theology of the Arts, Theology, Music and Time, and most recently, Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music, which won the Christianity Today 2008 Book Award in the theology/ethics category.