Abundantly More: The Theological Promise of the Arts in a Reductionist World

by Jeremy S. Begbie

Publisher:

Baker Academic

, 2023

Overview

Late modern culture has been marred by reductionism, which shrinks and flattens our vision of ourselves and the world. Renowned theologian Jeremy Begbie believes that the arts by their nature push against reductionism, helping us understand and experience more deeply the infinite richness of God’s love and of the world God has made.

In Abundantly More, Begbie analyzes and critiques reductionism and its effects. He then shows how the arts can resist reductive impulses by opening us to an unlimited abundance of meaning. Finally, he suggests how engaging the arts in light of a trinitarian imagination (which itself cuts against reductionism) offers a unique way of witnessing to and sharing in the life and purposes of God.

Theologians, artists, and any who are interested in how these fields intersect will find rich resources here and discover the crucial role the arts can play in keeping our culture open to the possibility of God.

Key Features

• Analyzes and critiques reductionism and its effects
• Shows how the arts can resist reductive impulses by opening us to an unlimited abundance of meaning
• Offers a unique way of witnessing to and sharing in the life and purposes of God

Contents

• Introduction

Part 1: Pressures of Containment

• Reductive Pressures
• The Arts under Pressure
• A Scriptural Interruption: Seeing and Not Seeing (John 9:1-34)
• Reductionism’s Peculiarities
• A Scriptural Interruption: Living Water and Overflow (John 4:1-15)

Part 2: Counterpressures

• Art’s Generativity
• God’s Uncontainable Pressure
• God’s Own “Ex-pressure”

Part 3: Convergences

• Resonances and Reverberations
• Open Feast

Product Details

• Title: Abundantly More: The Theological Promise of the Arts in a Reductionist World
• Author: Jeremy S. Begbie
• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Print Publication Date: 2023
• Logos Release Date: 2023
• Pages: 251
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Christianity and the arts; Arts and religion
• ISBNs: 9781493439959, 9781540965431, 1540965430, 1493439952
• Resource ID: LLS:BNDNTLYMRRDWRLD
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-12-16T18:05:56Z

Benefits of Logos Edition

In the Logos Reader Edition, this volume is enhanced to best fit the content. Scripture references are hand-tagged to integrate with powerful functionality in Logos Bible Software. Page milestones and internal citation tagging provide accurate points of reference. Search important words across resources to find exactly what you’re looking for. Take the discussion with you using tablet and mobile apps. With Logos Bible Software, the most efficient and comprehensive tools for reading digital content are in one place, so you get the most out of your study.

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.