God and Wonder: Theology, Imagination, and the Arts
Wonder, a topic of perennial Christian interest, draws us into fundamental questions about God and the things of God. In God and Wonder: Theology, Imagination, and the Arts, internationally recognized theologians, artists, and ministers weigh in on the place of wonder in Christian thought, attending to the ways that wonder informs our thinking about the arts, imagination, the church, creation, and the task of theology. What is the place of wonder in the Christian life? How can a theology of imagination contribute to our understanding of God and the world? What does wonder have to do with the life of the church in preaching, teaching, and worship? How might reflection on wonder enhance our understanding of place, vocation, and family? In God and Wonder readers enter a rich and insightful conversation about how cultivating wonder and the gift of imagination can revitalize our understanding of the world.
“God and Wonder will surely capture your imagination.
Rarely do articles from a theology conference sparkle like these
chapters. Written almost entirely by or about artists, they remind
us that artistry reflecting God's own creativity has always been
the most effective expression of the gospel.”
—William Dyrness, Fuller Theological Seminary
“A multifaceted investigation of the disposition of
wonder that not only constitutes a proper beginning, and end, for
the study of theology, but also rightly orients us to all of
created reality. This book is fantastic, and I say that very rarely
about multiauthor books. What a gift to both scholars and students,
and to pastors and artists as well.”
—W. David O. Taylor, Fuller Theological Seminary
“This rich collection of essays draws upon the abundance
of the arts and the imagination to recover a sense of wonder in the
world, in the church, and before God. The variety of the
contributions from scholars, artists, writers, and teachers
produces a book that from Coleridge to Spike Lee explores the
challenge of wonder and excites the reader with the riches of the
imagination, from the visions of children to the wisdom of
Scripture and theology.”
—David Jasper, University of Glasgow
“This volume calls all of us to become ‘wonderstruck theologians’—a
timely call indeed! But how might we learn again to be filled with
awe? Here we find mundane answers that give marvelous witness to
the glory of God: worship, children, homemaking, art, poetry,
iconography, even lament rooted in longing. The essays in this book
should reawaken the church to the nature of theological
labor.”
—Matthew Levering, Mundelein Seminary
“A diverse and rich collection of essays that hone facets of a
Christian theology and practice of creative and artistic
communication. An important contribution to evangelical theology
that often privileges the epistemic element of Christian
spirituality and neglects its affective and poetic dimensions. This
book shows that wonder begins with an ineffable encounter with God
that compels expression. Each chapter explores concrete modes and
forms of that theological expression from church to cinema.”
—Steven M. Studebaker, McMaster Divinity College
“God and Wonder will surely capture your imagination.
Rarely do articles from a theology conference sparkle like these
chapters. Written almost entirely by or about artists, they remind
us that artistry reflecting God's own creativity has always been
the most effective expression of the gospel.”
—William Dyrness, Fuller Theological Seminary
“A multifaceted investigation of the disposition of
wonder that not only constitutes a proper beginning, and end, for
the study of theology, but also rightly orients us to all of
created reality. This book is fantastic, and I say that very rarely
about multiauthor books. What a gift to both scholars and students,
and to pastors and artists as well.”
—W. David O. Taylor, Fuller Theological Seminary
“This rich collection of essays draws upon the abundance
of the arts and the imagination to recover a sense of wonder in the
world, in the church, and before God. The variety of the
contributions from scholars, artists, writers, and teachers
produces a book that from Coleridge to Spike Lee explores the
challenge of wonder and excites the reader with the riches of the
imagination, from the visions of children to the wisdom of
Scripture and theology.”
—David Jasper, University of Glasgow
“This volume calls all of us to become ‘wonderstruck theologians’—a
timely call indeed! But how might we learn again to be filled with
awe? Here we find mundane answers that give marvelous witness to
the glory of God: worship, children, homemaking, art, poetry,
iconography, even lament rooted in longing. The essays in this book
should reawaken the church to the nature of theological
labor.”
—Matthew Levering, Mundelein Seminary
“A diverse and rich collection of essays that hone facets of a
Christian theology and practice of creative and artistic
communication. An important contribution to evangelical theology
that often privileges the epistemic element of Christian
spirituality and neglects its affective and poetic dimensions. This
book shows that wonder begins with an ineffable encounter with God
that compels expression. Each chapter explores concrete modes and
forms of that theological expression from church to cinema.”
—Steven M. Studebaker, McMaster Divinity College
- Title: God and Wonder: Theology, Imagination, and the Arts
- Authors: Jeffrey W. Barbeau, Emily Hunter McGowin
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Print Publication Date: 2022
- Logos Release Date: 2022
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666709698, 9781666709681, 9781666709674, 1666709697, 1666709689, 1666709670
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666709698
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-12-22T05:52:40Z
Jeffrey W. Barbeau is Professor of Theology at Wheaton
College. He is the author or editor of several books, including
The Cambridge Companion to British Romanticism and Religion
(2021), The Spirit of Methodism: From the Wesleys to a Global
Communion (2019), and Religion in Romantic England: An
Anthology of Primary Sources (2018).
Emily Hunter McGowin is Assistant Professor of Theology at
Wheaton College. She is also a priest and canon theologian in the
Anglican diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO). Her
most recent book is Quivering Families: The Quiverfull Movement
and Evangelical Theology of the Family (2018).
