The Artistic Sphere: The Arts in Neo-Calvinist Perspective
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
While some Christians have embraced the relationship between faith and the arts, the Reformed tradition tends to harbor reservations about the arts.
However, among Reformed churches, the Neo-Calvinist tradition―as represented in the work of Abraham Kuyper, Herman Dooyeweerd, Hans Rookmaaker, and others―has consistently demonstrated not just a willingness but a desire to engage with all manner of cultural and artistic expressions.
This volume, edited by art scholar Roger Henderson and Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker, the daughter of art historian and cultural critic Hans Rookmaaker, brings together history, philosophy, and theology to consider the relationship between the arts and the Neo-Calvinist tradition. With affirmations including the Lordship of Christ, the cultural mandate, sphere sovereignty, and common grace, the Neo-Calvinist tradition is well-equipped to offer wisdom on the arts to the whole body of Christ.
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- Brings together history, philosophy, and theology
- Considers the relationship between the arts and the Neo-Calvinist tradition
- Part I: Roots
- Part II: Art History
- Part III: Aesthetics
- Part IV: Theology and Art
For many decades, the Kuyperian tradition has been at the forefront of nourishing a Christian imagination in the world of the arts. This excellent collection proves the point, as well as demonstrating how Neo-Calvinism can resource artists and Christian thinkers to tackle together the challenges of the future.
—Jeremy Begbie, Duke University
The Artistic Sphere is an engaging antidote to stereotypes that often cluster around Calvinism and visual images. These essays are not characterized by a uniform viewpoint. There are refreshing differences of emphasis and interpretation in the way topics like beauty, the imagination, or the social roles of art are discussed. This book is an excellent introduction to how the visual arts were and are shaped, understood, and used in Reformational cultures.
—Theodore Prescott, emeritus professor of art at Messiah University
This book serves as an excellent example of how commitment to a theological tradition can represent not the narrowing down of a vision for the arts, in this case the visual arts, but an expansive vision for such arts; how rootedness within a particular tradition results not in limited possibilities for the arts but in richly varied possibilities for both content and form; and how the faithful immersion in an artistic tradition, here a Neo-Calvinist one, leads not to the stifling of honest debate but instead to generative discourse. This book is a tremendous gift to the heirs of the Kuyperian tradition—and to those of us also who stand outside it.
—W. David O. Taylor, associate professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary and author of Glimpses of the New Creation
- Title: The Artistic Sphere: The Arts in Neo-Calvinist Perspective
- Authors: Roger D. Henderson, Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker
- Publisher: IVP Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2024
- Pages: 400
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
- Resource ID: LLS:RTSTCSPHPRSPCTV
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-07-19T14:42:05Z