Art and Soul: Signposts for Christian Artists

by Hilary Brand

This practical guide encourages artists and those interested in the arts to develop a Christian worldview from which they can approach art. The authors explore the conflicting influences on Christians entering the arts, the relation of the major biblical themes of Creation, Fall and Redemption to the business of making art, and the exact nature and purpose of the arts and the way we experience and interpret them. Finally, readers are given practical guidelines on practising and developing their art.

Genres: Art, Religion, Theology, Nonfiction, Christianity

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 16, 2001

Reviews

[Sarah Raiter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don’t be put off by the terrible cover. A brave effort. (I know because I’ve tried myself!) Doesn’t claim to have all the answers. A collection of wisdom gleaned from many sources—the quotes are ace.

[Wm. Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the arts. Loaded with juicy quotes. Applicable to more than just Christians.

[Jamie Dougherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely comprehensive and extremely well written. These authors know their art, they know their culture, they know their theology, and they know how to write. It's a little more academic than I was expecting, but it's done so well that it's hard to complain. It's somewhat focused on the fine art/visual art world, but they do an impressive job of relating everything to every form of art.

[Rachel Woodward · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be mostly just restating the questions that Christian artists have, rather than providing any good answers. The insights that did come out were based off of quotes from other creatives (C.S. Lewis, Franky Schaeffer, Calvin Seerveld, Dorothy Sayers, Hans Rookmaaker, to name a few), so really the quotes in the margins were the best part of the book.

[Juli · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. A great book that offers a lot of info, history, examples and theological thinking about the arts. I found it to be engaging, thought-provoking, as well as practical. A good read for anyone interested in the topic of Theology and the Arts.

[Eric Gitonga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another to be read a second time, this time slowly digesting the goodies it offers.