Product Description

This book is a collection of over twenty essays on issues relating to making art from a Christian perspective. The volume is filled with color artwork from Michelangelo to Makoto Fujimura and from Rembrandt to Tim Hawkinson.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74109 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 355 pages

Review
. . a valuable, insightful and penetrating collection. -- Jeremy Begbie, author of Voicing Creation's Praise

For anyone anywhere who cares about beauty and truth and goodness ... It Was Good is very good. -- Steve Garber, Author of Weaving Together Belief and Behavior

It Was Good is good, very, very good. For goodness' sake, taste its goodness for yourself. -- Luci Shaw, author of The Green Earth: Poems of Creation

Read this book and love God and life more deeply. Then give a copy to all your friends. -- Denis Haack, Co-director of Ransom Fellowship

What we have needed is a thick description both of Christianity and of art making. And both are here ... -- William Dyrness, Professor of Fuller Theological Seminary

From the Publisher
The goal of this book is to provide a deeper discussion of what believers practicing their discipline for God’s glory would (or should) look like. Rather than defending the believer’s place in the arts—which has been done very well in other works—this book is intended to be primarily about issues related to making art.

The premise of this work is that a Christian looks at the world differently than the non-Christian due to a restored relationship with the Creator. With that restored relationship comes certain responsibilities which are presented in True Spirituality by Francis Schaeffer when he says, "Christians are to demonstrate God’s character, which is a moral demonstration, but it is not only to be a demonstration of moral principles; it is a demonstration of His being, His existence."

This moral demonstration will be worked out in the creative process. If not seen thematically in their work, it will be seen foundationally in their existence. It is not the believers’ goal to integrate their art with the Faith, rather the art of God’s chosen people must spring from faith. Our relationship to our Creator is the one core issue that matters and this relationship gives us the freedom to have "no prescriptions for subject matter," as Hans Rookmaaker says.

Imagine a Christian sitting down to create a piece of pottery, write a novel, or paint a picture. This believer has decisions to make: color, form, content, theme . . . as well as where they fit into their church and larger community. Of course this book can’t dictate things such as, "Paint a red bird . . . write the song in standard time . . . the pot should have three handles . . . " But decisions do need to be made and it is the intent of this book to give the readers ideas to work through so they can develop the internal tools needed to carry out their artwork with a biblical worldview.

In this way, It Was Good—Making Art to the Glory of God will offer both theoretical and practical insights into the making of art from a biblical perspective. And this is crucially important in our age since the area of Beauty is the only point of connection with society since the bridges of Truth and Goodness have been burned. Kuyper’s concept of the dual purpose of art to imitate and transcend nature resonates at this point. We as believers in the arts can show through the common grace of art a fleeting picture of Eden. We should not allow the arts to be the sole dominion of the enemies of God but instead we should join with Martin Luther in affirming our desire to see all the arts "in the service of Him who has given and created them."

From the Back Cover
A Christian looks at the world through the eyes of one who has a restored relationship with the Creator, and receives a new vision affecting every area of life--including the creative process. So what does it mean to be a creative individual who is a follower of the creative God? It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God seeks to answer that question through a series of essays which offer theoretical and practical insights into artmaking from a Christian perspective. The Christian worldview is foundational to the approach a believer in Christ takes to making art and artmaking inevitably raises difficult questions. This book offers aid in developing some of the internal tools needed to work through those questions, and so to glorify and enjoy God while trying to speak with a clear and relevant voice to a fallen world.

Customer Reviews

A Blessing
"It Was Good-Making Art to the Glory of God" brings forth many struggling topics and themes that Christian artists are challenged with. These essays are writing by some of the most important Christian artists today (i.e. Makoto Fujimura, Theodore Prescott, and Edward Knippers.) The book discusses issues looking at our fallen world with a realistic point of view. It teaches to face evil head on and to point towards the grace, the hope, and the glory, namely Jesus Christ. As God's children it explains our need for art in the church and in our communities. It also depicts the problems of Christian art, with topics such as GOOD, ("The efforts of most artists who attempt to present a picture of `good' tend toward dishonest, sugary sweet propaganda. They ignore the implications of the fall and paint the world as a shiny, happy place." -Ned Bustard, "Good"), EVIL, and IDENTITY. It is hard being both Christian and artist. It seems no one understands you in the art world and no one understands you in the Christian world. This book praises our gifts of creativity and imaginations, in which we learn to integrate both our faith and art, and return these gifts to praise Our Father. "It Was Good..." should be essential to your book collection. I once had a discussion with a friend of how we can meditate on a single passage for hours. These essays have been so inspirational that I have spent some nights restless, because I could not wait until the next day to work on my own art. It is such a blessing to know, in this generation (so full of narcissistic and meaningless art,) that this book is out there to help other Christian artists. I personally feel doubly blessed because I am still an undergraduate in art school. I feel a great comfort to apply and develop these ideas into my own critiques. But this book goes way beyond the ordinary art school critique and grows toward my relationship with God and towards his people.

It is Great!
It Was Good is a collection of twenty-one artists and their very insightful essays on art. The book isn't just a "write what you want about art" sort of book. It covers various subjects in an orderly fashion. Some of the topics are: Beauty, Substance, Presence, Mission, Community, Essence, Identity. Every chapter is very well written, well laid out and inspiring.

Color plates of some of the art help to crystalize the comments of the artist.

This book gives real meaning and purpose for the artist today. The book clarifies what it is to live life giving glory to God through art, not because it is "Christian" art or art that preaches but rather because you serve the triune God your art can have meaning and depth. Makoto Fujimoro states, "Such a Christocentric perspective on the arts can also release our creativity from being enslaved to a particular form, or style of art." And that is just one fully laden sentence in a book of 355 pages!

This book will make you want to get out your pencils, paints, paper and brushes and start expressing yourself through art again.