Product Description

Imagine art that is risky, complex and subtle! Imagine music, movies, books and paintings of the highest quality! Imagine art that permeates society, challenging conventional thinking and standard morals to their core! Imagine that it is all created by Christians! This is the bold vision of Steve Turner, someone who has worked among artists--many Christian and many not--for three decades. He believes Christians should confront society and the church with the powerful impact art can convey. He believes art can faithfully chronicle the lives of ordinary people and equally express the transcendence of God. He believes that Christians should be involved in every level of the art world and in every media. Yet art and artists have not always been held in high esteem by conservative Christians. Art rarely seems to communicate clear propositional truth, rarely deals with certainties and absolutes. And the lifestyles of artists too frequently seem at odds with the gospel. So the arts have often been discouraged among Christians. Throughout this stimulating book, however, Turner builds a compelling case against such a perspective. He shows that if Jesus is Lord of all of life and creation, then art is not out of bounds for Christians. Rather it can and should be a way of expressing faith in creatively, beautifully, truthfully arranged words, sounds and sights. This stirring call is must reading for every Christian who has been drawn to the arts or been influenced by them. Features & Benefits

* a fresh and positive perspective on Christianity and the arts

* shows how art can faithfully represent both "real life" and divine truth

* challenges common Christian objections to the arts

* encourages Christians to be involved in every level of the art world and in every media

* written by a poet and journalist well-known in the popular music scene

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36718 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 131 pages

About the Author
Turner is a writer and poet living in London, England, where he regularly contributes to newspapers such as The Mail on Sunday and The Times. His many books include Conversations with Eric Clapton, U2: Rattle and Hum, Van Morrison: Too Late to Stop Now and A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song.

Customer Reviews

Wisdom in need of a wider audience
A couple of years ago I interviewed singer/composer/producer Charlie Peacock for an online magazine. He sent me a copy of this book, and since then I have read it through about five times. Turner's insight and vision for Christian artists of all disciplines is almost incomparable in the modern church. He backs up his assertions with any number of contextually accurate scriptural references, and provides more encouragement for the bored and searching artist than he does condemnation of the status quo in Christian-produced art (although there is plenty to condemn). I consider this book absolutely essential for every Christian musician, dancer, painter, poet or artist of any color. It will radically transform your vision for glorifying God if you take its message to heart.

A vision of hope and beauty
Steve Turners book is very accessible. It should be part of the basic reading and discipleship for all Christians, not just artists. But as the other reviewers have mentioned, He redeems art, or creative expression in most all its form, as a field of practice and calling for Christians. So his work should be read by those confessing Christ and interested in creative endeavors. Turner encourages and gives Christians the vision to be instruments of hope, beauty and truth- instruments of redemption- in and through the arts. Turner does a good job explaining why there is so little protestant involvement in the arts. And to a lesser extent he explains why that little involvement has had even less influence. Turner's work is a good starting point on a bibliography of redeeming Culture- Francis Schaeffer Art and the Bible (L'Abri Pamphlets), Hans Rookmaaker, Greggory Wolfe, Makoto Fujimura It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God are few others in a increasingly longer list. Enjoy!

Excellent and broad coverage of the subject
Steve Turner did an excellent job with this book. It is a very easy read but is well thought out and insightful. He does a good job of outlining the historical reasoning for the sad state of "christian art" today. But, he also does what other authors pretend to do but never actually accomplish. He provides a solid theory from which Christian artists can work. After explaining the historic reasons for our situation he then discusses the issue from a solidly biblical perspective doing a good job of puting the scripture in context for this discussion. He rightly argues that art produced by Christian Artists needs not be overtly religious. God is the God of the "secular" and the "religious".

Especially helpful is Turner's theory of five concentric circles. The cicles represent diferent levels of direct religiosity in the work with the outer showing no specific workview and the inner being focused on the cross. But, Turner goes further and asks if it is actually possible to produce the type of powerful art he is advocating and then he backs up his arguement with examples.