A book review of Discovering God Through the Arts: How We Can Grow Closer to God by Appreciating Beauty & Creativity by Terry Glaspey
Stars: *****
Moody Publishers (2021)
Christian Personal Growth
272 pages
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Moody Publishers in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.
Summary: What does art have to do with faith? For many Christians, paintings, films, music, and other forms of art are simply used for wall decoration, entertaining distraction, or worshipful devotion. But what if the arts played a more prominent role in the Christian life?
In Discovering God through the Arts, discover how the arts can be tools for faith-building, life-changing spiritual formation for all Christians. Terry Glaspey, author of 75 Masterpieces Every Christian Should Know, examines: How the arts assist us in prayer and contemplation, How the arts help us rediscover a sense of wonder, How the arts help us deal with emotions, How the arts aid theological reflection and so much more. Let your faith be enriched, and discover how beauty and creativity can draw you nearer to the ultimate Creator.
Discovering God Through the Arts
I’m not an art lover in general. I enjoy writing but I don’t draw, paint, sculpt or create otherwise. Most of the rest of my family are art lovers. Also I’m always looking for ways to connect with God more. That’s why I chose this book to review. I was hoping it would make me appreciate art more and connect with God.
This book is really well written and thought out. The author covers various types of art and shows us how to appreciate it. We are shown how to discover God through these art pieces.
Quotes I Love
While discussing how sometimes you have to sit with a piece of art for a while to truly appreciate it, the author says this:
” This is how many of us experience prayer. We sit down to pray, and it goes well for a short period of time. Then we start to get tired and bored and our mind races to things we need to do, conversations we need to have, and to just about anything except staying focused on prayer. But if we just continue to pray and keep focused on the act of communicating with God, we will pass into a state where prayer feels more intimate and more connected. Sometimes we just need to pass through the boredom to find revelation on the other side of it. Like sitting with a piece of art while you wait for it to do its work upon you, so sitting patiently in prayer will eventually open up into a deeper spiritual connection with God.”
Discovering God Through the Arts pg 44
I also appreciate this quote:
“Art, in all its forms, has the power to awaken us. We so often sleepwalk through our lives, missing the many little wonders spread out before us each and every day. The arts can function as an alarm clock to jolt us into wakefulness, keeping us from bumbling inattentively through our lives.”
pg 34
Art Appreciation
The book covers visual arts, music, tv/movies, books, poetry and more. There are full colour representations of famous art pieces displayed throughout the book. Each chapter ends with personal reflection questions and exercises. The author suggests various books, poetry and movies to watch throughout the book. There is also an appendix full of recommendations of poets, music, novels, films, artists and museums.
The book has made me appreciate art more. I want to check out the resources in the appendix and find time to learn to appreciate art. I realized that, especially with paintings, I didn’t take the time to see the nuances or appreciate the technique. So I wasn’t enjoying the art.
Highly Recommended for those who love God and Art or want to appreciate art more.
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