Art and Faith
A Theology of Making
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From a world-renowned painter, an exploration of creativity's quintessential-and often overlooked-role in the spiritual life
"Makoto Fujimura is the rare artist whose life has something of the same purifying and galvanizing force of his work. His new book brings those two elements-life and art-even closer together, and is a real tonic for our atomized time." -- Christian Wiman
Conceived over thirty years of painting and creating in his studio, this book is Makoto Fujimura's broad and deep exploration of creativity and the spiritual aspects of "making." What he does in the studio is theological work as much as it is aesthetic work. In between pouring precious, pulverized minerals onto handmade paper to create the prismatic, refractive surfaces of his art, he comes into the quiet space in the studio, in a discipline of awareness, waiting, prayer, and praise.
Ranging from the Bible to T. S. Eliot, and from Mark Rothko to Japanese Kintsugi technique, he shows how unless we are making something, we cannot know the depth of God's being and God's grace permeating our lives. This poignant and beautiful book offers the perspective of, in Christian Wiman's words, "an accidental theologian," one who comes to spiritual questions always through the prism of art.
"This brief, very crisply and lucidly written book makes a brilliantly and distinctly personal contribution to the ongoing discussions around faith and the creative imagination."--Rowan Williams
"Makoto Fujimura's art and writings have been a true inspiration to me. In this luminous book, he addresses the question of art and faith and their reconciliation with a quiet and moving eloquence."--Martin Scorsese
"Here a world-class painter and cultural critic reinterprets both the creative act and the nature of Christian faith in a way that should interest anyone concerned with the indispensable role of the creative imagination in human flourishing."--Ellen Davis, Duke Divinity School
"Makoto Fujimura is the rare artist whose life has something of the same purifying and galvanizing force of his work. His new book brings those two elements-life and art-even closer together, and is a real tonic for our atomized time."--Christian Wiman
"In the presence of the beautiful 'we act like someone who is all ears and eyes: beauty has something to say to us,' wrote Nietzsche. Reading this book, I fell silent and became all ears and eyes."--Miroslav Volf, Yale Divinity School