Art and Soul
ISBN 978 0953575 77 0
240 pages.
Published 15/4/2014
£25.00
Paperback, PDF
More Christians than ever before are studying and working in music, painting, sculpture, theater, television, film, architecture and more. They face the challenge of working in a way that is both wholly Christian and wholly contemporary.
This practical guide encourages artists and those interested in the arts to develop a Christian worldview from which they can approach their crafts. Here the best teaching on the subject over the last fifty years is digested and reapplied, supported by a wealth of quotes from artists, critics and Christian thinkers.
A wide range of illustrations, both historical and contemporary, illuminates the text as the authors explore the conflicting influences on Christians entering the arts. They correlate the major biblical themes of creation, fall and redemption to the business of making art. The nature and purpose of the arts are examined along with the way we experience and interpret them. Finally, readers are given practical guidelines on practicing and developing their art. This book raises significant issues for people who are serious about art and Christianity.
PIETER KWANT was the Director of Literature for Langham Partnership International until 2022. For over fifty years he worked as theological bookseller, publisher and literary agent. He has been a lifelong enthusiast for the arts and has returned to painting since his retirement.
Children, we used to be told, should be seen and not heard. The Bible for some people is only heard but never “seen”. Revelation demands both. John oscillates again and again between what he saw and what he heard, and invites our attentive imagination to grasp, wonder, and respond to both, for our adoration, encouragement and warning. Pieter Kwant’s rich artistic engagement, the fruit of many years of saturated study of the book, combines fascinating glimpses of ancient and contemporary renderings of Revelation’s vivid imagery alongside his own richly coloured interpretative paintings of what John invites us all to “see and hear”, as Jesus draws back the curtain and reveals the breadth and depth, challenge and hope of his own Lordship. This is one of those books I enjoyed on first reading, and even more on the second, and doubtless more yet to come.
Chris Wright
Students of the Bible are taught that meaning emerges as they engage both the content and the form of a specific genre. The book of Revelation is a prophetic word which emerges in the form of a vision. There is something to hear and to see. And yet its interpreters, down through the years, have struggled to engage this visionary element. Pieter Kwant puts together what scholars have readily put asunder. Writing in a conversational way, he combines bold, evocative imagery with clear, accessible explanation. The outcome is a book which welcomes the reader into the strange world of Revelation, calming their fears and building their confidence as they journey with it.
Paul Windsor
Table of Contents
7 A Way of Reading
8 4:1–6 Story 17: The Throne in Heaven
12 4:3,6 Story 18: Precious Stones (Detail)
16 4:6–11 Story 19: Holy, Holy, Holy
18 5:1–5 Story 20: John in Tears
20 5:6–7 Story 21: The Lamb
22 5:8–14 Story 22: A New Song
24 Visual Meditation 1 : Bloody crown,
Blood redeeming, Pentecost
26 Four Horsemen
28 6:1–3 Story 23: First Unsealing
30 6:3–4 Story 24: Second Unsealing
32 6:5–6 Story 25: Third Unsealing
34 6:7–8 Story 26: Fourth Unsealing
36 6:9–11 Story 27: Fift h Unsealing
38 6:12–17 Story 28: Sixth Unsealing
40 7:1–3 Story 29: Sealing Servants
42 7:4–8 Story 30: 144,000
44 7:9–17 Story 31: A Great Multitude
46 8:1 Story 32: Seventh Unsealing
48 The Scroll is Open At Last
50 My Understanding of the Seven Seals
52 Visual Meditation 2: Seal meditation in wax
53 Additional Select Further Reading
54 List of Illustrations and References
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