Beholding Beauty

Worshiping God through the Arts

Jason R. McConnell

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781666730647, 9781666722406
• eBook ISBN: 9781666722420
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Rituals & Practice

Beholding Beauty: Worshiping God through the Arts casts a vision for how the church can integrate a theology of beauty and aesthetics into its worship practices. Unlike other books that only explore beauty and aesthetic in the abstract, Beholding Beauty is a practical theology that inspires Christians to intentionally incorporate the arts into their everyday lives and their church's weekly worship services. It is specifically designed for pastors and worship leaders who wish to craft theologically coherent, aesthetically invigorating, and artistically stimulating worship services and for all Christians who desire to contemplate the nature of beauty and art from a biblical, theological, and liturgical perspective.Whether you are an accomplished artist or a novice to the art world, this book will deepen your understanding of God as the original artist who uniquely calls human beings to cocreate with him. It will challenge your presuppositions and convictions about the place of beauty and art in the Christian life and the life of the church. It encourages Christian artists to be even more creative and prolific, and it compels non-artists to consider the artistic gifts and talents God has given them.

Chapter 1

God

The Original Artist

Jason McConnell

Creation of the Animals (c.1551) by Il Tintoretto

Jacopo Robusti—Il Tintoretto (1518–94) means “the little painter guy.” A Venetian painter and draughtsman, and a representative of the school of mannerism, Il Tintoretto’s work marked the transition between the Renaissance and Baroque periods. He was initially inspired by the work of Michelangelo (1475–1564), but he soon developed a style of his own which utilized an array of vivid colors and dramatic contrasts between dark and light, a technique that would later be perfected by Caravaggio (1571–1610).

The horizontal lines in The Creation of the Animals flow from right to left in a whirling motion. In a blaze of golden light that pierces the darkness still enveloping the newly created earth, God the Father is suspended in mid-air during the act of creation. (Notice how this portrayal echoes Michelangelo’s figure of God in the Creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel painted forty years earlier.) The birds of the sky and fish of the sea rush forward on the fifth day while the land animals stand behind their creator, waiting in eager anticipation of the sixth day, when they would be unleashed to roam the earth. Il Tintoretto’s luminous landscape scene captures the essence of God’s artistry and creativity.

Call to Worship (Psalm 8)

Leader: Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory in the heavens.

People: Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

Leader: When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

People: What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

Leader: You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.

People: You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

All: Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Hymn “O God, the Joy of Heav’n Above” by Charles Coffin (1736)

O God, the joy of Heav’n above,

Thou didst not need Thy creatures’ love,

When from Thy secret place of rest

Thy Word the earth’s foundations blest.

Thou spakest: worlds began to be;

They bow before Thy majesty;

And all to their creator raise

A wondrous harmony of praise.

But ere, O Lord, this lovely earth

From Thy creative will had birth,

Thou in Thy counsels didst unfold

Another world of fairer mold.

That realm shall our Redeemer frame,

And build upon His mighty name;

His hand the word of power shall sow,

That all the earth His truth may know.

When time itself has passed away,

His Church, secure in Heav’n for aye,

Shall share His table and His throne,

And God the Father reign alone.

O Father, Son, and Spirit blest,

One God in Heav’n and earth confessed,

Preserve, direct, and fill with love

Thy realm on earth, Thy realm above.

Scripture Reading (Genesis 1)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: God
• Chapter 2: Colorful Silence
• Chapter 3: The Divine Sculptor
• Chapter 4: Adequately Clothed
• Chapter 5: The Dance of Redemption
• Chapter 6: Losing Sight of the Choreographer
• Chapter 7: How Long, O Lord
• Chapter 8: The Power of a Song
• Chapter 9: To See What You See
• Chapter 10: The Story of God in One Meal
• Chapter 11: Stories that Unveil
• Chapter 12: Drama Is Required
• Chapter 13: Mercy and Truth Have Met Together
• Chapter 14: The Invitation of the Table-Setting God
• Chapter 15: The Great Vintner
• Chapter 16: The Aroma of Aesthetic Extravagance
• Reclaiming the Arts Through Worship
• Bibliography