Sanctifying Art

The semester is off to a new start this week, and I am back with good news. I spent the summer virtually attached to my computer, and finished the book. And, just because God likes to laugh, just as I was writing the last few words of the last chapter, and all worried about what I would do if I didn’t have a publisher, I received an offer of publication from Wipf & Stock, under their Cascade Books imprint.

The book is called Sanctifying Art: An Invitation to Conversation Between Artists, Theologians, and the Church. As you know if you have been following this blog at all, or have ever heard me talk about art and the church, I have often been surprised and dismayed by the unexamined attitudes and assumptions that the church holds about how artists think and how art functions in human life. In this book, I have tried to investigate these attitudes and tie them to concrete examples, hoping to demystify art—to bring art down to earth, where theologians, pastors, and ordinary Christians can wrestle with its meanings, participate in its processes, and understand its uses.

Needless to say, I am beyond excited to know that the book is on its way. I still have some editing and formatting to do, and then there is a long process one the publisher has it in hand, but I should have a physical book in hand sometime in the spring. Expect to hear me celebrating.