God in the Modern Wing - (Studies in Theology and the Arts) by Cameron J Anderson & G Walter Hansen (Paperback)

About the Book

Should Christians even bother with modern art? This STA volume gathers the reflections of artists, art historians, and theologians who collectively offer a more complicated narrative of the history of modern art and its place in the Christian life. Readers will find insights on the work and faith of artists like Marc Chagall, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, and more.

Book Synopsis

Should Christians even bother with the modern wing at the art museum? After all, modern art and artists are often caricatured as rabidly opposed to God, the church--indeed, to faith of any kind. But is that all there is to the story?

In this Studies in Theology and the Arts volume, coeditors Cameron J. Anderson and G. Walter Hansen gather the reflections of artists, art historians, and theologians who collectively offer a more complicated narrative of the history of modern art and its place in the Christian life. Here, readers will find insights on the work and faith of artists including Marc Chagall, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, and more.

For those willing to look with eyes of faith, they may just find that God is present in the modern wing too.

The Studies in Theology and the Arts series encourages Christians to thoughtfully engage with the relationship between their faith and artistic expression, with contributions from both theologians and artists on a range of artistic media including visual art, music, poetry, literature, film, and more.

Review Quotes

"This wonderful compilation of vignettes on many of the most indelible and spiritually evocative works of modernism listens closely for their theological resonances while paying attention to the art-historical context, critical reception, enduring significance, and situatedness of each work within the museum's diverse collection. Its holistic approach preserves both the utmost intellectual integrity along with a generative curiosity of spirit. For readers exhausted by the fraught division of art and religion, the esteemed collective of voices in God in the Modern Wing issues an inspiring counterpoint and will serve as an adept guide for effecting fresh encounters with modern art."

"In a variety of essays ranging from the personal to the didactic, God in the Modern Wing unpacks the continued challenge and opportunity that modern art, now more than a century old, presents to an audience that can often be dismissive of its possible merits--contemporary Christians. Cameron Anderson, one of the anthology's editors, raises the prospect that his goal is a 'fool's errand.' But the reader who is open to the complexities of modern art as well as belief will find the efforts here a welcome opportunity to reconsider both."

About the Author

Cameron J. Anderson (MFA, Cranbrook Academy of Art) is an artist, associate director of Upper House, and former executive director of Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA). Prior to joining CIVA, he served on the staff of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship for thirty years, most recently as the national director of Graduate and Faculty Ministries. He is the author of The Faithful Artist: A Vision for Evangelicalism and the Arts and the coeditor of Faith and Vision: Twenty-Five Years of Christians in the Visual Arts.

G. Walter Hansen (ThD, University of Toronto) is professor emeritus at Fuller Theological Seminary. He previously served as a lecturer at Trinity Theological College in Singapore. He is the coauthor of Through Your Eyes: Dialogues on the Paintings of Bruce Herman as well as the author of the IVP New Testament Commentary on Galatians and The Letter to the Philippians.