publications
New Title: Jeremy Begbie: Resounding Truth
Baker Academic, October 2007
Jeremy Begbie's latest book, Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music is now available. Copies can be purchased via Amazon (UK) or Amazon (US).
book previews
Recent issues of Books & Culture and The Christian Century have published extracts from Resounding Truth. 'Music in God's World' can be viewed online now; 'Sound Theology' will be available in Vol. 124, No. 23 of The Christian Century. You can also download a Publisher's Excerpt (pdf document).
endorsements
"A profound, rigorous, and original work. Very few new books in theology or religious studies show this level of freshness and imagination. I hope it will be a landmark essay in this crucial field of reflection on theology and the creative arts."
Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
"Jeremy Begbie's thinking emerges out of a fusion of the best musical thinking about theology and the best theological thinking about music. The resulting text is charged with energy and insight - and not just for musicians and theologians. This vital work is poised to energize and strengthen the entire Christian community for a way of life together that is marked by grace, truth, beauty, and genuine self-giving service."
John D. Witvliet, director, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship; associate professor of music and worship, Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary
Jeremy Begbie: Theology, Music and Time
Cambridge University Press, 2000
Jeremy Begbie's book, Theology, Music and Time (CUP) was launched at the 'Sounding the Depths' Festival. It aims to show the potential of music for deepening our understanding of God and God's ways in the world.
reviews
'It would be difficult to over-praise this book. It breaks new ground, it is both insightful and highly informed and it is written in a style devoid of the obscurity that often mars musicological reflection . . . the most substantial book ever written on these themes.'
Professor Gordon Graham, Scottish Journal of Theology
'Theology, Music and Time testifies to the healthy state of British theology as an indigenous tradition . . . One will certainly encourage one's students to read this hypnotically well-written addition to theological aesthetics, alongside Augustine's Confessions.'
Francesca Murphy, Scottish Journal of Theology
'A book that is wide-ranging, stimulating and full of insight.'
Musical Times
' . . . a delightful exploration of the relevance of music for a variety of theological themes . . . Begbie has written an excellent book, illuminating both of music and theology. It offers a great deal of stimulation for others to explore a relatively little developed field.'
Stephen Carr, Theology
'An impressive tour de force of great originality and insight.'
Expository Times
'This is a book for those with a more than passing interest in both music and theology. Though a demanding work, Begbie's book expects specialist knowledge of neither, simply thoughtful engagement. It deserves a very wide readership because it offers an interdisciplinary study from two specialisms in both of which Begbie is a practitioner.'
Theological Book Review
'...a brilliant work of integration. A wide range of musical examples abound and the theological sources are extensive . . . if this subject is of any interest to you, I highly recommend it.'
Geoff Colmer
Beholding the Glory, ed. Jeremy Begbie
DLT/Baker Books, 2000
DLT (London) and Baker Books (Michgan) have published Beholding the Glory - a collection of essays exploring the incarnation through seven different art-forms. Edited by Jeremy Begbie, this is for a mid-level readership and was launched at the 'Sounding the Depths' Festival to a large audience through multi-media presentations/performances by the authors. Contributors: Trevor Hart (imagination and incarnation); Lynn Aldrich (sculpture), Graham Cray (popular culture); Sara Savage (dance); Malcolm Guite (literature); Andrew Rumsey (poetry); Jim Forest (icons); Jeremy Begbie (music).
comments and reviews
'Here is a spendid contribution to a white-hot theological topic: the relationship between theology and the arts. In this book, a multi-faceted illumination is achieved by the distinguished contributors, who shine their spotlights not only on God's truth as revealed in Jesus Christ, but upon the dynamic creativity of artists as they explore this truth in so many striking and stimulating ways. This is a compulsive read, richly rewarding, which made me realize the enormous importance of doing theology through the arts.'
Susan Howatch
author
'Artists do theology with their feet and their hands, even with their eyes and ears. These essays are beautiful reflections on these other ways of doing theology. They will benefit everyone who love the arts and seek to follow Christ, especially perhaps those who 'study' theology primarily with their minds! Should be required reading for anyone who wants to deepen their 'insight' into the incarnation!'
Professor William A. Dyrness, Professor of theology and culture
Fuller Theological Seminary
'Jeremy Begbie and his team engage with two lively intensities, incarnation and the arts, and give a fresh sense of each. They are immersed in the realities they are dealing with, they write without jargon and use plenty of vivid examples. This book can be savoured by those who are already involved, but will also draw others into both God and the arts. There is something exhilarating about the way thinking and imagining are inspired by one art after another, and time and again there emerges a Christian understanding that can challenge as well as enrich both the churches and our arts-saturated culture. It is vital too that popular culture is taken seriously.'
Professor David F. Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge
'These wide-ranging essays offer a lively corrective to common ways of thinking about the arts. Instead of defining art by means of theology, the authors in Beholding the Glory confidently explore theology through the arts, paying close attention to art's unique engagement with scripture, tradition, and human experience.
These essays stress specifically that the Christian faith has at its center the Incarnation, the story of the word made flesh. And for understanding the staggering claim that God has dwelt among us in human form, poetry, sculpture, dance, and the other arts offer irreplaceable insights.
Professor Roger Lundin, Clyde S. Kilby Professor of English
Wheaton College
'A fine collection of probing and imaginative discussions of the relation between the Incarnation and the arts. It's like a kaleidoscope: one turns the page to a new chapter and yet a different view appears.'
Professor Nicholas Wolterstorff, Yale Divinity School
'I have found this book refreshing and stimulating. Besides giving me new insights into God and myself, it has introduced me to much that I have not known before about art.
Christopher Campling, Church Times
'This anthology adds to the rich contribution Begbie is making in the field of the arts and Christian faith. . . . Readers will find many superb articulations of art and divine nature, as well as provocative insights demanding further thought. A helpful read for artists and laypersons who love the arts. A must read for pastors and theologians hungry for the full richness of the incarnation and sensitive to the full nature of culture as expressive of the human condition and God's presence.'
Wayne Roosa, Religious Studies Review
'The essays, though varied in voice and style as well as focus, work elegantly and persuasively together to explore a rich variety of ways in which the arts may deepen Christian spirituality, enrich theological understanding, and enhance communal worship. The book is a thoughtful and timely addition to a growing number of contemporary efforts to reclaim a high place for the arts in the life of faith.'
The Princeton Seminary Bulletin
'This book assumes the role of bridge builder between theology and the arts, and points the way to undiscovered country on both sides. As such it is very useful; many of the essays in the book are provocative and authoritative. For those who take it as their task to ground a view of the arts in a clear biblical worldview, there is much of merit to recommend.'
Pro Rege
The Arts in Your Church, Fiona Bond
Piquant Press, 2001
For two years, Fiona Bond was Project Manager of Theology Through the Arts. Out of this experience and her many years of working in the arts, she has produced The Arts in Your Church a first-rate handbook for church leaders and lay people who want to engage with the arts in effective and imaginative ways.
Meryl Doney, of the Hayward Gallery in London, writes: 'Really sensible, balanced and practical . . . I would certainly buy it and make use of it.'
Tom Devonshire Jones, of ACE, speaks of this as 'a publication which both nerves and steadies any who know Christianity's integral links with the arts but lack the skills or confidence to grasp it.'
Fiona was until recently Development Manager for Dundee Contemporary Arts, a major centre of artistic excellence.
Sounding the Depths: Theology Through the Arts, ed. Jeremy Begbie
Afterword by Nicholas Wolterstorff
SCM Press, 2002
These are essays by the theologians and artists who collaborated to form 'pod' groups, and produce art works for the 'Sounding the Depths' festival. The writers tell of the joys and struggles of working together, and what they believe their work together means for the future of theology. Also included are short reflections by 'outsiders' on the resulting pieces of art.
contents
Introduction - Jeremy Begbie
- Making it Strange: Theology in Other(s') Words
- Rowan Williams - Parthenogenesis - James MacMillan
- Study for the World's Body - Michael Symmons Roberts
- A Play of Absences - Michael O'Connor
- A Playright's Tale - Nigel Forde
- Dramatic Theology: York, Lambeth and Cambridge - David Ford
- The Play Beyond the Play - Ben Quash
- A Moment's Truth - Lorraine Cavanagh
- Design by Committee? - Alistair McFadyen and John Inge
- Interview with the sculptor Jonathan Clarke
- The Way of Life in Three Dimensions - Vanessa Herrick
- Easter Oratorio - Paul Spicer
- Resurrection: From Theology to Music and Back Again - Tom Wright
- Why do we Shrink from Joy? - Jo Bailey Wells
Afterword - Nicholas Wolterstorff
comments and reviews
'Reviewed whilst travelling through Bosnia, this book was an antidote to many scenes of destruction of sacred sites and works of art . . . Sounding the Depths describes what happened when talented exponents of [the arts and theology] work together . . . unlike the restrictive prescriptions delivered by powerful patrons, these essays describe open-minded collaboration between artists and theologians, and the creativity emerging from shared listening and thinking . . . The aftermath of the Bosnian war, with its shattered statues and burnt books is chilling evidence that such dialogue is crucial.'
Andrew Barr, Expository Times
'Sounding the Depths shows clearly why it is essential for the Church to engage with the arts, and how the Theology Through the Arts project has helped to bring to birth some striking examples of Christian art.'
Professor Patrick Sherry, University of Lancaster
'The importance of such an enterprise cannot be overestimated.'
John Gribben, Epiphany
selected articles by Jeremy Begbie on 'theology through the arts'
- 'Beauty, Sentimentality and the Arts', in The Beauty of God: Theology and the Arts, eds. Daniel Treier and Mark Husbands, Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2007, 45-69.
- 'Created Beauty: The Witness of J. S. Bach', in The Beauty of God: Theology and the Arts, eds. Daniel Treier and Mark Husbands, Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2007, 19-44.
- 'Resonances and Challenges: A Response to the Collection,' in Faithful Performances, eds. Trevor Hart and Steven Guthrie, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007, 273-80.
- Articles on 'Worship' and 'Music, The Bible and,' for Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of Scripture, eds. Kevin Vanhoozer, Daniel Treier, Craig Bartholomew and N. T. Wright, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2005, 856-8, 521-24.
- 'Theology and the Arts: Music,' in The Modern Theologians, 3rd. edition, ed. David Ford and Rachel Muers, Oxford: Blackwell, 2005, 719-735
- 'The Powers of Music in Worship,' in Imagination and Interpretation: Christian Perspectives, ed. Hans Boersma, Vancouver, British Columbia: Regent College Publishing, 2005, 109-27
- 'Moving in Mysterious Waves: Music, Meter, Silence, and Hope,' in Spiritual Information: 100 Perspectives, ed. Charles L. Harper, Templeton Foundation Press, 2005, 528-33. (Essay commissioned by the Templeton Foundation.)
- 'Music, Mystery and Sacrament,' in The Gestures of God: Explorations in Sacramentality, eds. Geoffrey Rowell and Christine Hall, London: Continuum, 2004, 173-91.
- 'The Theological Potential of Music: A Response to Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin,' in Christian Scholar's Review, 33:1 (2003), 135-41
- 'Calvin. Die Musik und Gottes Wort,' Berliner Theologische Zeitschrift (2003), 85-102
- 'Unexplored Elequencies: Music, Religion and Culture,' in Mediating Religion, eds. Sophia Marriage and Jolyon Mitchell, Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2003, 93-106
- 'Scandalous Art, Scandalous Theology,' (reply to David Jasper), Art and Christianity, 34 (2003), 10
- 'Music, Word and Theology Today: Learning from John Calvin,' in Theology in Dialogue: The Impact of the Arts, Humanities and Science on Contemporary Religious Thought, Festschrift for Professor John De Gruchy, eds. Lyn Holness and Ralf Wustenberg, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002, 3-27
- 'Moving in Mysterious Waves: Music, Meter, Silence, and Hope,' for Spiritual Information: 100 Perspectives, ed. Charles Harper, Templeton Foundation Press, 2002
- 'Prayer and Music,' in Perspectives on Prayer, ed. Fraser Watts, London: SPCK, 2001, 67-80
- 'Play it (Again): Music, Theology and Divine Communication,' in Creative Chords: Studies in Music, Theology and Christian Formation, eds. J. Astley, Timothy Hone, Mark Savage, Gracewing, 2000, 45-75
- 'Notes From the Celestial City,' interview with John Tavener, Third Way, 21, no. 10 (1998), 18-21; (reprinted in Huw Spanner, ed., In Conversation, London: Azure, 2001, 40-52)
- 'Theology and the Arts: Music,' in The Modern Theologians, ed. David Ford, Oxford: Blackwell, 1996, 686-99
- 'Theology through Music: Tavener, Time and Eternity,' in Essentials of Christian Community, Festschrift in honour of Professor D. Hardy, eds. D. Ford and D. Stamps, Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1996, 23-34
- 'The Ambivalent Rainbow: Forsyth, Art and Creation,' in Justice the True and Only Mercy, ed. Trevor Hart, Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1995, 197-219
forthcoming
- Music, Words and the Future of Theology, OUP
- Musical Theology, Eerdmans, 2008 (edited collection from the music colloquium - one of TTA's two international research colloquia)
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