Art in Action: Toward a Christian Aesthetic [Paperback]

Nicholas Wolterstorff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1980

This book offers a fine general introduction to the theory of art, and it also presents one of the most interesting statements of recent years regarding th special perspectives that may be cast upon the issues of aesthetics from the standpoint of the Christian theology. It is a cogently argued and splendidly written book which deserves to be widely read.

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (May 1, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802818161
• ISBN-13: 978-0802818164
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #596,910 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Maybe a brick but not the building, September 16, 2006

By 

D. Clemens (OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Art in Action: Toward a Christian Aesthetic (Paperback)

I am a graduate student in the fine arts at a major university in the United States. I ordered this book with an eye on enriching my own theological reflection on the arts, an area that presently suffers from near pervasive theological negligence and fundamentalist reductive tendencies.

Wolterstorff's "Art in Action" is commendable in so far as it offers careful analysis of and convincing argumentation against predominate contemporary Western views on the arts. This offering is additionally refreshing because Wolterstorff avoids the reactionary views of books with similar topics.

This book advances an argument rooted in Christian narrative but driven largely by a philosophical engine that privileges rigorous analytic logic and careful scientific scrutiny. I see this as both the book's great strength and weakness.

Wolterstorff spends an overwhelming majority of the book developing exacting analysis on what he rightly considers the narrowness of contemporary Western notions regarding the arts, with frequent discussions of analytic/scientific evidence regarding the arts and the nature of perception. Unfortunately, this privileging of analytic/scientific discourses significantly undermines the development of a prophetic, coherent narrative that distills a broader, more compelling Christian view of the arts in our lives.

I make this criticism partly because Wolterstorff himself claims that this volume is meant to be the more accessible work of a set of philosophical reflections he has written on the arts.

Those whose philosophical leanings run in the pragmatic/poststructuralist direction, or those whose theological narratives are indebted more to a Christ-story rather than a creation-story (Wolterstorff relies primarily on the latter), will find that the arguments of this book occasionally seem to miss the mark. Nevertheless, they will also find a cogent analysis and critique of contemporary Western notions of the arts as well as the messy birth of a Christian perspective for the arts.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Aesthetics, May 11, 2011

By 

david j rinzema - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art in Action: Toward a Christian Aesthetic (Paperback)

I took a class in aesthetics with Dr. Wolterstorff in the 1970's and we used as a text the first few chapters of Art in Action, then a work in progress. In progress for 20 years! It's amazing, and I'm as agnostic now as I was then. Completely changed my basic ideas about art. I can't recommend it highly enough.