Beholding Beauty: Worshiping God through the Arts - Paperback

by Jason R. McConnell (Author)

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.

Author Biography

Jason R. McConnell is the senior pastor of the East Franklin Union Church and Franklin United Church in Franklin, Vermont. He also serves as codirector of the Ockenga Fellows program and Mentor in the DMin program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. He is the coeditor of Return to the Parish: The Pastor in the Public Square (2022).