Matthew J. Milliner
"What Marxist views of art have so long tried to accomplish is actually realized in this sparkling volume: a view of art propelled by confident hope in tomorrow that still crackles with justice today."
Steven R. Guthrie
"Both theologians and fine artists have been criticized at times for being out of touch with the most urgent needs of society. This compelling collection defies that caricature. Here artists and theologians reflect on the new creation while attending carefully to the groans of the world in which we live. If you've ever wondered how theology and the arts might engage with a global pandemic, institutional racism, the environmental crisis, economic injustice, and other pressing concerns of the moment, start here."
Jim Watkins
"The Art of New Creation is a rich contribution to the study of theology and the arts that attests to the continued vitality and relevance of this interdisciplinary conversation. Bringing together many voices, this volume ventures into fresh, promising directions. In particular, contributors open spaces to explore relationships between aesthetics, theology, racism, the ecological crisis, and the Covid-19 pandemic. Generous room is given for artists to reflect on their own practice, and several contributions are offered in a dialogical mode that proves fruitful and engaging. The biblical theme of new creation threads the entire project and weaves a beautiful tapestry that will, I hope, inspire many projects of the same kind. While many trends in academic theology will come and go, The Art of New Creation demonstrates the ongoing need for interdisciplinary explorations in theology and the arts."
Cecilia González-Andrieu
"Rooted in this moment when we have lost our sense of being and are traversing what appears as the brooding threat of nonbeing, this book unleashes creativity as the embodiment of new being. Joined in rumination and celebration, we are guided by a diversely gifted company of friends to journey forth in hope. The pages nourish and sustain us through the extraordinary more of art as it leads us into depth to meet our abundant God in the midst of a suffering world."
Shannon Steed Sigler
"From music to painting to film, this volume brings theologians and practicing artists together to imagine God's new creation that, as Begbie highlights, is 'before us' but not yet realized. This mind-bending idea begs for embodied expression, and our cultural moment—rife with fear and injustice—needs those who can transform our imaginations for a new world to come. This collection is an enlivening contribution to the theology and arts conversation, which can often be abstract in its conclusions and outcomes. Instead, we are offered perspectives revealing that the integration of theology and the arts can be a vital nexus from which to imagine God's new creation in our broken world."
Janet Soskice
"A time-honored and timely theme addressed by a great group of writers and artists. The Art of New Creation is a welcome new contribution to the dialogue regarding theology and the arts."
Ben Quash
"This celebratory book reverberates with the joy of something fulfilled (ten years of DITA, a taste of whose repeatedly rich harvests can be sampled here) and the even-greater joy of something anticipated: the full realization of God's new creation. The thought of scholars, the testimony of artistic practitioners, and the wisdom of good conversationalists all combine here to prove that whether we are engaged in making art, or theology, or conversation, or all three, we are at the same time being made. Our task is to let that making be God's work in us."
Makoto Fujimura
"Artists may be expected to speak of the new to attempt to create something new into the world. But what is truly new and necessary is for theology to dare to open the mystery of the New. In this collection of essays and conversations, we see a glimpse into a church in which such a possibility of the New is fully manifest. We see poets like Michael O'Shiel and artists like Lanecia A. Rouse Tinsley and Steve Prince invited to a journey of inquiry with pioneering theologians Jeremy Begbie and N. T. Wright leading the way. I am grateful for this diverse estuary of thoughts, which leads to Making."
