Art and Faith: A Theology of Making

Art & Faith A Theology of Making by the brilliant Japanese visual artist and writer Makoto Fujimura, is an amazing book about the importance of art to our human tribe, the discipline it takes to be an artist, the healing power of art, a critique of naturalism, rapture theology, and how The Great Artist, Christ, brings healing through our sufferings and struggles, brings us joy, and sustains us with His agape love.I liked Fujimura's conversational writing style, his references to Emily Dickinson, T.S.Eliot, N.T.Wright, C.S.Lewis, his moving story of becoming an artist and embracing faith, and there are some valuable truths and moving quotes that I have been reflecting on and incorporating into my life.I finished the book today for the Hugin and Munin read and drink mead book club a friend and I started a few years ago. A recent conversation we had about the book was quite enriching and spiritually nourishing.I highly recommend it.

Mako is among the most devoted artists of this generation. His art transcends. His life and his art gives others such love and joy, such peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and embodied action for the common good. In this book, you'll find deep waters and if you enter in and release into the mystery he helps name, your own life and the lives of those you love, dare I say your soul and the souls of others, will find unity that heals all fracture, and the kind of light and fusion that leads to greater life, greater care, and greater love. Thank you, Mako, for calling forth a community of people, artists, and life that echoes Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King Jr.'s Beloved Community. Thank you for your humble vision of the mysteries of God in the life of all, and for the beauty of love in its capacity to heal the heart of the world.

As an artist who is a Christian this book has been amazing to read. He writes in an easy style to read but the content is very rich and deep. It's the first time since college I've actually taken a highlighter to a book and marked sections that resonate with me. I'd highly recommend.

A thoughtful look at how we are all makers and the joy of knowing our Maker, even in the midst of difficulty and loss

I bought this book for a book study at my church. I have found it to be fully packed, and impactful. It has also been a bit of a difficult read for me, but definitely well worth the time and effort. It is a book I will reread many times, so much there. Fugimura’s writing of the interplay of art and faith is deeply personal, drawn from both his personal experience, and studied contributions from other writers and theologians I respect. It is as rewarding as it is challenging.

Makoto Fujimura offers a view of art and its role in the spiritual that, I believe, is utterly unique in the western world. As a non-artist but appreciator of art, I believe people enjoy learning the professional perspectives of those who loves what they do. It is indeed inspiring to read the thoughts and purposes of someone so clearly in love with the work he has undertaken.

Thank you! It reached me on time

The title, Art + Faith, might lead some to believe that this book is written primarily for the artist or art enthusiast. To make this conclusion, however, would keep many from reading what is one of the most important faith and work books written to date. Fujimura addresses a critically under-represented perspective of the faith and work movement through his interjection of a "theology of making." Drawing from rich biblical and theological streams, Fujimura helps us see a distinctive alternative that challenges the pragmatism that overwhelmingly characterizes our approach to work today. In this new paradigm of “slow work,” the brokenness we experience becomes the unexpected starting place for the “New Newness” to break into our world. If digested slowly, Art + Faith will turn workers into makers whose imaginations have been captivated by the New Creation that is to come.

Highly recommend any artist add this to their reading list.Inspirational, thoughtful, and perspective enhancing writing.

I love this book. I am reading it slowly to digest it all, as there is a lot of wisdom and truth to take hold in it.

Bien

Some wonderful orthodox arguments toward very unorthodox creative ends. This is very BIG PICTURE and abstract... a little like Makotos art!) with not much nuts and bolts - but perhaps that is intentional and appropriate - it does leave you yearning for more real world applications of this kind of thinking. Keen to read some of his other works as this is his first that I've read.

good to find a book by an artist I like v much. still reading.