Includes bibliographical references.

The arts and theology. The theology and arts legacy / Wilson Yates -- How important are the arts, theologically? / Frank Burch Brown -- "Lump in the throat" stories : narrative art, religious imagination, and an aesthetic of hope / Mary Farrell Bednarowski -- Spirit standing still : documenting beauty in photography / Kimberly Vrudny -- The arts and interpretation. The arts, midrash, and biblical teaching / Bruce C. Birch -- Changing patterns and interpretations of parables in art / Doug Adams -- The portrait of God in Christian visual art / Robin M. Jensen -- The place of art / Deborah Haynes -- The arts and the practice of ministry. Liturgical aesthetics : the travail of Christian worship / Don E. Saliers -- Engaging eucharistic images in film : ecclesiological and liturgical meanings / Jann Cather Weaver -- Three models for arts programs in seminaries and churches : exhibitions, residencies, and collaborations / Cindi Beth Johnson -- Revealings : exploring the practice of prayer and photographic images / Sidney D. Fowler.

"Why should the church be involved with the arts? What are the roles that the arts play in the religious life? How does art reveal the presence of God? What is the relationship between the spiritual and the aesthetic? What is the connection between Christian symbols and their artistic expression? How can the arts be used in the practice of ministry and worship?" "A renewed interest in this fertile and provocative interplay between religion and the arts is causing these questions to be posed more persistently now in both academic and church settings. The essays in Arts, Theology, and the Church provoke and ponder such questions and combine to create this foundational work that offers new understandings about the relationship of the arts to theology, history, and the practice of ministry in the church."--Jacket.