WHY ART MATTERS:
A call for Christians to create
By Alastair Gordon
IVP. 118 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 789 742 367
This book encourages every believer, indeed every human being, to recognise and use their creativity. We are made in the image of God, and creative is part of what he has made us to be.
The author is an articulate evangelical believer and an award-winning painter, recognised in the mainstream art world. He brings his great enthusiasm to underline the vital role that creativity has in human life, beginning with the importance of beauty to human flourishing, observing that in God’s creation of trees in Genesis 2:9 aesthetics (‘pleasing to the eye’) comes before utility (‘good for food’). Art is also vital in memorialising events and people; finding expression for emotions that defy words; posing questions that some might prefer to dodge.
