A theological framework for the liturgical arts rooted in John Calvin Both detractors and supporters of John Calvin have deemed him an enemy of the physical body, a pessimist toward creation, and a negative influence on the liturgical arts. But, says W. David O. Taylor, that only tells half of the story. Taylor examines Calvin's trinitarian theology as it intersects his doctrine of the physical creation in order to argue for a positive theological account of the liturgical arts. He does so believing that Calvin's theology can serve, perhaps surprisingly, as a rich resource for understanding the theological purposes of the arts in corporate worship. Drawing on Calvin's Institutes, biblical commentaries, sermons, catechisms, treatises, and worship orders, this book represents one of the most thorough investigations available of John Calvin's theology of the physical creation—and the promising possibilities it opens up for the formative role of the arts in worship.

The Theater of God's Glory: Calvin, Creation, and the Liturgical Arts (The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies (CICW))

Religion & Spirituality

Taylor, W. David O.

Christian Books & Bibles

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

How do the arts in worship form individuals and communities?
Every choice of art in worship opens up and closes down possibilities for the formation of our humanity. Every practice of music, every decision about language, every use of our bodies, every approach to visual media or church buildings forms our desires, shapes our imaginations, habituates our emotional instincts, and reconfigures our identity as Christians in contextually meaningful ways, generating thereby a sense of the triune God and of our place in the world.
Glimpses of the New Creation argues that the arts form us in worship by bringing us into intentional and intensive participation in the aesthetic aspect of our humanity—that is, our physical, emotional, imaginative, and metaphorical capacities. In so doing they invite the people of God to be conformed to Christ and to participate in the praise of Christ and in the praise of creation, which by the Spirit’s power raises its peculiar voice to the Father in heaven, for the sake of the world that God so loves.

Glimpses of the New Creation: Worship and the Formative Power of the Arts

Begbie, Jeremy

Eerdmans

Open and Unafraid: The Psalms as a Guide to Life

The creator of the groundbreaking film The Psalms, featuring Bono and Eugene Peterson, shows how the Psalms enable us to find a more transparent, resilient, and fearless life of faith. Featuring a foreword by Eugene Peterson and an afterword by Bono. In 2016, David Taylor released a film of Eugene Peterson and U2's Bono discussing how the Psalms had shaped their work, helping them make sense of life, art, metaphor, violence, suffering, and mortality. With more than one million views on YouTube, the film is a sensation and has helped people encounter God as he is presented in the Psalms: a God of justice, grace, goodness, healing, power and refuge. Open and Unafraid goes even further, showing us how the Psalms become a guide to living faithfully. The Psalms have been central to God's people for millennia, across all walks of life and cultural contexts. In reading them, we discover that we are never alone in our joys, sorrows, angers, doubts, praises, or thanksgivings. In them, we learn about prayer and poetry, honesty and community, justice and enemies, life and death, nations and creation. Open and Unafraid shows us how to read the Psalms in a fresh, life-giving way, and so access the bottomless resources for life that they provide.

Thomas Nelson

From professor, pastor, and producer of the documentary Bono and Eugene Peterson: The Psalms, a devotional examination of the life of faith as presented in the Psalter--one lived in joy, sorrow, anger, doubt, fear, mortality, community, isolation, and above all in the presence of God--in order to deepen discipleship and worship. 
"A book you will want to read and read again." -- Eugene Peterson 
Afterword by Bono. 
How can we find a more transparent, resilient, and fearless life of faith? 
The book of Psalms has been central to God's people for millennia, across all walks of life and cultural contexts. In reading it, we discover that we are never alone in our joys, sorrows, angers, doubts, praises, or thanksgivings. In it, we learn about prayer and poetry, honesty and community, justice and enemies, life and death, nations and creation. Open and Unafraid shows us how to read the psalms in a fresh, life-giving way, and so access the bottomless resources for life that they provide. 
"David Taylor’s take is 'open and unafraid' alright. He really goes there, exposing himself before God in the most beautiful way. He might have called the book Naked, because if you don’t find your own self feeling a little exposed here, it might be time to take some armor off." -- Bono, from the Afterword 
"A book that you will want to read and read again, and yet again, in order to discover the wisdom of the Psalms that shows us how to walk in the life-giving way of Jesus." -- Eugene Peterson, from the Foreword 
"A winsome, accessible entry into the Book of Psalms…Connects the poetry of the psalms to real-life wonders and struggles." -- Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary 
"Taylor reads these biblical prayers with Dr. Seuss, rappers, and other poets, along with theologians and the daily news....Guides readers in tracing out patterns of holy speech that have the potential for healing our hearts and our communities." -- Ellen F. Davis, Duke Divinity School 
"I have always loved the psalms--for their defiant devotion, their deep joy, and their brutal yet beautiful honesty. And after reading this fantastic book about them, I love them even more." -- Matt Redman, worship leader and song writer 
"In these fraught and fearsome days, we need the psalms more than ever. And we need more faithful artists and thinkers like David Taylor to mine the infinite gifts the psalms offer across the ages." -- Karen Swallow Prior, author of Fierce Convictions

Prayers for the Pilgrimage: A Book of Collects for All of Life

IVP Formatio

Do our physical bodies really matter in corporate worship? Isn't our soul the most important part of us? Aren't our bodies, at best, negligible to worship and, at worst, a hindrance? The answer to this last question is categorically no, as Christians have attested throughout history and across the global church. The purpose of the body instead is to offer to God in worship what only it can offer--and what must be offered to God. By drawing on the wisdom of the Bible, church history, and theology, and by taking advantage of the unique insights of the arts and sciences, ethics, and spiritual formation, a respected theologian and pastor argues in this book that there is something for our physical bodies to do that decisively forms Christlikeness in us within the context of corporate worship. What we do with our postures, gestures, and movements in worship matter. How our senses of sight, scent, sound, taste, and touch are involved in worship matter. How our spontaneous and prescriptive activities form us in worship matter. All of it matters to faithful and fulsome worship for the sake of a body that is fully alive in the praise of God.

Body of Praise

Baker Academic

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Taylor, W. David O.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Taylor, W. David O.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Taylor, W. David O.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Theater of God's Glory: Calvin, Creation, and the Liturgical Arts (The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies (CICW))

Glimpses of the New Creation: Worship and the Formative Power of the Arts

Open and Unafraid: The Psalms as a Guide to Life

Open and Unafraid: The Psalms as a Guide to Life

Prayers for the Pilgrimage: A Book of Collects for All of Life

Body of Praise