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Breath for the Bones: Art, Imagination, and Spirit: Reflections on Creativity and Faith by Luci Shaw
georgiaonyrmnd's review
4.0
This book was a great, non-scholarly, engaging book on faith and art. Since the author is a poet herself, she had much to say about the subject as a writer, which was so applicable to me. I am in the depths of thinking about how and what I should write. I'm all questions. Should I just write and hope that the Lord will speak through my writing? Should my writing always point back to God and if so, how do I do that in a way that is not annoying and preachy and is something I might actually pick up myself? Does the Lord take what we write, whether or not it mentions Him directly and draw people to God? Does God necessarily want all of our (Christian artists) art to actually be drawing people to salvation or simply creating beauty in a much lesser way, but as He too created beauty?
Shaw, obviously, does not answer all these somewhat unanswerable questions, but she does touch on a lot of them as well as considering the aspects of the Word that relate to Creation and art, God's interaction with us through His word, the character of God, and the place of mystery in the Gospel as well as in art. While much relates back to Shaw's own writing, she does a good and thoughtful job of approaching the broader topic of creativity and imagination and it's place in the life of the artist (and at times believers in general).
The flow is a bit choppy at times because it's taken from Shaw's journal entries and other essays she's written in the past. The last chapter, too, is all poetry and more difficult to translate to all art than the rest of the book; however, I have much to ruminate over with the Lord and, I hope, with my fellow believers. Discussion questions and some writing prompts that correspond to each chapter are included at the end, which are also very helpful for encouraging a thoughtful look at the topics covered and a good way to begin dialoguing with friends.
Shaw, obviously, does not answer all these somewhat unanswerable questions, but she does touch on a lot of them as well as considering the aspects of the Word that relate to Creation and art, God's interaction with us through His word, the character of God, and the place of mystery in the Gospel as well as in art. While much relates back to Shaw's own writing, she does a good and thoughtful job of approaching the broader topic of creativity and imagination and it's place in the life of the artist (and at times believers in general).
The flow is a bit choppy at times because it's taken from Shaw's journal entries and other essays she's written in the past. The last chapter, too, is all poetry and more difficult to translate to all art than the rest of the book; however, I have much to ruminate over with the Lord and, I hope, with my fellow believers. Discussion questions and some writing prompts that correspond to each chapter are included at the end, which are also very helpful for encouraging a thoughtful look at the topics covered and a good way to begin dialoguing with friends.
angeladoll's review
5.0
Like dark chocolate, each chapter is delicious, heart healthy and has a bite to it. Thankful for these words when I get stuck.
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