Inspirational Relief Carving: 30 Projects for Expressing Your Faith in Wood Book

If, like me, you are continually fascinated by the interplay between faith and art, then set aside some time for this relatively slender volume. It is not always an easy read. Like so many theologians and philosophers (for aesthetics is a subset of philosophy more than theology), Brown spends a goodly portion of his work writing for other philosophers/theologians. The first three chapters, at least, are heavy with a careful setting of the problem within the history of philosophy and an examination of the antecedents to Brown's own approach, both pro and con.

But for me, the pace began to pick up in the chapter on "Artistic Makings and Religious Meanings" and became quite absorbing by chapter 5, "Varieties of Religious Aesthetic Experience," in which Brown is quite open about his indebtedness to the classic by William James. Parts of chapter 6, "Sin and Bad Taste," are utterly delightful!

Years after my seminary courses with the late Dr. William Hendricks, I was glad to have an opportunity to consider again the revelation of God through Beauty as well as through Goodness and Truth.