Intruding Upon the Timeless: Meditations on Art, Faith, and Mystery

Square Halo Books, November 2003. Paper Back. Very Good. There's lots of talk these days -- good talk -- about convergences of faith and art. Books are Being published, conferences held and academic programs initiated on the phenomenon. Theologians quote novelists, poets write theology, filmmakers unabashedly express faith. We have the sense that no small portion of such convergence can somehow be attributed to the influence of <i>Image: A Journal of the Arts & Religion</i>. It's a classy publication featuring articles and stories and reviews by and about literary and visual artists for whom faith is the mainspring of inspiration, or the Jacob's angel with whom they wrestle. Editor Gregory Wolfe has a brain about the size of Seattle and a heart nearly as large, generating sparks and musings, impatiences and provocations that fill the lead editorials of each issue. This book constitutes a selection of the best. Our favorite (maybe because we were there when he spoke it) is ''Transfiguration,'' about the implications for art of Jesus on Tabor. But it was hard to choose. All the pieces brim contagiously with the conviction of their author, that ''art that engages faith can body forth an incarnational balance between the letter and the spirit, make ancient truths new, and allow the time-bound to briefly and tentatively intrude upon the timeless.' 172 pp. As new with owner inscription, a crisp unread copy.