Spiritual Growth, Religion & Spirituality 

In Sense and Spirituality, James McCullough offers an account of spiritual formation and how the visual arts might contribute to ongoing Christian discipleship. McCullough claims that there is more involved in proper aesthetic appreciation than like and dislike and argues that a meaningful and sustained appreciation of art leads to spiritual growth. The relationship between theological aesthetics and practical theology is argued to be collaborative, and McCullough proposes the idea that ascesis (spiritual training) can work together with aesthesis (art perception) in order to reap profound spiritual rewards. Understanding aesthetics as “the realm of sense perception” and spiritual formation as “growing capacities to participate in God’s purposes”, James McCullough suggests how these dynamics can mutually enhance each other, with the arts as an effective catalyst for this relationship. McCullough proposes an analysis of artistic communication and explores exciting examples from music, poetry, and painting, putting theoretical proposals in concrete terms. Sense and Spirituality will engage both those new to the arts and those already deeply familiar with them.Table of ContentsForeword by David Brown Preface Introduction PART I Theoretical Framework The Arts and Spirituality 2 A Communicative Theory of the Arts 3 Aesthesis, Ascesis, and Catalysis PART II Practical Application 4 T. S. Eliot - Four Quartets 5 Makoto Fujimura - The Four Holy Gospels 6 James MacMillan - Seven Last Words from the Cross 7 What Are They Saying? PART III Conclusion 8 Eyes that See, Ears that Hear Bibliography Recommended Reading - from Amzon