In this episode of the podcast I am overjoyed to be able to share my recent conversation with none other than Dr W David O Taylor (hereinafter merely “David”). David is the associate professor of theology & culture at Fuller Seminary, the author of a ton of books… oh, and he was the guy responsible for pulling Bono & Eugene Peterson together for this magical conversation a few years back. Relevant to this conversation, David was (for a significant period of time) a pastor in a church that consisted almost 25% of artists, and he intentionally pastored these artists for their own apprenticeship to Jesus. He also helped them think through how their vocations served the church and the world. A lot of that wisdom and experience ended up in Glimpses of the New Creation (the book we primarily talk about), as well as his most recent book, A Body of Praise. I was particularly grateful for the opportunity to chat with David so close to the launch of the 4th annual Imagine Arts Fest, which I help lead in my own local context. This was a wide-ranging conversation, to be sure, but we kept circling around questions like:
Was (is?) Jesus an artist? Does God care about “aesthetics”?
The conversation may get a little highfalutin’ at times, but (surprisingly) these esoteric questions keep getting grounded back down to earth… earthiness… the ground of being, the ground beneath our feet, and the ground of which we are composed.
"Was Jesus an 'Artist'?" ...and more, with W David O Taylor