Religious Books

In this provocative essay on that least understood virtue, compassion, the authors challenge themselves and us with these questions: Where do we place compassion in our lives? Is it enough to live a life in which we hurt one another as little as possible? Is our guiding ideal a life of maximum pleasure and minimum pain? Compassion answers no.

After years of study and discussion among themselves, with other religious, and with men and women at the very center of national politics, the authors look at compassion with a vigorous new perspective. They place compassion at the heart of a Christian life in a world governed far too long by principles of power and destructive control. Compassion, no longer merely an eraser of human mistakes, is a force of prayer and action -- the expression of God's love for us and our love for God and one another.

Compassion is a book that says no to a compassion of guilt and failure and yes to a compassionate love that pervades our spirit and moves us to action. Henri Nouwen, Donald McNeill, and Douglas Morrison have written a moving document on what it means to be a Christian in a difficult time.

"The Ecumenism of Beauty is a call to the church to again embrace the arts in service to its liturgy and mission." --Sandra Bowden, Collector, Curator and Past President of Christians in the Visual Arts

Essays include Calvin and the Visual Arts: The Aesthetics of Soli Deo Gloria, The Artist as Contemplative, and Art and the Liturgy.

Contributors to this book include:
Timothy Verdon, Editor -- Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Director (Florence, Italy)
William Dyrness -- Fuller Theological Seminary, Professor of Theology
Jerome Cottin -- University of Strasbourg, Professor of Practical Theology
Susan S. Kanaga
Filippo Rossi
Martin Shannon

Released during the 500th commemoration year of the Reformation, this publication is part of a larger symposium in 2017, The Arts and Ecumenism -- What Theology Risks in Artistic Creation, with academic presentations in Paris, Strasbourg, and Florence, and an art exhibit at Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence, Italy. The symposium also includes panel discussions and sessions at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in New Haven and in Orleans, MA. The symposium is promoted by Catholic and Protestant schools of theology together with Mount Tabor Centre for Art and Spirituality, Barga, Italy and Orleans, MA. The authors of this book are Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Protestant artists, scholars, and clergy who will take part in this symposium.

The work of contributors Susan S. Kanaga and Filippo Rossi is currently on display at the Grande Museo del Duomo in Florence, Italy. For more information visit artsandecumenism.org.