At a Glance
176 Pages
23.37 x 18.8 x 2.03
Hardcover
$63.25
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Christmas is difficult for many of us. While some are expressing joy, others are re-living painful memories and reminders of loss. This book is a journey of beauty and meditation for those for whom ordinary Advent devotionals could never help.
David Bannon writes from profound personal experience. His reflections provide a way to commune with Scripture and with God. These are paired with beautiful paintings created by wounded artists, including Gauguin, Tissot, Caravaggio, Tanner, Delacroix, Van Gogh, and D rer. In their wounds, and from our own, we may once again encounter "God with us."
Based on the latest research in history and grief, Wounded in Spirit also returns to where Christian art began. From mourning in Roman catacombs to works of the masters, Bannon leads us to join the world's great artists on their pilgrimages of brokenness. This is a book of hope.
From the Author: After my daughter died, I sought solace in reading about others who knew similar grief. Many creative artists endured terrible losses and found ways to express their wounds and hopes in painting, sculpture, poetry, prose and music. One need not have suffered to create great art but I believe that great artists communicate truth in their work. Truth can be painful. It can also be joyous, hopeful, sorrowing and profound. Great art speaks to us across the centuries. It reminds us that we are not alone.
As a child I wondered at the psalms of lament: why were they included in the Bible at all? Never mind the terrible sorrows of the prophets. Now I see. There is grief and harm and waiting in this life. There is also joy and hope of reunion--surely the very heart of Advent. Great religious art communicates all of this and much more that words may fail to express. In it we find recognition and, at times, precious moments of peace.
Industry Reviews
"This glorious full-size hardback book (with a wonderful foreword by Philip Yancey) is the most beautiful devotional book of the season. Each meditation is paired with a moving reproduction of classic art, nicely reproduced on rich, glossy paper. In this mature and artful presentation, it reminds us of the early (now out of print) Paraclete classic God With Us. (That is still available in the "readers edition" that omits the artwork and remains one of our best-sellers in recent years with its literary ruminations and poetry and mature reflections.) Like that one, this is a treasure to behold. Wounded in Spirit stands out not only because of the subtly lavish design but because of its amazing content and spirit. David Bannon writes from profound personal experience, offering ways to commune with God through Scripture. He also tells some poignant stories of artists who lived through great pain. He himself has gone through some very odd stuff, and much grief. His adult daughter died of a drug overdose even as his own professional life was in difficulty. I could review this book in great detail, but I suppose you get the picture - it is very handsome, mature, thoughtfully spiritual and honest about the great brokenness of our lives, of our society, of our times. This book will inspire in the deepest, truest sense of the word as it evokes ways to be honest about our sadness and helps us find God's comfort (and joy) in this season. That is uses artwork to help us get there is such a blessing as sometimes words just fail. This book is a gift for the hurting, but a gift for any of us who feel what we feel these days." -Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds Books (Dallastown, PA)
"`Christmas can be a time of joy but also of tears, memory and prayer. Celebration does not always come easily.' So describes Wounded in Spirit: Advent Art and Meditations, a gorgeous full-color art book to help the grieving get through the season...If you like art and find that it feeds your soul, and you are struggling with grief as Christmas approaches, this may be the Advent book for you. Every day there is a new artist, with one or two examples of their work and several quotations about grief and loss and love. Here's a two-page spread of a typical day's meditation. The liturgical season of Advent begins this Sunday, December 2, but the book is organized by the month of December, with the daily reflections beginning on December 1 and ending on Christmas Day. Instead, the book focuses on what was going on in the lives of the artists themselves. The answer: a world of pain. Some of the artists profiled here are famous for their suffering, like Vincent Van Gogh, whose infamous ear mutilation happened the day before Christmas Eve. But many are painters I've never heard of, and their stories are heartbreaking...As Richard Rohr puts it in one of the book's well-chosen quotations, `I think your heart needs to be broken, and broken open, at least once to have a heart at all or to have a heart for others.' This Advent, may you work through grief and beauty simultaneously. God is good." -Jana Riess, author of Flunking Sainthood, Religion News Service
"This book summons an almost visceral response in its brilliant counterpoint to the customary understanding and celebration of Advent and Christmas. In the arena of wounds and griefs, though each experience is unique, we are joined in our humanness, finding common ground. The word sympathy means being together in profound distress. Art makes such anguish visible. Commentary penetrates and elucidates. These meditations and images are a marvelous gift."-Luci Shaw, Writer in Residence, Regent College, author and poet
"Wounded in Spirit has become my guide." -Philip Yancey
ISBN: 9781640601451
ISBN-10: 1640601457
Published: 30th October 2018
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Number of Pages: 176
Audience: General Adult
Publisher: PARACLETE PR
Country of Publication: US
Dimensions (cm): 23.37 x 18.8 x 2.03
Weight (kg): 0.68
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