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John Spurr, Reformed Theology and Visual Culture: The Protestant Imagination from Calvin to Edwards. By William A. Dyrness. pp. xvi + 339. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. isbn 0 521 83323 X and 54073 9. Hardback £55/$85; paper £19.99/$30, The Journal of Theological Studies, Volume 57, Issue 1, April 2006, Pages 378–381, https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flj048
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Extract
William Dyrness introduces his book as an attempt to present contemporary Protestants with historical and theological material upon which they may wish to reflect when shaping their worship or pondering their aesthetic options. In simple terms, then, he is pleading for a recognition that the Reformed tradition is not inimical to imagery, beauty, or high culture. The visual and material austerity with which the Reformed tradition has become associated—the iconoclasm and iconophobia, the unadorned churches, plain worship, word-centred piety, and the adoption of print as its favoured medium—are no less a visual choice than the gorgeous vestments, ceremonial, and churches of other Christian traditions. The Reformed option is not a simple repudiation of imagery on the basis of scriptural prohibition and fears of idolatry, it is an expression of a theological commitment. If he had done no more than make a forceful case for pushing the debate back beyond the simplistic assertion of scriptural fundamentalism as the root of the Reformed aesthetic, Dyrness would have done us a notable service. But he has also explored the theological engagement with God and the world which, he believes, underlies the Protestant ‘imagination’. This explains the interesting tension between the book's title and subtitle: in most respects, the subtitle, ‘The Protestant Imagination from Calvin to [Jonathan] Edwards’, is a more accurate label for the overall thrust of this book.
