Reformed Theology and Visual Culture The Protestant Imagination from Calvin to Edwards

William Dyrness explores the roots of Reformed theology from sixteenth-century Geneva to seventeenth and eighteenth-century Puritan New England. Though this tradition impeded development of particular visual forms, Dyrness argues that it encouraged others, especially in areas of popular culture and the order of family and community. Exploring the theology of Calvin and others, Dyrness demonstrates how the tradition created a new aesthetic of simplicity, inwardness and order to express underlying theological commitments.

With the walls of their churches bereft of imagery and colour and their worship centered around sermons with carefully constructed outlines (as opposed to movement and drama), Reformed Protestants have often been accused of being dour and unimaginative. Here, William Dyrness explores the roots of Reformed theology in an attempt to counteract these prevailing notions. Studying sixteenth-century Geneva and England, seventeenth-century England and Holland and seventeenth and eighteenth-century Puritan New England, Dyrness argues that, though this tradition impeded development of particular visual forms, it encouraged others, especially in areas of popular culture and the ordering of family and community. Exploring the theology of John Calvin, William Ames, John Cotton and Jonathan Edwards, Dyrness shows how this tradition created a new aesthetic of simplicity, inwardness and order to express underlying theological commitments. With over forty illustrations, this book will prove invaluable to those interested in the Reformed tradition.

1. Introduction: imagination, theology and visual culture; 2. Medieval faith and the ambiguity of sight; 3. John Calvin: seeing God in the preached word; 4. England and the visual culture of the reformation; 5. William Ames, John Cotton and seventeenth-century puritanism; 6. Seventeenth-century visual culture; 7. Jonathan Edwards: the world as image and shadow.

William Dyrness explores the roots of Reformed theology from sixteenth-century England to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Puritan New England and argues that, though this tradition impeded development of particular visual forms, it encouraged others, especially in areas of popular culture and the ordering of family and community.

William Dyrness is Professor of Theology and Culture in the School of Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California. He is the author of over a dozen books on theology and culture including The Earth is God: A Theology of American Culture (1997) and Visual Faith: Art, Theology and Worship in Dialogue (2001).