To Set the World Aflame: How Artists Bear Witness to the Fullness of God’s Creation

by W. David O. Taylor

Artists are more than creatives; they are stewards of truth, goodness, and beauty.

In To Set the World Aflame, W. David O. Taylor casts a sweeping theological vision for the vocation of artists. Drawing on three decades of work as a scholar, pastor, and global arts advocate, he shares how artists can shape the aesthetic imaginations of others and serve the common good. With insights from Scripture, history, theology, aesthetics, missiology, and the field of spiritual formation, Taylor explores how artists are called to be

· caretakers of the imagination, custodians of the emotions, and stewards of the senses;
· makers of life and meaning for the common good;
· wholly alive and wholly themselves; and
· witnesses to creation as the theater of God's glory and grace.

This inspiring resource shows artists how all that they make--from art installations and moving pictures to graphic novels, gourmet meals, and Gothic cathedrals--brings us into an intentional and intensive experience of the aesthetic aspect of our lives. Artists invest our lives with vibrancy and meaning in a way that enables us to enter into the fullness of God's creative and recreative purposes for our world.

Genres: Art

288 pages, Hardcover

Published September 8, 2026

About the author

W. David O. Taylor is Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of "Open and Unafraid: The Psalms and the Life of Faith" (Thomas Nelson: 2020), "Glimpses of the New Creation: Worship and the Formative Power of the Arts" (Eerdmans: 2019) and editor of "For the Beauty of the Church: Casting a Vision for the Arts" (Baker: 2010). He has written for The Washington Post, Image Journal, Christ & Pop Culture, and Christianity Today, among others. An Anglican priest, he has lectured widely on the arts, from Thailand to South Africa. He lives in Austin with his wife Phaedra, a visual artist and gardener, and his daughter Blythe and son Sebastian. Twitter: @wdavidotaylor. Instagram: @davidtaylor_theologian.

Reviews

[Michael Stalcup]

This is the best book on the vocation of artists I have ever read. David Taylor weaves countless insights and stories—gathered from the deep well of his decades of research, teaching, and walking alongside artists—into a beautiful tapestry that not only taught me but formed me: toward community, toward artistic discipline, toward prayer, toward courage, toward hospitality, toward new creative ideas, toward godly ambition, and most of all toward love.

Even before I had finished reading the book, I noticed it affecting my life: I was encouraging other artists more, writing poems as gifts for friends, taking bolder creative risks, and feeling the significance of making art—which I know to be true in my head but often doubt in my heart.

Reading this book, I kept thinking of my artist friends—potters and poets, illustrators and painters, singer-songwriters and novelists—and the specific ways this book will speak meaningfully to each of them. I can't wait for the wisdom and encouragement in these pages to stoke a creative fire in them that brings light and warmth to all those that they influence through their art and their lives.

Highly recommended! It’s also a good length (≈230 pages) for a book club or to read with a few artist friends. A group of us where I live are planning to meet up six times in six months—once for each of the book's six "perspectives" (sections): vocational, aesthetic, biblical, theological, formational, and missional—which is a really chill, doable pace.

[Greg]

This book set my heart aflame. I am an artist and parishioner. There are few who have seen artists, been artists, pastored artists, and studied theology. David Taylor is one of them.

I have been encouraged by this book and I continue to be encouraged since this book is not just for artists. Ultimately, it’s an argument for the church to embrace both art and artists. As Christ embraces tax collectors, prostitutes, and lepers.

I wish the last chapter came earlier, but it was a beautiful loving ending. Every pastor should read this book in order to understand the struggles artists have.

Thank you David for your years of dedication to artists and the church.