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 offers artists a vision for their vocation and encouragement in their life and work. He explores how artists help us to come fully alive and make sense of our world in deeply meaningful ways.

Drawing together insights from Scripture, history, theology, aesthetics, missiology, and spiritual formation, To Set the World Aflame explores how artists are called to be

● caretakers of the imagination, custodians of the emotions, and stewards of the senses;
● makers of life who shape the imaginations of others and serve the common good;
● wholly alive and wholly themselves; and
● witnesses to creation as the theater of God's glory and grace.

Artists infuse our lives with aesthetic vibrancy and invest it with meaning in a way that enables us to enter into the fullness of God's re-creative purposes for our world. They set the world aflame with their creative activities and thereby reflect the glory of God's own artistry.

To Set the World Aflame 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. Here readers will find a theology of art and beauty that calls Christian creatives to their highest purpose.

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

[F.C. Shultz]

Interesting book. Loved the beginning, and appreciated the second half. I’m not sure who would benefit from this most, an artist early on their journey of making art, yes. Possibly someone who doesn’t understand why the arts matter.

It’s academic and comprehensive (look at the table of contents, and over 500 footnotes), but the writing style is still approachable.

That said, I think I prefer my art books more in the style of Christian Wiman’s “He Held Radical Light,” but I’m glad I read this and will be recommending it often.

“While this primal need to be loved is universally human, artists often feel it acutely. Their life’s work, unlike the work of an accountant or engineer perhaps, is often indistinguishable from their identity.”

“What kind of artists do we become when we live as the beloved of God?…We become free to say, I don’t have to be amazing all the time.”

“For there is no place in [God’s world] where aesthetic things do not matter.”

“To be the people of God is not only to tell stories and to delight in stories but also to be made by stories.”

“Discipline, then, helps us to become what we dearly wish to be by God’s grace: our truest selves.”

[Charles Cotherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't consider myself an artist--though I do write a bit and enjoy music as a hobby--so I wasn't sure if I would be able to engage with this book. I was pleasantly surprised how accessible and helpful this book was. It is a great resource for pastors like me who want to think better about art and artists.

[Sarah Fowler Wolfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for a fairly academic tome on this subject, you've found it. If you haven't read any other books on this topic, this is a good one.

But if you've read the good handful of books on this topic published in the last ten years (and a few others over the past half-century or so), I don't think you need this one too.

Maybe I'm a terrible judge, because I've read nearly every book the author quotes in his multiple epigraphs. Perhaps I'm a lot more saturated in this topic than your average bear. But Taylor just didn't bring a very unique or new take, although it is beautiful.

So if you're only going to read one, this is a solid choice. If you've already read a bunch, this isn't plowing any new ground or bringing anything particularly profound to the conversation.

{I received an ARC from Brazos Press on NetGalley}

[Michael Stalcup · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Amanda Opelt · Rating 4.75 out of 5]

W. David O. Taylor - Taylor takes us on a wild and wonderful journey through the history and philosophy of the artistic vocation, helping us see how God always intended art to be used for His glory and the good of the world. Drawing from the work of artists from across centuries and around the world, using all kinds of mediums, we get a powerful glimpse of the creative kingdom in this wonderful work.

[Cole Feix · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book about art and artists, the church, and ways to encourage one another. David Taylor is a fascinating writer for both his breadth and depth, from personal experiences to artistic virtues to biblical and theological perspectives.

Keep an eye out for an interview on the So We Speak podcast.