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Redeeming Vision: A Christian Guide to Looking at and Learning from Art
We are formed by the images we view. From classical art to advertisements and from news photos to social media, the images we look at mold our ideas of race, gender, and class. They shape how we love God and our neighbor.
This practical guide helps us look closely at and understand how a wide variety of images make meaning as aesthetic and cultural objects. Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt teaches us how to learn from art rather than critique it and how to respond to images in Christian ways, allowing them to positively transform us and how we love.
The book includes twenty-three images, most in full color, that range from classical European paintings to Central African sculpture, from Chinese ink painting to political propaganda, and from stark anthropological photographs to unconventional installations.
This practical guide helps us look closely at and understand how a wide variety of images make meaning as aesthetic and cultural objects. Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt teaches us how to learn from art rather than critique it and how to respond to images in Christian ways, allowing them to positively transform us and how we love.
The book includes twenty-three images, most in full color, that range from classical European paintings to Central African sculpture, from Chinese ink painting to political propaganda, and from stark anthropological photographs to unconventional installations.
272 pages, Paperback
Published March 21, 2023
32 people are currently reading
535 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
April 1, 2023
After I heard her lecture on approaching modern art as a Christian, I knew I wanted to read her new book. It did not disappoint.
Professor Weichbrodt brings heart and light and thoughtfulness to the discussion of the Christian and art. She masterfully asks humble, vulnerable questions to unpack meaning from artworks and how they intersect with our experiences, beliefs, and values.
Each chapter introduces a Christian theme and corresponding pieces of art with subheadings of Visual Analysis, Examining our Archive, and Contexts.
Her language is simple and sparkles with joy and love. Highly recommend!
Professor Weichbrodt brings heart and light and thoughtfulness to the discussion of the Christian and art. She masterfully asks humble, vulnerable questions to unpack meaning from artworks and how they intersect with our experiences, beliefs, and values.
Each chapter introduces a Christian theme and corresponding pieces of art with subheadings of Visual Analysis, Examining our Archive, and Contexts.
Her language is simple and sparkles with joy and love. Highly recommend!
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October 28, 2025Read/previewed this book for using in the future for art appreciation once my children are a bit older. Found it informative and interesting, but I think it would be best enjoyed as a book club, class, discussion group for me.
February 13, 2024
Really loved this art appreciation class in a book! I loved considering my personal archive, learning how to interpret art (especially non-representational art), and looking at art in context.
The physical edition of this book is lovely. I'm so glad they went all-out on the printing as everything comes through clear and bright. Will be continually referencing and recommending!
The physical edition of this book is lovely. I'm so glad they went all-out on the printing as everything comes through clear and bright. Will be continually referencing and recommending!
March 13, 2024
This fulfilled much of my desire to study art history, and empowered me to want to get into an art museum and use my new skills!
August 13, 2025
This was a fascinating read. I really like how the author walks through the formal elements of art such as line, color, contrast, etc. and then shows how they are used in real artwork. She talks about the importance of looking with intention and seeing art as an opportunity to love God and our neighbor well. It’s a really helpful way to think through the arts with a Christian worldview without actually reading a Christian intent into the piece itself if that’s not what the artist was trying to do.
She also talks a lot about art history and how artists were influenced by the times they lived in. She covers the debate over using images in worship and the way male and female nudes developed differently in the art world with different intentions. She brings in a lot of works by women and people of color who are traditionally underrepresented in art appreciation. I learned a lot and now want to learn more, which in my opinion is the mark of a very well-written book.
She also talks a lot about art history and how artists were influenced by the times they lived in. She covers the debate over using images in worship and the way male and female nudes developed differently in the art world with different intentions. She brings in a lot of works by women and people of color who are traditionally underrepresented in art appreciation. I learned a lot and now want to learn more, which in my opinion is the mark of a very well-written book.
December 5, 2023
This was one of the books I read as an assigned judge for the “Culture and Arts” section of the 2024 CT Book Awards. You can read more information here.
August 12, 2025
4.5 so much to think about and take in and since I took so long to finish it, now that it’s done, I think I need to start over and read it again. 😊
April 1, 2023
I've long had an interest in art. That interest has increased in recent years after we moved to a region with a world-class art museum (Detroit Institute of Art). When we travel to places like Chicago we have often spent time in their museums as well. As a result, my appreciation of the breadth of art has increased dramatically. That being said, I've never been trained in how I might view art. I know what I like, but I'm not sure why that's true. While I have an interest in religious artwork, I tend not to view artwork more generally through a Christian or theological lens.
In Redeeming Vision Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt provides a guide for Christians to look at and learn from art. She writes in her introduction that this is a book about more than museumgoers. She writes for all of us who look at pictures, including Instagram photos, magazines, and graphic novels, to name a few forms. She asks us "what does your faith have to do with how you see?" (p. 9). While some would understand this question in terms of guardrails -- what one might not want to see, she's not interested here in the question of whether depictions of violence or nudity are to be avoided. So, instead of a fence, she speaks here of faith serving as a path to view pictures, including artwork. She writes with the assumption that we are more than viewers, but are instead makers, including being culture makers. She writes that "when we look at art and images, we can do something with them. We are not simply consuming visual information or waiting for an artwork to stir our complacent souls." Art thus can lead us to a position of lament or create curiosity or delight. Central to her message is that "Our viewing becomes making when it grows our love for God and our neighbor" (p. 11).
Weichbrodt divides her book into three parts. Part 1 simply helps us know "How to Look." Here she speaks of the toolbox (ch. 1), which introduces us to the tools for visual analysis, such as the formal elements including line, shape, form, color, value, space, and texture, describing each of these elements. Then in chapter 2, we move deeper into what she speaks of as "The Archive." She will return to our archive throughout the book. The archive is the lens through which we make meaning as we view pictures, whether a photo, sculpture, or painting. This is like a mental filing cabinet that we rifle through when we view something. Both the viewer and the artist have archives through which we view things, giving a context to understand and interpret what we see. In this chapter, the author uses a famous photo -- "Migrant Mother" as an example, helping us see things we might not otherwise see. The archive speaks to similar things we've seen and those that are different. Finally, in chapter 3, Weichbrodt speaks of the frame, or the physical context, in which the picture appears. She uses as a case study Caravaggio's "The Deposition." She compares the original setting in a chapel over the altar, where a copy now appears, and the current location in the Vatican museum. The question here concerns how context influences the way we view something, whether in a museum, online, or in its original location. She suggests that the frame shapes our experiences of the image.
With this foundational piece, we move into Part 2 "Love the Lord your God." In these three middle chapters, she asks us to consider how our viewing of art and images helps grow our love of God. She begins chapter 4 with a discussion about "Confessing Our Idols." This includes a conversation about the iconoclastic debates of earlier centuries, but that's not the primary point. More specifically she speaks of the idols of the perfect self and the ideal. From there we move into chapter 5 to a conversation about "Wondering at God's Transcendence." She speaks about transcendence in relation to abstract art, with a focus on Kandinsky's "Painting with Green Center." The conversation concerns how we might see something lying beyond the material, such that divide transcendence can be sensed in art. If chapter 5 speaks of divine transcendence and abstract art, chapter 6, titled "Delighting in God's Presence," focuses on representational art. The examination of representational art speaks to divine immanence. Here she explores art that speaks to mundane things like a vase of flowers or an impressionist painting of a woman knitting.
Part 3 focuses on the call to "Love Your Neighbor as Yourself." Part 3 is composed of five chapters. Chapter 7 is titled "Growing Curiosity" and focuses on portraiture. Chapter 8 is titled "Sharing Our Space" and explores landscape. Then in chapter 9, titled "Allowing for Complexity" the author explores the Art of the Everyday." She points out that simplicity can conceal something important that requires some reflection. She points to William Sidney Mount's "The Power of Music," a painting that focuses on a barn. Inside are three white men, one of whom is playing a fiddle, while the other two listen. In the foreground, outside the door, hidden from the three white men, is a Black man, who is also listening. What does the artist want us to see in this picture? Is he speaking to the segregated nature of this scene, such that the Black man is not welcome to join the other listeners? It's a very interesting conversation. The question here has to do with the complexity present in a scene, allowing us to explore what might be intended. The penultimate chapter (Chapter 10) is titled "Learning to Lament," and is subtitled "The Art of History." Here she explores how art is used to tell the story of history, using among others an ancient Assyrian scene that speaks of the Assyrian conquest of the Elamites along with an engraving made by Paul Revere of Henry Pelmham's "The Boston Massacre." Here she notes how Revere used this image in propagandist ways to support the cause of the revolutionaries, showing the British soldiers to be the bad guys.
The final chapter, "Redeeming Vision," draws what we've explored to a close, helping us put everything we've seen together. She asks in this chapter the question "How do we look redemptively at a photograph that perpetuates a lie? Can a contemporary artwork that is a literal crack in the ground suggest a way forward?" (p. 236). Here she starts with a photo by John Choate titled "Tom Tolino---Navajo" It is a piece that features two pictures of Tom Torlino, one of the man as he entered the Carlisle School, looking very much like a Navajo. The second picture is from later. Tom is dressed in a suit and his hair is cut short. This was used to show how this man had been civilized. But is this a true story? That is, does this picture tell the truth about a man or a westernized vision of what a man should look like. This raises the question of what happened at boarding schools like Carlisle that were designed to kill the Indian to save the man. The second piece is a photograph of the installation of Shibboleth, which is a crack created into a museum floor, which the author connected to the experiences of recent immigrants, and the dangers of crossing borders (falling into the crack). In the end, there is a restoration, in which the rack is fixed, but not erased. Such is our reality. Things can heal but not be erased. The scars remain.
This is a beautifully illustrated book that should provide readers with important tools to explore images and see what is shared more deeply. The reminder that as Christians we ought to view art and images through these two principles of love of God and love of neighbor is profound. This should prove of great value, especially at a time when political agendas can get in the way of such explorations. Consider a decision to exclude a photo of Michelangio's David from a school conversation because it's considered controversial. Why is it controversial? Well, David is nude and we can see his penis. This book should help us get beyond such myopic views.
In Redeeming Vision Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt provides a guide for Christians to look at and learn from art. She writes in her introduction that this is a book about more than museumgoers. She writes for all of us who look at pictures, including Instagram photos, magazines, and graphic novels, to name a few forms. She asks us "what does your faith have to do with how you see?" (p. 9). While some would understand this question in terms of guardrails -- what one might not want to see, she's not interested here in the question of whether depictions of violence or nudity are to be avoided. So, instead of a fence, she speaks here of faith serving as a path to view pictures, including artwork. She writes with the assumption that we are more than viewers, but are instead makers, including being culture makers. She writes that "when we look at art and images, we can do something with them. We are not simply consuming visual information or waiting for an artwork to stir our complacent souls." Art thus can lead us to a position of lament or create curiosity or delight. Central to her message is that "Our viewing becomes making when it grows our love for God and our neighbor" (p. 11).
Weichbrodt divides her book into three parts. Part 1 simply helps us know "How to Look." Here she speaks of the toolbox (ch. 1), which introduces us to the tools for visual analysis, such as the formal elements including line, shape, form, color, value, space, and texture, describing each of these elements. Then in chapter 2, we move deeper into what she speaks of as "The Archive." She will return to our archive throughout the book. The archive is the lens through which we make meaning as we view pictures, whether a photo, sculpture, or painting. This is like a mental filing cabinet that we rifle through when we view something. Both the viewer and the artist have archives through which we view things, giving a context to understand and interpret what we see. In this chapter, the author uses a famous photo -- "Migrant Mother" as an example, helping us see things we might not otherwise see. The archive speaks to similar things we've seen and those that are different. Finally, in chapter 3, Weichbrodt speaks of the frame, or the physical context, in which the picture appears. She uses as a case study Caravaggio's "The Deposition." She compares the original setting in a chapel over the altar, where a copy now appears, and the current location in the Vatican museum. The question here concerns how context influences the way we view something, whether in a museum, online, or in its original location. She suggests that the frame shapes our experiences of the image.
With this foundational piece, we move into Part 2 "Love the Lord your God." In these three middle chapters, she asks us to consider how our viewing of art and images helps grow our love of God. She begins chapter 4 with a discussion about "Confessing Our Idols." This includes a conversation about the iconoclastic debates of earlier centuries, but that's not the primary point. More specifically she speaks of the idols of the perfect self and the ideal. From there we move into chapter 5 to a conversation about "Wondering at God's Transcendence." She speaks about transcendence in relation to abstract art, with a focus on Kandinsky's "Painting with Green Center." The conversation concerns how we might see something lying beyond the material, such that divide transcendence can be sensed in art. If chapter 5 speaks of divine transcendence and abstract art, chapter 6, titled "Delighting in God's Presence," focuses on representational art. The examination of representational art speaks to divine immanence. Here she explores art that speaks to mundane things like a vase of flowers or an impressionist painting of a woman knitting.
Part 3 focuses on the call to "Love Your Neighbor as Yourself." Part 3 is composed of five chapters. Chapter 7 is titled "Growing Curiosity" and focuses on portraiture. Chapter 8 is titled "Sharing Our Space" and explores landscape. Then in chapter 9, titled "Allowing for Complexity" the author explores the Art of the Everyday." She points out that simplicity can conceal something important that requires some reflection. She points to William Sidney Mount's "The Power of Music," a painting that focuses on a barn. Inside are three white men, one of whom is playing a fiddle, while the other two listen. In the foreground, outside the door, hidden from the three white men, is a Black man, who is also listening. What does the artist want us to see in this picture? Is he speaking to the segregated nature of this scene, such that the Black man is not welcome to join the other listeners? It's a very interesting conversation. The question here has to do with the complexity present in a scene, allowing us to explore what might be intended. The penultimate chapter (Chapter 10) is titled "Learning to Lament," and is subtitled "The Art of History." Here she explores how art is used to tell the story of history, using among others an ancient Assyrian scene that speaks of the Assyrian conquest of the Elamites along with an engraving made by Paul Revere of Henry Pelmham's "The Boston Massacre." Here she notes how Revere used this image in propagandist ways to support the cause of the revolutionaries, showing the British soldiers to be the bad guys.
The final chapter, "Redeeming Vision," draws what we've explored to a close, helping us put everything we've seen together. She asks in this chapter the question "How do we look redemptively at a photograph that perpetuates a lie? Can a contemporary artwork that is a literal crack in the ground suggest a way forward?" (p. 236). Here she starts with a photo by John Choate titled "Tom Tolino---Navajo" It is a piece that features two pictures of Tom Torlino, one of the man as he entered the Carlisle School, looking very much like a Navajo. The second picture is from later. Tom is dressed in a suit and his hair is cut short. This was used to show how this man had been civilized. But is this a true story? That is, does this picture tell the truth about a man or a westernized vision of what a man should look like. This raises the question of what happened at boarding schools like Carlisle that were designed to kill the Indian to save the man. The second piece is a photograph of the installation of Shibboleth, which is a crack created into a museum floor, which the author connected to the experiences of recent immigrants, and the dangers of crossing borders (falling into the crack). In the end, there is a restoration, in which the rack is fixed, but not erased. Such is our reality. Things can heal but not be erased. The scars remain.
This is a beautifully illustrated book that should provide readers with important tools to explore images and see what is shared more deeply. The reminder that as Christians we ought to view art and images through these two principles of love of God and love of neighbor is profound. This should prove of great value, especially at a time when political agendas can get in the way of such explorations. Consider a decision to exclude a photo of Michelangio's David from a school conversation because it's considered controversial. Why is it controversial? Well, David is nude and we can see his penis. This book should help us get beyond such myopic views.
May 23, 2023
I listened to author Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt speak several times at the Square Halo Books conference I attended in February and immediately came home and preordered her book, Redeeming Vision. I enjoyed reading this slowly over the course of several weeks with my morning coffee. The tone is conversational and the topic made me feel like I was back in my college art history course (a good thing because that was a favorite!).
While this is definitely a book centered on viewing art from a Christian perspective, the techniques and background that she brings to the discussion of art are widely applicable for anyone looking to expand their understanding of what it means to engage with all styles and time periods of artwork in meaningful ways. How does what I view change how I see the world around me? How can looking thoughtfully and intentionally at modern art or ancient art help me be more loving to my neighbor, more compassionate in my daily life? If you have any interest in having your view of art expanded and your assumptions challenged, this book is a fantastic resource. Plus, the book itself is gorgeous. There are color photographs of the artworks discussed in depth in the book, with additional pieces referenced at the end of each chapter so you can dig in deeper.
I'm excited for some upcoming art museum visits this summer because I feel so much better equipped to pay attention, observe, and leave the museum changed thanks to this book. Highly recommended and one that I'll be returning to for sure!
While this is definitely a book centered on viewing art from a Christian perspective, the techniques and background that she brings to the discussion of art are widely applicable for anyone looking to expand their understanding of what it means to engage with all styles and time periods of artwork in meaningful ways. How does what I view change how I see the world around me? How can looking thoughtfully and intentionally at modern art or ancient art help me be more loving to my neighbor, more compassionate in my daily life? If you have any interest in having your view of art expanded and your assumptions challenged, this book is a fantastic resource. Plus, the book itself is gorgeous. There are color photographs of the artworks discussed in depth in the book, with additional pieces referenced at the end of each chapter so you can dig in deeper.
I'm excited for some upcoming art museum visits this summer because I feel so much better equipped to pay attention, observe, and leave the museum changed thanks to this book. Highly recommended and one that I'll be returning to for sure!
January 18, 2024
“Will you look at artworks and visual culture not with a disinterested, objective eye but as an embodied creature full of love for God and your neighbor and willing to be transtormed?”
As lovely and delightful as learning from Dr. Weichbrodt herself (almost). Her loving, Gospel-centric teaching challenges us to think carefully about the images surrounding us, and her outlook as a highly educated, reformed woman from a multiracial family is intellectually rigorous and eye-openingly transparent.
This book equips readers with tools from the fundamentals of art (space, color, line, balance, etc.) to a rigorous example of looking with love at other image bearers. My favorite chapters were on landscape and portraiture (my two favorite genres), and I’m excited to take this book on a field trip to the Charleston art museum.
As lovely and delightful as learning from Dr. Weichbrodt herself (almost). Her loving, Gospel-centric teaching challenges us to think carefully about the images surrounding us, and her outlook as a highly educated, reformed woman from a multiracial family is intellectually rigorous and eye-openingly transparent.
This book equips readers with tools from the fundamentals of art (space, color, line, balance, etc.) to a rigorous example of looking with love at other image bearers. My favorite chapters were on landscape and portraiture (my two favorite genres), and I’m excited to take this book on a field trip to the Charleston art museum.
March 21, 2023
How can viewing art reveal God to us? In Redeeming Vision, Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt writes a Christian guide to looking at and learning from art.
Christian Worldview in Art
This fascinating and delightful book is an outstanding work. In Part 1, Weichbrodt walks you through her framework for viewing and understanding art. She introduces you to the toolbox for visual analysis, connecting formal elements, principles, styles, and mediums. She presents the idea of the archive, explaining how we make meaning from what we have seen before. And she teaches how the frame should also be considered, noting the actual physical frame of a piece but also whether it is presented in situ, in a museum, or via digital media. The idea of framing was insightful to me, as it helped me understand why preaching can have a different feeling depending on if you are actually in the room with the preacher or watching it online and out of time. Weichbrodt is excellent at educating on such difficult subjects. Her Christian faith provides the ultimate worldview, and this is further exemplified in the book.
Part 2 shows how we can “Love the Lord Your God” while viewing art. Weichbrodt uses Polykleitos’s Head of a Youth to show how representational art reveals the idol of the ideal. She uses the vault of San Zeno Chapel to demonstrate how abstract art helps us wonder at God’s transcendence. And she uses Rebecca Davis’ Quilt, Nine-Patch Variation to reveal that God is present. This book is a compelling read, showing the spiritual realities in works of art and the world.
Learn About God and Yourself through Art
The book ends with Part 3 and how you can “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself.” Weichbrodt teaches that portraits are filled with tension, looking especially at how the artist can distort reality. Modern technology takes this even further, allowing us to manipulate ourselves and our environment. We must not lose the fact that we are created in the Imago Dei, keeping us both curious and humble as we see others as well as ourselves. Landscapes deal with place and space, reminding us that we must see that we share this broken world with our neighbors. Art that depicts everyday life tells us of the complexities of life, and how we are all in need of a Savior. Historical art helps us Christians to lament the past, even as we remember our reality as children of God. This book will help you enjoy art as a transformative, religious experience — teaching you about God and about yourself.
The book ends with examples of art that showcase our broken world, and how we need Christ to make all things new. This book will open up your eyes to wonder. It will help you see what is actually being said when looking at art. And it will help you direct your gaze upward, to the worship of God.
I received a media copy of Redeeming Vision and this is my honest review.
Christian Worldview in Art
This fascinating and delightful book is an outstanding work. In Part 1, Weichbrodt walks you through her framework for viewing and understanding art. She introduces you to the toolbox for visual analysis, connecting formal elements, principles, styles, and mediums. She presents the idea of the archive, explaining how we make meaning from what we have seen before. And she teaches how the frame should also be considered, noting the actual physical frame of a piece but also whether it is presented in situ, in a museum, or via digital media. The idea of framing was insightful to me, as it helped me understand why preaching can have a different feeling depending on if you are actually in the room with the preacher or watching it online and out of time. Weichbrodt is excellent at educating on such difficult subjects. Her Christian faith provides the ultimate worldview, and this is further exemplified in the book.
Part 2 shows how we can “Love the Lord Your God” while viewing art. Weichbrodt uses Polykleitos’s Head of a Youth to show how representational art reveals the idol of the ideal. She uses the vault of San Zeno Chapel to demonstrate how abstract art helps us wonder at God’s transcendence. And she uses Rebecca Davis’ Quilt, Nine-Patch Variation to reveal that God is present. This book is a compelling read, showing the spiritual realities in works of art and the world.
Learn About God and Yourself through Art
The book ends with Part 3 and how you can “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself.” Weichbrodt teaches that portraits are filled with tension, looking especially at how the artist can distort reality. Modern technology takes this even further, allowing us to manipulate ourselves and our environment. We must not lose the fact that we are created in the Imago Dei, keeping us both curious and humble as we see others as well as ourselves. Landscapes deal with place and space, reminding us that we must see that we share this broken world with our neighbors. Art that depicts everyday life tells us of the complexities of life, and how we are all in need of a Savior. Historical art helps us Christians to lament the past, even as we remember our reality as children of God. This book will help you enjoy art as a transformative, religious experience — teaching you about God and about yourself.
The book ends with examples of art that showcase our broken world, and how we need Christ to make all things new. This book will open up your eyes to wonder. It will help you see what is actually being said when looking at art. And it will help you direct your gaze upward, to the worship of God.
I received a media copy of Redeeming Vision and this is my honest review.
January 1, 2024
“May we see Jesus making all things new”
Dr. Elissa Weichbrodt’s true passion for art, humans, and her Lord and Savior all shine through this book with great clarity. Now eight years after having sat in her classes at Covenant College, it was a joy and honor to read her first book. I can’t help but recommend it to everyone I know. New to art and not sure how to look? Read this book. Overwhelmed at art museums or just by the amount of visual intake you face every day? Read this book. Someone who loves art and loves God and that sometimes makes you feel ‘other’? Read this book.
I have never read a book quite like it. All at once, Dr. Weichbrodt treats art and history with reliable complexity, while also making visual analysis extremely approachable, all while infusing philosophy and theology in an humble and joyful way. This book is a book of praise and it fills my heart to know the incredible woman who wrote it.
Dr. Elissa Weichbrodt’s true passion for art, humans, and her Lord and Savior all shine through this book with great clarity. Now eight years after having sat in her classes at Covenant College, it was a joy and honor to read her first book. I can’t help but recommend it to everyone I know. New to art and not sure how to look? Read this book. Overwhelmed at art museums or just by the amount of visual intake you face every day? Read this book. Someone who loves art and loves God and that sometimes makes you feel ‘other’? Read this book.
I have never read a book quite like it. All at once, Dr. Weichbrodt treats art and history with reliable complexity, while also making visual analysis extremely approachable, all while infusing philosophy and theology in an humble and joyful way. This book is a book of praise and it fills my heart to know the incredible woman who wrote it.
July 16, 2025
I took an art class in college and likely learned the basics from the same professor as the author. However, I was too distracted with everything else to truly soak in the knowledge and wisdom being shared. What a gift to now have the slow access to read, learn, process, and re-read the depth of truth offered here from a phenomenal writer. Every chapter made me want to rush out to the museum and view each piece in person. But I also feel a little better equipped to look, truly look, at art in general. Beyond understanding art, every chapter continued building my understanding of who we are in Christ.
May 3, 2023
In a world filled with images, eyes that are veritably bombarded by them daily, the most dangerous thing we can do in life is to fail to pay attention to what we see.
In this deeply wise (and technical) book on art, Weichbrodt gives practical tools for redemptive looking that we can take to an art museum or to Instagram or to a news website to look closer and interpret what we see rather than simply absorbing it into our mental archives as a representation of the way things are.
But this is also a well-written academic book—it is not dry, but moves briskly, and works to keep readers engaged not just in the tools or the works discussed, but the story of how we look within the story God is telling in and through this beautiful, good, yet fallen world through the images His image-bearers create.
In this deeply wise (and technical) book on art, Weichbrodt gives practical tools for redemptive looking that we can take to an art museum or to Instagram or to a news website to look closer and interpret what we see rather than simply absorbing it into our mental archives as a representation of the way things are.
But this is also a well-written academic book—it is not dry, but moves briskly, and works to keep readers engaged not just in the tools or the works discussed, but the story of how we look within the story God is telling in and through this beautiful, good, yet fallen world through the images His image-bearers create.
June 11, 2024
Redeeming Vision is exactly what its subtitle states: "a Christian guide to looking at and learning from art." Here, Weichbrodt teaches us "how to look" in part one by providing tools and techniques for approaching art. She then applies it in parts two and three with walking us through example artworks and showing how we can use each to "love the Lord your God" and "love your neighbor as yourself." I provide an outline on my blog.
November 16, 2023
I loved this book and learned so much. I participated in the author’s “slow read” where we read one chapter a week and then interacted together on social media. It was the perfect way to digest all the information presented. It’s been fun the visit my local art museum (the National Gallery of Art) and feel like I have a tool box in hand to better appreciate and understand the art that already brought me so much joy. Thanks for this field guide, Dr. Weichbrodt!
November 14, 2023
As someone with no art education, I really appreciated this book not only equipped me to look at art, but how to do so as more than a brain on a stick but as a person. The book is beautiful and reading it, especially with the author’s online “slow read,” felt like being a student of a caring and generous teacher.
March 21, 2024
Dr. Elissa Weichbrodt clearly and thoughtfully provides readers with a toolbox to understand and evaluate art, contextualizing pieces and urging readers to empathetically engage with the world through art itself.
March 21, 2024
While I haven't read the whole book, I am making a commitment to read a chapter a week and a bi-weekly visit to my local art museum to make what I learn a reality! I have skimmed it heavily, and I have no doubt this book will guide me well.Follow along for updates.
July 27, 2023
My visits to the Boise art museum (and hopefully others) will never be the same. Thank you Dr. Weichbrodt.
November 17, 2023
This was a great book to read with someone so we could discuss it. Much to ponder, even though I don’t agree with all of the author’s interpretations.
February 6, 2024
Helpful.
December 24, 2024
Redeeming vision challenges both patrons and artists to reach deeper, to the very depths of the human soul, and to investigate our shared human nature, our mutual need for salvation, and the universal hope of redemption.
Full review here: https://thepublictheologyproject.subs...
Full review here: https://thepublictheologyproject.subs...
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews