{"product_id":"becoming-by-beholding-the-power-of-the-imagination-in-spiritual-formation-9781540966186","title":"Becoming by Beholding: The Power of the Imagination in Spiritual Formation","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChristianity Today \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e2025 Book Award Finalist (Culture, Poetry, and the Arts)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A must-read for anyone interested in the relationship of imagination to Christian devotion.\"--\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChristianity Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eWe tend to think of the imagination as the realm of fantasy and makebelieve. However, the imagination shapes our vision of reality in that the stories, symbols, and places that capture our hearts become part of who we are.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBecoming by Beholding\u003c\/i\u003e restores the imagination to its central role in spiritual formation by recovering key works from the Christian tradition, enabling us to experience the formative power of the imagination for ourselves. It also revives \"the art of fashioning the soul\" as an essential aspect of Christian spiritual formation and character development.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLanta Davis explains that many of the problems at the heart of the Christian church today--such as nationalism, consumerism, and partisan politics--stem from a crisis of the imagination. She encourages us to reorient our gaze from diseased cultural forms and fix our eyes instead on works from the historic Christian imaginative tradition that better reflect the love, joy, and wonder of the gospel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBecoming by Beholding \u003c\/i\u003ewill appeal to professors and students in spiritual formation, worldview, and theology and arts courses as well as to all Christian readers interested in the intersection of theology and art. Each chapter introduces a different work of the Christian imagination: icons, sacred architecture, imaginative prayer, bestiaries, and personifications of the virtues and vices. The book also includes a twenty-page insert featuring numerous full-color images.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanta Davis \u003c\/b\u003e(PhD, Baylor University) is professor of humanities and literature in the John Wesley Honors College at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana. She was named the IWU Outstanding Scholar of the Year for 2020 and was a Fulbright Scholar at Queen's University, Belfast. Her work on the Christian imagination and formation has appeared in \u003ci\u003eChristianity Today\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eChristian Century\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSmithsonian Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePlough\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eChrist and Pop Culture\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Baker Academic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50878007640338,"sku":"9781540966186","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_825d94a2-5636-4ffa-80f4-8d0c2ae921cc.jpg?v=1738233755","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/becoming-by-beholding-the-power-of-the-imagination-in-spiritual-formation-9781540966186","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}