Bearing the Mystery: Twenty Years of Image

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, June 2009. Hardcover. New. For two decades now, Gregory Wolfe and the company of those he thanks in the introduction have believed that the Good, the True, and the Beautiful are the glory of God, filling the world, a world he found so dear that he joined himself to it, bled and died for it. Wolfe and co. have in varying degrees laid their reputations and fortunes on the line for the conviction that Gnostics, whether ancient or modern, are wrong, and that the matter of this world-including the modern world and its arts-are inescapably impregnated with the glory of God. This anthology bears witness to these root convictions in multiple genres: visual art, poetry, memoir, fiction, and essay. The ninety contributors include some of the best-known writers and artists of faith today-Scott Cairns, Robert Cording, Annie Dillard, Ron Hansen, Paul Mariani, Kathleen Norris, Luci Shaw, Larry Woiwode, Franz Wright among them-but most are not so well-known, and the presence of some may surprise you. Greg Wolfe and <i>Image</i> have always been large-hearted in this regard, providing a venue for many whose work was too religious or not explicitly religious enough for most secular or religious publications. <i>Image's</i> only requirement has been excellence, and has trusted all along that that would inevitably show forth God. 428 pp.