Overview

"Discipleship is embodied. Formation in the Christian life is not an otherworldly exercise but one that plays out in this world, interwoven with everyday sensory experience in ordinary life. The Aesthetics of Discipleship explores this dynamic through Kierkegaard's framing of ""aesthetic existence""--the sensory experience of being ""in the moment""--further developed by Bonhoeffer, as operating within a realm of freedom, encompassing not only art but play, friendship, and cultural formation. In addition to Kierkegaard and Bonhoeffer, the work of Iain McGilchrist, Graham Ward, and Nicholas Wolterstorff is employed to offer a fresh perspective on discipleship, ""from below"" Everyday sensory experiences are integral not only to being human but to the practice of discipleship, such that discipleship integrates aesthetic, ethical, and religious existence. Aesthetic existence unhinged from a life of faith or fueled by distorted Christendom creates and sustains aestheticized pseudorealities centered on the self. Mature aesthetic existence, however, anchored in love for God, plays a fundamental role in the Christian life, both as the incarnational celebration of being fully human, and also through the preconscious formation of imaginaries by which we live."

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9781725272392

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Reviews

Coates's study is engaging and ambitious. Drawing together insights won from Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer, as well as contemporary theology and neuropsychology, he pursues a theologically informed aesthetics of everyday experience in the hope of winning a new 'fundamental theological basis for practical theology' and thereby also a fresh appreciation of discipleship in the midst of ordinary life. --Philip G. Ziegler, University of Aberdeen Coates draws on several important thinkers to make a case for understanding the role of aesthetics . . . for Christian discipleship. I think his treatment of Kierkegaard is especially valuable, since he shows that Kierkegaard in the end is a kind of Christian humanist, not the 'anti-humanist' some of his critics make him out to be. --C. Stephen Evans, Baylor University Masterfully written, rigorously argued, and politically aware, this book combines social critique with a constructive vision of affectivity, aesthetics, and liturgy in religious existence. I hope that all Christians read this book and then attempt to live up to it. --J. Aaron Simmons, Furman University We have, thankfully, an increasing number of books on embodiment from Christian thinkers. We now also have, finally, a book that recovers the importance of lived sensory experience for Christ's call to discipleship. Coates brilliantly connects our shared human aesthetic existence to Christ-centered, incarnational living. I highly recommend this book for all readers interested in how to follow Christ, and therefore in the pursuit of true humanity. --Jens Zimmermann, Regent College, University of British Columbia It is a delight to commend this excellent book, ranging across major thinkers and written in a wonderfully lucid style, as befits its topic. Adrian has done just the sort of work we need in abundance if we are to begin to recapture a fully biblical notion of discipleship. . . . This is a book to study, to savor, and to allow it to transform one's aesthetic in ordinary, everyday lived experience. --Craig Bartholomew, Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology, Cambridge

Coates's study is engaging and ambitious. Drawing together insights won from Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer, as well as contemporary theology and neuropsychology, he pursues a theologically informed aesthetics of everyday experience in the hope of winning a new 'fundamental theological basis for practical theology' and thereby also a fresh appreciation of discipleship in the midst of ordinary life. --Philip G. Ziegler, University of Aberdeen Coates draws on several important thinkers to make a case for understanding the role of aesthetics . . . for Christian discipleship. I think his treatment of Kierkegaard is especially valuable, since he shows that Kierkegaard in the end is a kind of Christian humanist, not the 'anti-humanist' some of his critics make him out to be. --C. Stephen Evans, Baylor University Masterfully written, rigorously argued, and politically aware, this book combines social critique with a constructive vision of affectivity, aesthetics, and liturgy in religious existence. I hope that all Christians read this book and then attempt to live up to it. --J. Aaron Simmons, Furman University We have, thankfully, an increasing number of books on embodiment from Christian thinkers. We now also have, finally, a book that recovers the importance of lived sensory experience for Christ's call to discipleship. Coates brilliantly connects our shared human aesthetic existence to Christ-centered, incarnational living. I highly recommend this book for all readers interested in how to follow Christ, and therefore in the pursuit of true humanity. --Jens Zimmermann, Regent College, University of British Columbia It is a delight to commend this excellent book, ranging across major thinkers and written in a wonderfully lucid style, as befits its topic. Adrian has done just the sort of work we need in abundance if we are to begin to recapture a fully biblical notion of discipleship. . . . This is a book to study, to savor, and to allow it to transform one's aesthetic in ordinary, everyday lived experience. --Craig Bartholomew, Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology, Cambridge

"""""Coates's study is engaging and ambitious. Drawing together insights won from Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer, as well as contemporary theology and neuropsychology, he pursues a theologically informed aesthetics of everyday experience in the hope of winning a new 'fundamental theological basis for practical theology' and thereby also a fresh appreciation of discipleship in the midst of ordinary life.""""--Philip G. Ziegler, University of Aberdeen """"Coates draws on several important thinkers to make a case for understanding the role of aesthetics . . . for Christian discipleship. I think his treatment of Kierkegaard is especially valuable, since he shows that Kierkegaard in the end is a kind of Christian humanist, not the 'anti-humanist' some of his critics make him out to be.""""--C. Stephen Evans, Baylor University """"Masterfully written, rigorously argued, and politically aware, this book combines social critique with a constructive vision of affectivity, aesthetics, and liturgy in religious existence. I hope that all Christians read this book and then attempt to live up to it.""""--J. Aaron Simmons, Furman University """"We have, thankfully, an increasing number of books on embodiment from Christian thinkers. We now also have, finally, a book that recovers the importance of lived sensory experience for Christ's call to discipleship. Coates brilliantly connects our shared human aesthetic existence to Christ-centered, incarnational living. I highly recommend this book for all readers interested in how to follow Christ, and therefore in the pursuit of true humanity.""""--Jens Zimmermann, Regent College, University of British Columbia """"It is a delight to commend this excellent book, ranging across major thinkers and written in a wonderfully lucid style, as befits its topic. Adrian has done just the sort of work we need in abundance if we are to begin to recapture a fully biblical notion of discipleship. . . . This is a book to study, to savor, and to allow it to transform one's aesthetic in ordinary, everyday lived experience.""""--Craig Bartholomew, Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology, Cambridge"

Author Information

Adrian Coates, a graduate of Regent College and the University of Cape Town, is a theology lecturer and Deputy Director of the UCT Student YMCA Christian Study Centre. He is also a Research Fellow in the Department of Historical and Constructive Theology at the University of the Free State in South Africa. One of South Africa's most celebrated theologians, John W. de Gruchy is also a woodworker, with pieces in many churches, schools, and homes throughout the country and abroad. Among his recent books are Confessions of a Christian Humanist and Led into Mystery. He and his wife, Isobel, are members of the Volmoed Christian Community near Hermanus, South Africa, where he writes, gives seminars, and does woodworking, while Isobel paints and writes poetry.

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