Creation

""There is a genuine intellectual excitement to wrestling with God,"" writes Oxford University theologian McGrath in this first volume of a series on truth and the Christian imagination. (Future volumes will deal with incarnation, redemption, resurrection, heaven and God.) McGrath invites readers to engage in what he calls ""a discipleship of the imagination,"" pairing the written word with visual art to help readers understand creation more intimately. The book is divided into sections on encountering creation, tending creation, a spirituality of creation, the parables of creation, the Lord of creation, humanity's place in creation and the ruin and restoration of humanity. While novice readers may find that McGrath's style is still too elevated for their tastes, they will revel in the book's stories (including a memorable anecdote about Vincent Van Gogh's first sermon and his short tenure as a theology student). Art by Van Gogh, William Blake, Peter Paul Rubens, Jan Bruegel, Michelangelo and others graces the pages, though the reproductions are sometimes undersized.