Sanctifying Art: Inviting Conversation Between Artists, Theologians, and the Church

In her book, Sanctifying Art, Deborah Sokolove offers ways to understand the arts as a way of thinking and understanding, as a tool for healing the broken places in the world, and even as a divinely ordained means of grace. To sanctify an object or an activity is to set it aside for divine purposes, to purify it, to make it holy. Similarly, individuals and even communities are said to be sanctified when they live in close alignment with God’s will. Art is one of the activities that human beings have been given to aid in the process of sanctification. In order to do that, we need to think clearly about what art is, the role of artists in the community, and how the arts affect those who participate in them, both as makers and as audience.