Russ Ramsey - Rembrandt Is in the Wind: Learning to Love Art through the Eyes of Faith

What I love about Russ Ramseys latest project is that he understands down deep that Truth is exclusive to no party or sect; that Goodness arrives in the form of the lonely, the ill, and the outcast; and that Beauty, amid the churchs moral twilight, might be the last apologetic that holds.

LEIF ENGER, bestselling author of Virgil Wander and Peace Like a River

Sometimes when standing at a museum, I think to myself, I wish somebody who knows something would explain this to me. And I look around and see, on one side of me, someone expertly pointing out every intricacy in the painting and, on the other, someone bored and looking at a phone in hand. Somehow this book is able to captivate people in all those categories. Russ Ramsey walks us through a museum of artists and art works, showing how each of them illuminates something about God, humanity, and the meaning of life, and he does it in a way that wont bore the expert or intimidate the novice. Those who love art will find here new paths to the gospel. And those who love the gospel will find that they can love art. Thats a lot to ask from a book, and this one delivers.

RUSSELL MOORE, director of Christianity Todays Public Theology Project

In these days fractured by those who aim to seize power, darkened by those who play dirty politics, and clouded by those who use platforms to polarize, perhaps the artists can lead us home. The artists featured in these pagesartists who devoted their lives and work to what is good, true, and beautifulremind us that we can, and should, do the same.

KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR, research professor of English and Christianity and Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and author of On Reading Well

Russ Ramsey helps us see some of the wonders seen and painted by great artists of the past. This book is full of surprises. What he offers is never a matter of beauty for its own sake, although we are drawn into a glorious journey of beauty through the ages; nor is it one of artistic skills and accomplishments, although every artist he focuses on could claim to have mastered their art; nor can this book be distilled into a mere fascinating overview of five centuries of human creativity, even though the stories told provide a superb entry point to the novice. The greatest joy of this book is that the accumulative effect of these nine artists helped me glimpse something of the world and of humanity as God our creator sees us. What a gift that is!

MARK MEYNELL, director (Europe & Caribbean) for Langham Preaching, cultural critic, and author of A Wilderness of Mirrors and When Darkness Seems My Closest Friend

Russ Ramsey was kind enough to give me an early chapter of this book a few years ago when I was preparing to go on a silent retreat and had asked him for a work of art I might meditate on. Thanks to Russs recommendation, I spent hours contemplating Rembrandts The Storm on the Sea of Galilee. I was shaken by the depiction of this scene and the disciples question to Jesus, Dont you care that we are perishing? Russs gentle shepherding of my understanding of the painting and the biblical story behind it was a balm in my life just when I needed it. I know this book will be the same for you.

SHAWN SMUCKER, author of The Day the Angels Fell and The Weight of Memory

Encountering paintings, drawings, and sculptures as a little boy set me up for my life arc; encountering Christ set me up for a lifelong love affair with my Creator. Russ Ramsey has gone to great lengths to examine art and faith in a way that helps us define our path forward. Artmaking is a sometimes lonely experience that requires us to rely on our own imagination and talent. This book illustrates the tightrope we must balance on to find the peace and beauty in expression. Its often difficult to maintain balance in the face of all that life offers. Rembrandt Is in the Wind helps us find a way forward by the examples and stories of artmakers who have gone before us.

JIMMY ABEGG, visual artist and musician with Rich Mullins and the Ragamuffin Band, Charlie Peacock, and Steve Taylor & the Perfect Foil (jimmyabegg.com)

Its easy to believe that enjoying and understanding art is only for those who have a PhD in art history. Russ Ramsey reminds us how simple and holy it is to be stirred by the mystery of images.

JOHN HENDRIX, author/illustrator of The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler (johnhendrix.com)

Russ Ramsey is a deep lover of art and a student of art history. In this book, he takes the reader on an amazing guided tour through an art museum that doesnt exist. In this carefully curated collection of art from around the world, he offers us an experience that only someone who really loves art can. This book inspires the reader to engage art in an eye-opening way and understand how these famous works of art bring glory to God.

NED BUSTARD, illustrator of the Every Moment Holy series, creative director of Square Halo Books, and artist and author of History of Art (worldsendimages.com; @nedbustard on Instagram and Twitter)

Russ Ramsey leads us well into one of the best possible uses of our timeengaging with art and beauty.

MARK MAGGIORI, award-winning painter of the American West (markmaggiori.com; @markmaggiori on Instagram)

Russ Ramsey has gone deep into the histories of nine artists and their masterworks to reveal how each struggled in both their giftedness and fallenness to create beauty. I am reminded anew of how beauty leads us to God, the author of beauty. I cant wait to share this book!

DEBBIE TAYLOR, visual artist (mayipaintyourdog.com)

Art and the act of creating are essential. Without them, we would not be here. To notice beauty is to be fully alive, and without the act of intimately engaging life, we are numb to ourselves and to the world around us. Russ Ramsey points us toward God through the raw, sensual power of the art, disrupting our unconscious lives that often want to grasp for whatever makes us unfeel.

WAYNE BREZINKA, award-winning artist and illustrator (waynebrezinka.com)

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, 1633, oil on canvas, 160 128 cm, stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in March 1990

ZONDERVAN REFLECTIVE

Rembrandt Is in the Wind

Copyright 2022 by Russ Ramsey

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Zondervan titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email SpecialMarkets@Zondervan.com.

ePub Edition February 2022 : ISBN 978-0-310-12973-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Ramsey, Russ, 1973- author.

Title: Rembrandt is in the wind : learning to love art through the eyes of faith / Russ Ramsey.

Description: Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 2022 . | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021042123 (print) | LCCN 2021042124 (ebook) | ISBN 9780310129721 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780310129738 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Christianity and art. | Christianity and the arts. | AestheticsReligious aspectsChristianity.

Classification: LCC BR115.A8 R364 2022 (print) | LCC BR115.A8 (ebook) | DDC 261.5/7dc23/eng/20211130