Pledges of Jubilee Essays on the Arts and Culture, in Honor of Calvin G. Seerveld

Produced in honor of Calvin G. Seerveld, this volume highlights Seerveld's legacy as a scholar, teacher, and cultural leader even as it breaks new ground in the fields of cultural theory and aesthetics. The introduction discusses the importance of Seerveld's contributions to the study of the arts and culture, summarizes the essays in this collection, and relates them to themes in Seerveld's work. The volume's fourteen essays extend Seerveld's efforts to new areas and probe the traditions on which his efforts rely. An open letter from Nicholas Wolterstorff and a bibliography of Seerveld's writings begin and conclude the volume. The essays in Part I (Cultural Theory) test the fruitfulness of Seerveld's aesthetic theory for fields of study that have opened in recent years: popular culture, performance art, computer imagery, and the "new art history." The essays in Part II (Philosophical Dialogue) give testimony to the close and engaged reading of philosophical texts that characterizes Seerveld's teaching and scholarship. The essays in Part III (Cultural Critique) provide lively, focused, and reflective commentaries of the sort for which Seerveld is admired. The essays in Part IV (Religious Art) exemplify Seerveld's passion for renewing and reclaiming the artistic heritage of Christianity, especially within the Reformed tradition.