God has given us the world to be our own; he has given his world to be our world. And that itself is an amazing fact! He does not desire mere blind submission or purely passive acceptance of the gift of existence. He desires free, spontaneous, personal, and creative cooperation. He desires playfulness in the playground of the universe that he has given for no other reason than that he loves us, loves us tenderly and ardently. Thus we are called to create as we ourselves have first been created, indeed to look upon all things and all persons with a gaze of cherishing tenderness and creative generosity just as God ceaseless looks upon us, and in this look gives us ever-anew the very gift of existence and life.

We are thus co-creators, or sub-creators, who in our activity, whatever its nature, participate in the nature of the Creator himself, and extend his presence and activity in the world and into the lives of others who do not yet know him. Our very sharings with one another become mutual enrichments, words shared in the atmosphere of the Word, ways of ministering to one another in our poverty and need as we all strive together toward the Beauty for which our hearts long, and in which alone we shall find definite and everlasting rest and fulfillment.

This book explores both the theological and spiritual foundations of art and culture, and also treats a number of different specific topics of particular relevance today, for example: iconography of the body versus pornography of the body, the meaning of myth and storytelling, the beauty of music, the gifts and limitations of technology and art in the media, and liturgy as the foundation and apex of culture.