Seeing beauty and saying beautifully - Desiring God

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When Augustine handed over the leadership of his church

in AD 426, his successor was so overwhelmed by a sense of

inadequacy that he declared, ¡°The swan is silent,¡± fearing the

spiritual giant¡¯s voice would be lost in time. But for 1,600 years,

Augustine has not been silent¡ªand neither have the men who

faithfully trumpeted the cause of Christ after him. Their lives

have inspired every generation of believers and should compel

us to a greater passion for God.

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Herbert - Whitefield - Lewis

Seeing Beau t y

and Say ing

Beau tifully

9 781433 542947

51999

U.S. $19.99

CHRISTIAN LIVING / BIOGRAPHY

ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-4294-7

ISBN-10: 1-4335-4294-3

In the sixth volume of The Swans Are

Not Silent series, John Piper celebrates

the importance of poetic effort by looking at three influential Christians whose

words magnificently display a commitment to truth and a love of beauty.

Examining the lives of George Herbert,

George Whitefield, and C. S. Lewis,

Piper helps us appreciate the importance

of carefully crafted words by exploring

how Christians can use them to testify

to God¡¯s glory, wonder at his grace, and

rejoice in his salvation.

Whether exploring Herbert¡¯s moving

poetry, Whitefield¡¯s dramatic preaching,

or Lewis¡¯s imaginative writing, this book

highlights the importance of Christexalting eloquence in our praise of God

and proclamation of his gospel.

IPER

¡°This book is about the relationship between poetic effort, on

the one hand, and perceiving, relishing, and portraying truth

and beauty, on the other hand¡ªespecially the truth and beauty

of God in Christ. The three men in this book made poetic effort

to see and savor and show the glories of Christ. This effort was

the God-dependent intention and exertion to find striking,

penetrating, imaginative, awakening ways of expressing the

excellencies they saw. My thesis is that this effort to say beautifully

is, perhaps surprisingly, a way of seeing and savoring beauty.¡±

John Piper

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Seeing Beaut y and Say ing Beautifully

E

of and chancellor

of Bethlehem College and Seminary.

He served for 33 years as senior pastor

at Bethlehem Baptist Church in

Minneapolis and is the author of over

50 books. His other volumes in The

Swans Are Not Silent series include The

Legacy of Sovereign Joy (Augustine, Luther,

Calvin), The Hidden Smile of God (Bunyan,

Cowper, Brainerd), The Roots of Endurance

(Newton, Simeon, Wilberforce),

Contending for Our All (Athanasius, Owen,

Machen), and Filling Up the Afflictions of

Christ (Tyndale, Judson, Paton).

TH

John Piper is teacher and founder

JOH N

The Power of Poetic Effort in theWork of

George Herbert, George Whitefield, and C. S. Lewis

Seeing Beauty

and Saying

Beautifully

Books by John Piper

Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian

Brothers, We Are Not Professionals

Contending for Our All (Swans 4)

The Dangerous Duty of Delight

Desiring God

Does God Desire All to Be Saved?

Don¡¯t Waste Your Life

Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die

Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ (Swans 5)

Finally Alive

Five Points

Future Grace

God Is the Gospel

God¡¯s Passion for His Glory

A Godward Heart

A Godward Life

The Hidden Smile of God (Swans 2)

A Hunger for God

The Legacy of Sovereign Joy (Swans 1)

Let the Nations Be Glad!

Life as a Vapor

Pierced by the Word

The Pleasures of God

The Roots of Endurance (Swans 3)

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ

Sex and the Supremacy of Christ

Spectacular Sins

Su?ering and the Sovereignty of God

Taste and See

Think

This Momentary Marriage

What Jesus Demands from the World

When I Don¡¯t Desire God

The Swans Are Not Silent

Book Six

Seeing Beau t y

and Say ing

Beau tiful ly

The Power of Poetic Effort in the Work of

George Herbert, George Whitefield, and C. S. Lewis

JOHN PIPER

W H E AT O N , I L L I N O I S

Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully

Copyright ? 2014 by Desiring God Foundation

Published by Crossway

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy,

recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for

by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Dual Identity, inc.

Cover portrait illustrations: Howell Golson

Cover image: Shutterstock

First printing 2014

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV? Bible (The Holy Bible,

English Standard Version?), copyright ? 2001 by Crossway. 2011 Text Edition. Used by

permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quoatations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-4294-7

ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-4297-8

PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-4295-4

Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-4296-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Piper, John, 1946¨C

Seeing beauty and saying beautifully : the power of poetic

effort in the work of George Herbert, George Whitefield,

and C.S. Lewis / John Piper.

pages cm. ¡ª (The swans are not silent ; Book 6)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4335-4294-7 (hc)

1. Christianity and the arts. 2. Creation (Literary, artistic,

etc.)¡ªReligious aspects¡ªChristianity. 3. Aesthetics¡ª

Religious aspects¡ªChristianity. 4. Herbert, George,

1593¨C1633. 5. Whitefield, George, 1714¨C1770. 6. Lewis,

C. S. (Clive Staples), 1898¨C1963. I. Title.

BR115.A8P56

2014

261.5'8¡ªdc23

2013043737

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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