Theology of Making will be the subject of my next two books. The first, tentatively titled Theology of Making: Kintsugi Theology (IVP, 2019), will be a robust introduction to the concept of the Theology of Making. I will introduce the idea of seeing God as the (only) true Artist and understanding creation as God’s gratuitous gift to us. His invitation to us is to co-create into the New Creation as part of the Redemptive journey through Christ and Christ’s sacrifice. The Cross, the Resurrection, Pentecost, and the Ascension are only the beginning of our journey toward the New Creation.
In this first book, I will be introducing these concepts through several frameworks and lenses (“epistemological” lenses, to borrow from philosopher Esther Meek, author of “A Little Manual for Knowing” and “Loving to Know”) that undergird our Culture Care journey. Culture Care is Theology of Making applied to public action, considering the larger culture as an “ecosystem of imagined actions.” I apply the Galatians 5 concept of being “filled with the Spirit” and the “the fruit of the Spirit” to culture. If Christians are filled with the Spirit, our communities need to see that fruitfulness directly manifested in our culture at large. The first book particularly focuses on the concept of “Kintsugi,” the ancient art of repairing pottery in Japan with gold, and the John 11 passage of “Jesus Wept.” I will also introduce the idea of “Theology of Humor and Play,” as well as offering a chapter about “God’s All Sufficiency and the Gift of Grace.”
— Mako