Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice - Softcover

"Like entering a garden in full bloom." A gOpening Christine PaintnerA fs Eyes of the Heart is like entering a garden in full bloom. It opens up all your senses so you see, smell, taste, and touch the world in a whole new way. Paintner has a gift for reuniting the transcendent and the immanent. She calls God home. She sees the Divine in the pebble on the path, hears its sound in the buzzing mosquito. This modern-day monk knows the essential secrets to sacred living and joyful being and she shares them freely.A h Jan Phillips Author of No Ordinary Time "A spirituality of photography." A gChristine Valters Paintner explores the eye as a window to the heart. Using scripture and observations from thinkers in all faiths she offers a spirituality of photography as writing with light. This monk, photographer-artist, and writer combines the art of image receiving with visio divina, taking us through a detailed program for the feeling, reflecting, and completion of our heartA fs vision.A h Br. John J. OA f Hara, S.A. Graymoor Spiritual Life Center "Intimate encounter with divinity." A gEyes of the Heart is more than a celebration of GodA fs presence in the world. It is itself an experience of receiving the Divine directly within. PaintnerA fs insights and exercises lead the reader to a personal, intimate encounter with divinity. In the process, she also illuminates the way to self-understanding and creative serenity.A h Anthony F. Chiffolo Author of 100 Names of Mary

In this first book to explore photography as a spiritual practice from a Christian perspective, Christine Valters Paintner builds on the process of contemplative creativity introduced on her popular website Abbey of the Arts and in her book The ArtistA fs Rule. She considers how a camera can enable one to see with A gthe eyes of the heart.A h