David Jones’ Philosophy of Art in the Context of Catholic Thought

This book places British poet and artist David Jones’ thought in the context of contemporary and recent writing relevant to philosophical and theological aesthetics. It shows that Jones’ theoretical work is central to these currents and proposes that his thought has the potential to be the foundation for a further development of philosophical aesthetics in the Catholic tradition. The chapters include analysis of Jones’ essayistic work and close readings of his poetry. With an interdisciplinary emphasis, the author relates Jones’ ideas to the theoretical work of Jacques Maritain, John Henry Newman, Alasdair MacIntyre, Catherine Pickstock, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Maurice Denis and Paul Serusier. Examining issues such as sacramentality, signs, tradition, artistic practice, and other key concepts in the Catholic tradition of aesthetics and art theory, the study shows how Jones holds these different aspects together – laying ground for future directions in the field and taking their implications further than others, such as Maritain, have done. The book is valuable in helping to fill out and make more explicit the implications of David Jones’ thinking. It will appeal to scholars of theology, religion and literary studies, as well as others in philosophy and art history.