David Taylor
Associate Professor of Theology and Culture
BA, University of Texas at Austin
MCS, Regent College
ThM, Regent College
ThD, Duke Divinity School
Courses Taught
IS501: The Practices of Worship
HT501: The Church’s Understanding of God and Christ in its Theological Reflection
HT503: The Church’s Understanding of the Church, Humanity, and the Christian Life in its Theological Reflection
HT504: Modern Theology in a Global Context
TC540: Worship and the Arts
TC541: Vocation of the Artist in Biblical, Historical, Theological, and Contemporary Perspective
TC864/564: A Theology of Beauty
TC581: Worship, Theology, and the Arts Touchstone Course
TC590: Theology and Science Fiction
Campus Affiliations
Areas of Expertise
Systematic theology, pneumatology, liturgical theology, theological aesthetics, a theology of beauty, theology and science fiction, liturgical aesthetics, theology of John Calvin
“We want to offer the church a different kind of vision: a theologically informed, biblically deepened, liturgically sensitive, artistically robust, and missionally shrewd vision for the arts. It’s an expansive and holistic vision.”
Dr. Taylor, in an essay on the role of the arts in the life of the church. Read more.
Bio
W. David O. Taylor joined the Fuller faculty in 2014. Prior to his appointment at Fuller, Dr. Taylor served as a pastor for ten years in Austin, Texas. Born and raised in Guatemala City, he has lectured widely on the arts in both academic and popular settings, from Thailand to South Africa.
Taylor’s most recent book is A Body of Praise: Understanding the Role of Our Physical Bodies in Worship (2023). He is also the author of Open and Unafraid: The Psalms as a Guide to Life (2020), Glimpses of the New Creation: Worship and the Formative Power of the Arts (2019) and The Theater of God’s Glory: Calvin, Creation and the Liturgical Arts (Eerdmans, 2017). He is editor of For the Beauty of the Church: Casting a Vision for the Arts (2010) as well as coeditor of Contemporary Art and the Church: A Conversation Between Two Worlds (2017) and The Art of New Creation: Trajectories in Theology and the Arts (2022). Taylor has published articles in the Calvin Theological Journal, Christian Scholars Review, Worship, Theology Today, The Washington Post, Religion News Service, Books & Culture, Comment, Image Journal, Christianity Today, and The Living Church, among others.
Taylor serves on the advisory board for Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts as well as IVP Academic’s series, “Studies in Theology and the Arts” and has served as board member of Christians In the Visual Arts (CIVA). He is a core participant in the four-year project “Theology, Modernity, and the Visual Arts,” hosted by King’s College, London. Each gathering will take place in a different city: London, Chicago, Berlin, and Venice.
An ordained Anglican priest, he leads an annual retreat for pastors and artists at Laity Lodge in central Texas. In 2016 he produced a short film on the psalms with Bono and Eugene Peterson. The June 2016 issue of Christianity Today featured him and his wife for their work with the church and the arts.
Download Dr. Taylor’s CV, which includes a list of his current publications. You can follow David on Twitter: @wdavidotaylor; Instagram: @davidtaylor_theologian; and his Facebook author page: @wdavidotaylor2020.
Recent Blog Posts
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