The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World Lewis Hyde (Vintage)
Simply the best book on what art ought to be. An underground best seller among the creatives in New York City since it came out over 30 years ago, The Gift articulates what artists know in their bones—that their creativity is a gift, not a commodity.
On Beauty and Being Just Elaine Scarry (Princeton University Press)
Though not a Christological reflection, this is one of the most thoughtful, and beautiful, discourses on the value of beauty and how seeking after beauty leads us toward justice. This book was also an underground best seller in the 1980s among creatives.
Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art Madeleine L'Engle (Harold Shaw Publishers)
L'Engle illumines our creative journeys, prodding and nudging us to consider the mysteries inherent in our everyday lives and to infuse creativity with faith.
The Mind of the Maker Dorothy L. Sayers (HarperOne)
Sayers, known as an Inklings friend of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as well as for her popular mystery novels, develops an imaginative and provocative discourse between Trinitarian theology and creativity.
Four Quartets T. S. Eliot (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Eliot is one of the most important thinkers on creativity in modern times, as evidenced by this mid-20th-century masterpiece. In "Qu4rtets," a collaborative project integrating creativity with various disciplines (fujimurainstitute.org), you can peek into his mind.
Makoto Fujimura, artist and author of Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art, and Culture (NavPress, 2009)
