In the movie Dirty Dancing, a man asks Baby, the main character, about her plans for the future. Her father is very proud to say she's going to the Peace Corps. "She's going to save the world!" And what of Lisa, the man asks. Baby smirks. "She's going to decorate it." Beauty, to Baby, is clearly a frill, unimportant.
With age and reading, I've come to believe differently. Beauty matters, psychologically and spiritually. We can see it in the stark, harsh concrete blocks of the Soviet Union or much of modern architecture in the United States today in comparison to the elegance and beauty of the great libraries or cathedrals of Europe.
It's easy for us to know where we'd feel more at peace, which we find more beautiful, which we'd rather walk into. We can easily imagine which view we'd rather see outside our window every morning, which would give us more peace and joy, and which would leave us with a feeling of despair and sadness.
Beauty matters. Philosophers, theologians, and priests have spoken to the theology of beauty. Recently, I've been reading Frank E. Gaebelein's The Christian, The Arts, and Truth: regaining the vision of greatness. Mr. Gaebelein was an evangelical author, editor, and educator, and for some time served as presbyter and ordained deacon in the Reformed Episcopal Church. I have read a bit on the works of Hans Urs von Balthasar, a Catholic priest widely regarded as one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century, and Father Thomas Dubay--in particular his book The Evidential Power of Beauty.
While Mr. Gaebelein and Fathers Balthasar and Dubay come from different theological angles, they agree that beauty matters and that beauty and art--whether literature, music, paintings, sculptures or even architecture--are of God.
Gaebelein says because we get our creativity from God and God is true, then art must be true. He gives four criteria for whether art is good. To be true, art must have:
- durability.
- unity.
- integrity.
- inevitability.
While these things are worth considering and reflecting on, I found them also still subjective. Under the heading of integrity, for example, he discusses 'sentimentality,' which to him is the mark of poor quality art. As one example, he deems Sallman's Head of Christ to be 'superficial' and Rembrandt's to have depth. My guess is that you can tell from the two pictures which is which.
However, I find his assessment somewhat subjective. Rembrandt's Christ appears more thoughtful, perhaps contemplating His future crucifixion or the salvation of souls, but did Christ not have moments of solemn contemplation as He appears to have in Sallman's version? Gaebelein does not say why he finds Sallman's picture sentimental and poor art.
He is clear in his belief that the artist, in any medium, must strive for excellence in his work and must use his art to glorify God. He believed that evangelicals suffer from what he called 'the snobbery of banality,' and dismissing art in all its forms as mere add-ons to worship when in fact they're an important part of worship and the Christian life.
Dubay saw beauty as an objective reality that proclaims the Creator and in fact gives evidence of His existence. He saw art and aesthetics not as utilitarian, but as contemplative, as revealing holiness and divine order. Beauty aligns with God's intents and points beyond itself to spiritual realities. Dubay saw the concept of 'beauty' as a 'battlefield' on which God and evil fight for human hearts.
Dubay integrated aesthetics and science--for instance the harmony found in physics, just s Gaebelein spoke of the pure beauty of mathematical equations.
Father Dubay defined what is beautiful very differently from Mr. Gaebelein, not with a list of criteria but with the simple test: What brings you closer to God is beautiful. What takes you farther away is distorted or superficial 'beauty.' This fits well with Paul's admonition in Philippians 4:8 to think on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. And this advice fits well with modern beliefs that what we think about, we create in our lives.
So let us think about beauty and create beauty to draw the world closer to God. Decorating it--making it beautiful--really is not a useless frill to be sneered at, but an important part of our psyches, minds, and souls.
In coming articles we'll talk more about the ideas of Father von Balthasar, who drew his theology from medieval and early Church fathers.
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