A Grace of Sense - theological aesthetics

St Anne. Photo Anu Hätinen  The universe does not have to make sense to us. It is not ultimately necessary that we can understand the logic of being. Moreover, being does not ultimately need to have a logic whatsoever. Yet that is what we experience: we encounter the world as something that has a logic, as a series of incidents that make sense, almost without exception. When that is not the case, we shout: "This does not make sense!" And we feel distressed. We stubbornly expect that being makes sense. Obviously, this conviction is right. Our life does not work without a meaning. My words here, these letters on the screen, are designed to convey a meaning. They are written with the intention to be intelligible, not arbitrarily (like this: sodkhg wkreesi lasit). If the reader should find my point flawed, the criterion for that would be the reason, i.e. rationality that we both appeal to.  No one truly believes in the mere chance. On the contrary, it is amazing that the origin o...

Beauty of the cross Cross – the token of Christianity – challenges the aesthetic reading of the Bible. The prophecy of the Good Friday says precisely, that “he had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him…like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:2-3) This is the exact opposite of an aesthetic interest! The main artistic problem concerning the image of crucified Christ is that no artist ventures to depict the ugliness of the crucified body as it is (supposing that the image is visible in a church). At the closer scrutiny, the cross of Christ makes the Christian aesthetics possible in its entirety. Without the Son of God who has gone through death and suffering, up to the God-abandonment at the cross, all beauty in the world would be vain entertainment, a deceptive surface that hides the cruel reality. In the end, it is the beauty of our life that gives the ultimate meaning t...

  Having no training in visual arts, I hesitate to analyze paintings, modern ones in particular. However, I came across artworks that unpredictably opened a spiritual view that I decided to share in this post. Alvar Gullichsen (b.1961) is a Finnish artist, who has formerly been celebrated for his cartoon-like works (such as Disney-influenced "Posankka") and the imaginary engines of Bonk Factory. Lately, he has been fascinated in geometrical patterns that create a three-dimensional ambiance that seems to surround the beholder.  Gullichsen acknowledges that he surveys mystical philosophy and is interested in spiritual traditions. As a theologian I immediately asked: what kind of spirituality is involved in these abstract paintings? What is the message they convey? The first paintings were technically excellent, they created an illusion of being part of the universe that the painting contained. One felt to be inside a huge, round tube, for instance, Recurrent geometrical pattern...

  La Passion de Simone (2006) combines two intriguing female figures of the recent century: the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023) and the French philosopher Simone Weil (1909-1943).   This is a vocal and choral passion in a Bachian vein. The soprano soloist plays the part of the evangelist, as it were, narrating the life story of Simone. The choir comments the incidents, and the speaker (reciting texts by Weil) performs kind of recitatives. The dramatical structure is borrowed from the Stations of the Cross, where Christ's road to Golgotha is viewed as 14 stations. Eventually there are 15 stations in the passion of Simone. Saariaho, together with her librettist Amin Maalouf, portrays Simone Weil as a tragic, if not a pathetic figure. Her life was a failure indeed: Weil, a chronically sick young Jewish philosopher, identified herself with the working class, although never affiliated with a political party. She worked for a time in a factory in 1935, although she ...

 Martin Luther: speak more good than true "'You are not to bear false witness against your neighbor.' What is this? Answer: We are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations. Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light." To speak well of our neighbors, that is the point of the seventh commandment (or the eighth, according to the Orthodox or Reformed reading). There are several aspects of interest here. To begin with, a good reputation is something invaluable for a person. To lose face has always been a disaster, but never has it been such a threat as in the internet era. To ruin someone's reputation has never been as simple to do as it is today. Once suspicion is leveled (about, say, sexual harassment or economic dishonesty) no explanations will suffice to restore the dignity of the suspected one. Even when t...

  In the history of the Western idea of love,  Bernard of Clairvaux holds a major position. Beside his 85 sermons on the Song of Songs, his treatise On Loving God is of a particular interest. Still today recognizable ideas of romantic love emerged in the 12th century in the songs of troubadours. At the same time, theologians discussed the theme of love, to a certain degree in the same vein. However, Bernard did not consider love as a languishing emotion, it was the view of his antagonist, Abaelard (1079-1142). In Abaelard’s opinion, pure love does not expect its fulfillment. Whoever loves God does not think of anything else, not even one’s own salvation. I love God, without considering whether I find my bliss in him or not. Although this idea has some poetic vigor and it surfaces now and then in the history of mysticism, it has the disadvantage of portraying God as a capricious lover who escapes us and plays with our emotions. Bernard’s approach to love in his On Loving God is...