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...