A Grace of Sense - theological aesthetics

Religious traditions tend to become systems of oppression and attendants of violence. Subjugation of women in religious societies, as well as the difficult position of sexual and gender minorities among churches serve as examples of the violent undercurrents of sacred hierarchies. To say the least, religious convictions are prone to be conservative, unyielding and unimaginative. This should not necessarily be the case. As a matter of fact, religion can be a source of endless creativity and irresistible hope that cherishes all life in its variety. I suppose this applies to all major religions. In this article I however concentrate on the Western Christianity, the religious tradition I am most familiar with. The history of the Western Christendom is full of power conflicts, prejudice and inflexibility, resulting in condemnations and sheer bloodshed. On the other hand, the very same tradition includes innovations, reforms, religious creativity, tolerance,beauty and love of neighbor. My pe...

"And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food" (Gen 2:9) It is worth noting that the aesthetic dimension (pleasant to the sight) is mentioned here before the material usefulness (good for food) of the trees of paradise. This is the first verse to attest the aesthetic character of the Bible, alongside the reiterated phrase "God saw that it was good". God creates beauty and is pleased by it. This is the very first thing to know about the Creator. There are many words for the beautiful in the Old Testament Hebrew: tiph'ara "beauty", hadar "majesty", 'oz "brightness" etc. However, the most prominent word for the aesthetic in the Bible is "glory" (Hebrew kabod , Greek doxa ) that is discussed below. Suffice it to say here that arguably the greatest account on theological aesthetics in the 20th century is Hans Urs von Balthasar's encyclopedic Herrlichkeit ...

What is the factor that unites the diverse books of the Bible? What has the Pentateuch common with the Apocalypse, or the Song of Songs with the Pauline epistles? Martin Luther determined the justification of the sinner to be the doctrine that joins all the books of the Bible together, written on every page of it. As persuasive as this view is, it is hardly tenable. Indeed, there are many pages of the Scripture that do not mention the justification of the sinner. Justification is a good nominee for the uniting bond between the various texts of the Bible, but not an entirely satisfying one. I argue that the thing that joins all the literary genres and individual books of the Bible is their aesthetic character. This is not a highly original statement, but rather something very obvious. The aesthetic character of the Bible can be perceived along the following traits: Musicality. Many texts of the Bible are made for singing, Psalms in particular. There are many other songs, too: in the Pro...

The Word of God is the basis for Christian theology. Only very modern, liberal theologies may claim that there is some other source of Christianity that would be more important, such as "human religious experience". All great traditions of Christian spirituality attest that the Word of God is the source of theology. However, "the Word of God" may have several different meanings. In the protestant world, the Word of God is equivalent for "the Holy Bible". This view is correct, yet inadequate. Everything in the Church is based (in one way or another) to the Bible. It is the major litarary source of Christianity, even if not the one and only. Fundamentalist theologians tend to ignore the significance of creeds and ecumenical symbols. There is no direct access to the Bible that could take no notice to the two millennia of Chriatian thinking. Nevertheless, there is no way getting rid of the Bible. For a Christian, the Bible is neither a historical document ...