A Grace of Sense - theological aesthetics

“A grace of sense” is a quote from T. S. Eliot’s Burnt Norton (from Four Quartets). What makes it of interest for me is its ambiguousness. One could either read it as “unmerited blessing of meaning” or “elegance of perception” , why not “beauty of reason” or eventually “gratification of senses”. In all these aspects, this phrase illuminates the scope of theological aesthetics. The key values in aesthetic theology are beauty, gratuitousness, expertise, sensory perception, a feeling of significance and intrinsic enjoyment.  “A grace of sense” refers also to the way an aesthetic experience often occurs when one least expects it to happen. All artistic occasions – concerts, exhibitions etc – are intended to arouse “a grace of sense”, but one cannot guarantee that it takes place. When an aesthetic experience happens, one cannot but gratefully accept it. In this regard the aesthetic experience resembles greatly the religious experience of grace. That the world makes sense ...

Photo: Timo Rasimus The Islamic tradition tells that some people have converted to Islam on account of the sheer beauty of the Arabic of the Qur'an. Lacking the knowledge of the language,  ignorant of the teachings of the Prophet, they have nevertheless grasped the spiritual depth of the text (or, rather, recitation). This kind of religious awakening has hardly other than an aesthetic nature. There is neither theological doctrine nor moral obligation involved. Something strikes a person, changing his or her world at once, and one does not know what it is (a counterpart for the aesthetic nescio quid ). A similar story is told within Eastern Christianity. The conversion of Russians to Christianity happened through (or with a little help of) an aesthetic experience, according to the 12th century Nestor's Chronicle . The envoys of the Prince Vladimir reported, after attending the service in Hagia Sophia in Constantinople: "We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth....

The Hungarian Béla Bartók (1881-1945) was one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. He was also an outspoken atheist. Therefore I am puzzled by the recurrent religioso markings of his late works. The viola concerto (Sz 120) and the 3rd piano concerto (Sz 119) include a middle part titled adagio religioso (to be precise, the viola concerto has it in the version made by Tibor Serly). What does this religioso stand for? The Bartók biography by Kenneth Chalmers uncovers the composer's thoughts on religion to some degree. An important source is Bartók's letter to the violinist Stefi Geyer, who was some kind of a femme fatale to Bartók. Bartók dedicated his first violin concerto (that remained unperformed during the composer's lifetime) to Geyer, to whom he had a crush on. It is possible that they parted because of their opposite views on religion. In the letter to Stefi Geyer, Bartók describes his atheist stance. It becomes clear that Bartók is not a straightforward...

The Aesthetic View of Christianity Christianity can be viewed as a non-aesthetic stance, remote from outer appearances and physical phenomena. Soren Kierkegaard is an advocate of this existentialist reading of Christianity that emphasizes the paradox. “To believe that the artistic helps one into actuality is just as mistaken as to believe that the more artistically complete the sermon, the more it must influence the transformation of life — alas, no, the more it influences life esthetically, the more it influences away from the existential.”  This view is discernible in the thinking of modern theologians like Karl Barth or Rudolf Bultmann. Basis for Christian understanding of beauty: creation and incarnation Most of Christian theology can approve the words of John Keats: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” Unlike Kierkegaard’s mistrust of the aesthetic, Friedrich Schleiermacher defines religion as an aesthetic endeavor: “Religion’s essence is neither thinking nor actin...

Having accomplished the work of creation, "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good." (Gen 1,31) This is the ultimate statement of Christianity (and Judaism, and, probably, Islam) about the world in God's sight. It is the basic conviction of theological aesthetics and its biblical ground. The word "good" might as well be read as "beautiful." In the biblical narrative it became soon apparent, that this approach to the world is problematic. On the very next page of Genesis there came the Fall. In many theological traditions (mainly Western ones) the Fall caused large destruction to the primeval beauty of the creation. Nevertheless, the mainstream Christianity (whatever it might be) has never believed in the total depravity of the Creation. According to the Church Fathers, to say that the bodily existence of ours is an evil thing, is a heresy. The most important thing pertaining to the view of God to the world is, that God never gave se...