Blogotional
Hi John:
I think you've raised some excellent questions. It would seem that as beauty is part of the nature of God Himself, and that we are counselled to think about, among other things, "whatever is beautiful", that somehow, beauty must play a role in spiritual formation.
The challenge is to think about beauty biblically, as opposed to viewing and defining it through the our particular cultural lens.
Christians today ought to have a better grasp on this subject-- I think it's more important than our culture, even Christian culture, seems to recognize.
If we look at what American culture today celebrates as "beautiful"-- it seems it mostly has to do with aesthetics, the high value put on acts of individualistic expression, and physical beauty-- but "beauty of the soul"seems neglected.
I think I'll probably develop my thoughts more on this and write about it on my blog. Thanks for the inspiration
!
I, for one, find it helpful to think about what beauty God has placed around me whether in nature, people, or human expression. I find that looking at something with those eyes helps me to look past what I think is beautiful or not and see something deeper from a different perspective.
Though I would argue that there is nothing wrong with what a culture calls beautiful, but rather what we disregard in favor of that beauty. Getting out of the "cultural lens" that Alex speaks of helps with that, but we shoud remain thankful for the beauty that we can see without such efforts. After all, if we didn't see that beauty, would we be at all interested in looking deeper or ever think that there could be even more?
Sorry to have frustrated you.
You said: "I cannot find a lot of guidance in scripture about what it is that constitutes "beauty," at least apart from creation itself."
I think we see a few hints in the Old Testament descriptions of God's design for the tabernacle, the ark and the temple. These were pleasing to look at. In fact, they were extravagant in color and design. One might be correct in saying that these things were designed to give some hint of the "glory" and magnificence of God and the place where He dwells.
But since beauty is a concept that we apply to such a variety of things, from music to poetry (Psalms) to craftsmanship to human appearance and the natural world, it's hard to define just what we mean by it. I don't believe it is limited to the things God has created -- you say as much when you talk about impressionism vs. realism.
Beauty originates with God, and may be said to be an attribute of God, but I believe we are capable of creating beauty, too. Or, at the very least, of imitating it. I attribute that to our being made in His image, and being immersed in His creation.
Undoubtedly, when we are filled with God's Spirit, we are filled with beauty. But as you suggest with your comments about contemporary worship music, Christians have no corner on beauty. Monet and Mozart might be good examples of secularists who nevertheless were quite gifted and used their gifts to create beauty, perhaps glorifying God without intending to do so.
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