(Continued from Part Five)
So Beauty is real, present, independent, giving, bestowing, playful and creative. It is also diverse, copious, and harmonious. With Allah as God, only red is beautiful. All other colors submit in inadequacy. But with a Triune God ruling the heavens and earth, a rainbow of colors are considered equal in richness and beauty. Red and Blue can stand together and equally declare God’s glory in Beauty. But our God is three separate and distinct units, having no commonality. In like manner Red and Blue do not stand apart like in a debate, vying for the win. They are more like the two lines of music that when played together, harmonize. When something is beautiful, the individual aspects of that beautiful item work together to make it so. Take a beautiful tree. You do not separate the trunk from the branches, or the leaves from the ground its planted in. Every part plays its line in harmony. This is a microcosm of how the world works. There is a multiplicity of colors, textures, tastes, aromas, sights, sounds, that all work together in creation to glorify God. In their right created context, they are beautiful. This stems from the God we worship. Again, you cannot separate the creation from the Creator. A work always reflects its author.
Beauty is real, present, independent, giving, bestowing, playful and creative, diverse and harmonious. Beauty also carries an aspect of distance. Distance does not necessarily mean far away. It simply means space, and spatial relationships. In terms of our God, He is infinitely far, transcendent, and wholly other, and by the same token infinitely near, immediate, and within. Beauty therefore has these attributes as well. A painting perhaps best exemplifies this. To look at a painting one can see and touch the canvas, paint, frame, etc. In that sense it is near, close at hand. But it also has an aspect of distance, in that it takes you somewhere. From a Japanese bridge to a plaza in 18th Century Italy, to ancient Egypt (as with the pyramids). Beauty, in other words, is dimensional. Beauty has both the ability to transcend space and time, but also to locate one in a certain space and time. It not only remains beautiful through different cultures and era’s, but also takes the beholder and locates them in a different context. As I mentioned, this happens most readily with paintings, but architecture can have the same affect, both civic and landscape. Beauty brings the far near, and brings the near far away.
Beauty is real, present, independent, giving, bestowing, playful and creative, diverse, harmonious, and dimensional. Lastly, Beauty has context, and cannot be beautiful, at least in the same way, apart from its surroundings. To relate this directly to our God needs some clarification. God would still be God apart from His people, technically. But He Himself has chosen to irrevocably unite Himself to us, to identify Himself by us. Christ is now forever in human flesh. That cannot and will not be undone. To separate Him from that flesh would in some sense, hypothetically of course, diminish His beauty. In like manner, creation has context. The beauty of the trees in the mountains of eastern California could not be appreciated in the great plains of Nebraska. But in their context, they are some of the most sublime sights one can ever see on this earth. Likewise a Bach Cantata played at a hockey game, just does not fit, nor would the beauty be fully communicated and appreciated. Just because something works here, does not necessitate it working there. This is another way of joining the form/content debate. Form matters. The content is affected by the form. A cheesecake in a springform pan will look and taste different than a cheesecake in a meatloaf pan. The cheesecake needs its own specific context to function as it was meant to. Beauty works the same way. Beauty identifies with something. The point here is that the ‘something’ is important.
From this discussion, we have now a specific set of standards to judge beauty. These are objective standards that do not depend on taste. Beauty is real, present, independent, giving, bestowing, playful and creative, diverse, harmonious, dimensional, and within a specific context. Next time we will look at how if one of these aspects is distorted or maligned, the object no longer is beautiful. But for now, beauty is important, and how we understand it will affect how we live and relate with one another. And it happens whether or not we believe it.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
The Divine Abundance: Part Five
We have discussed the nature of the Trinity and its relation to Creation. The question then arises, what has this to do with aesthetics? What has this to do with beauty? The Creator God is Beauty, and there can be nothing more beautiful than God. Ultimate Beauty therefore must have the same attributes as the infinite God. If it did not, God could not be the Ultimate Beauty. In this way, we have an objective standard for Beauty. Beauty is not simply and only ‘taste’. Taste has its place, but it does not govern all areas of Beauty. Therefore, something can be truly, biblically beautiful, say a ripe peach, and not be pleasing to every single person on earth. If that example seems trite, think about it again. Peaches are an act of creation. They are created by God. God cannot make what is outside His nature. Hence, peaches reflect God’s nature, and are in that sense, Beautiful. But John doesn’t like peaches. And God has given him the freedom to not like them. Taste is a subcategory of Beauty, and not the other way around. Our modern/postmodern relativists have elevated taste above all, elevating their own decision-making abilities over and above what God has decreed. In this way they can look down on God and decide that He is not their type, just like John does not like peaches. But taste is not the heading, with beauty as bullet point number three, followed by truth, and flavors of ice cream. We must say that Beauty, who is God Himself, reigns and that all things flow from Him.
So in the past four discussions regarding the Divine Abundance, what framework have we given for our understanding of Beauty? We have looked at these each in their own place:
The ‘superfluousness’ of Creation
The necessary love of the Creator
The Triune nature and fellowship of the Creator
The divine dialogue and difference within the Trinity
The distance and immediacy of this Triune God
The identification of God with His people
What can we understand about Beauty from these things? The first thought to take away is that Beauty is real and present. It is not a figment of imagination, nor is it a created substance that will pass with time. Beauty surrounds us because it is emblazoned in creation. It follows then that Beauty does not need a subject to appreciate it to be beautiful. Creation was Good on Day 5. Creation was beautiful without Man. Now in the Almighty’s divine pleasure, it was not complete without man, but the presence of mankind does not suddenly give Beauty its life. Beauty has its life in that it reflects the nature of the Creator. Beauty is the very reflection. The Triune God was beautiful, was Beauty, from before the foundations of the world.
Beauty is real, and present, and independent from us. Beauty also gives and bestows. As the very reflection of God, it gives glory and bestows majesty on God. Acts of beauty then consist of bestowing on others. This is tempered and defined by the selfless love of the Trinity. The act of giving is an act free from selfish ends and desires. Beauty then is a selfless love, giving of itself for the pure reason of blessing others. This can be seen in music, to take an example from the art world. When various lines complement each other, and do not dominate, but harmonize and flow together, achieving a sound bigger than the individual lines, the overall product is beautiful, because it reflects the nature of Beauty, the nature of God, which involves a love which is directed outward, a selfless giving for the benefit and glorification of the other.
Beauty is real, present, independent, giving and bestowing. Beauty also is playful and creative. To look at the diversity of creation, and to speak of God as anything but playful, humorous, and creative, is to look but without seeing and understanding. Beauty then is rich in diversity (allowing for tastes), humorous, creative, and playful. I say playful in order to bring to mind images of delight and joy. God clearly enjoys His creation. Go to any national or international park, landmark, or reserve. From Yosemite, to the Fjords of Norway, to the (fill in your favorite desktop wallpaper). This again, speaks to the unnecessary nature of creation. God did not need to create 300,000 different types of beetles, but He did, and did so out of His own good pleasure and delight in creation. To watch antelopes and gazelles bounce and prance as they do over fields and hills, is a delight. Simply look at the giraffe for conclusive evidence that God is a comedian and enjoys playing. Beauty is a reflection of that playfulness. To watch the sun melt in a rainbow of colors, dripping down into the raising waves of a moving ocean, while the land and mountains behind you are seduced by the dark of night, is Beauty. It is beautiful because it is an exhibition of nature playing and enjoying the game of creation, the game God has given it to play.
(Part Two forthcoming…)
So in the past four discussions regarding the Divine Abundance, what framework have we given for our understanding of Beauty? We have looked at these each in their own place:
The ‘superfluousness’ of Creation
The necessary love of the Creator
The Triune nature and fellowship of the Creator
The divine dialogue and difference within the Trinity
The distance and immediacy of this Triune God
The identification of God with His people
What can we understand about Beauty from these things? The first thought to take away is that Beauty is real and present. It is not a figment of imagination, nor is it a created substance that will pass with time. Beauty surrounds us because it is emblazoned in creation. It follows then that Beauty does not need a subject to appreciate it to be beautiful. Creation was Good on Day 5. Creation was beautiful without Man. Now in the Almighty’s divine pleasure, it was not complete without man, but the presence of mankind does not suddenly give Beauty its life. Beauty has its life in that it reflects the nature of the Creator. Beauty is the very reflection. The Triune God was beautiful, was Beauty, from before the foundations of the world.
Beauty is real, and present, and independent from us. Beauty also gives and bestows. As the very reflection of God, it gives glory and bestows majesty on God. Acts of beauty then consist of bestowing on others. This is tempered and defined by the selfless love of the Trinity. The act of giving is an act free from selfish ends and desires. Beauty then is a selfless love, giving of itself for the pure reason of blessing others. This can be seen in music, to take an example from the art world. When various lines complement each other, and do not dominate, but harmonize and flow together, achieving a sound bigger than the individual lines, the overall product is beautiful, because it reflects the nature of Beauty, the nature of God, which involves a love which is directed outward, a selfless giving for the benefit and glorification of the other.
Beauty is real, present, independent, giving and bestowing. Beauty also is playful and creative. To look at the diversity of creation, and to speak of God as anything but playful, humorous, and creative, is to look but without seeing and understanding. Beauty then is rich in diversity (allowing for tastes), humorous, creative, and playful. I say playful in order to bring to mind images of delight and joy. God clearly enjoys His creation. Go to any national or international park, landmark, or reserve. From Yosemite, to the Fjords of Norway, to the (fill in your favorite desktop wallpaper). This again, speaks to the unnecessary nature of creation. God did not need to create 300,000 different types of beetles, but He did, and did so out of His own good pleasure and delight in creation. To watch antelopes and gazelles bounce and prance as they do over fields and hills, is a delight. Simply look at the giraffe for conclusive evidence that God is a comedian and enjoys playing. Beauty is a reflection of that playfulness. To watch the sun melt in a rainbow of colors, dripping down into the raising waves of a moving ocean, while the land and mountains behind you are seduced by the dark of night, is Beauty. It is beautiful because it is an exhibition of nature playing and enjoying the game of creation, the game God has given it to play.
(Part Two forthcoming…)
The Divine Abundance: Part Four
We left off a couple of months ago with the idea of the God of Creation, the God who is infinitely beyond all, stooping into history, and approaching His own. In Christ, the Unapproachable One, becomes approachable, the God of all takes on flesh and tabernacles among us. This brings us to a fourth point in our pursuit of a paradigm for understanding the beautiful and our place in it.
The Lord of all Creation is infinite. This must be so, or else God would have a beginning or an end, and that is nonsensical. There are two sides to this coin. The infinity of God by definition means that God is infinitely above us, beyond us, transcending every thought, concept, imagination, or word we can give. This we know, and have dwelt on already. From this starting point we arrive at our own superfluousness, and the unnecessary nature of Creation.
Infinity also means however, that God is infinitely close to His creation. As far as He is distant, He is also near. In short, He is the distance that separates us. He is the distance that breaks through the Creator/Creature distinction. He is the God who, though being above all, has irrevocably bound Himself to His Creation. He has defined Himself, named Himself, with relation to His people. In Exodus He gives Moses the name by which He will be known, and remembered. “God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations,” (Ex. 3:14-15). Even in the very name of God, He involves His purpose, His people. He is to be remembered throughout all generations as the God of a certain, particular people.
This God identifies intimately with His bride. He puts His reputation on the line, if you will. Here we have a clearer idea why the history of God’s people is so important. It is through God’s relation with us that His glory is made known to the nations. Two things we take from this. One, God uses weakness to confound strength. He uses broken clay pots to conquer the iron and steel of His enemies. The second thing we take from this is that God is not using the history of His bride apart from divine foreknowledge. In other words, He is not simply hoping the story of His grace will fall on sympathetic ears. He will be made known to the nations, and He will bring redemption to the world, placing His enemies beneath His feet. This will happen. And in order to accomplish this, He chooses to use us, the fallen and restored Bride.
This however, is more contextual, and tangential to our discussion of aesthetics, though not unimportant. To reorient us, work through this quote from David Bentley Hart’s book, The Beauty of the Infinite:
This is why consideration of the analogy of being concludes this long meditation on Trinitarian doctrine: the Father forever sees and infinitely loves the whole depth of his being in the Son, illumined as responsive love in the fullness of the Spirit, and in the always determinate infinity of His triune being God begets all the riches of being – all that all things might ever be – in the image and light of His essence; and thus God himself is already his own analogy, his own infinite otherness and perfect likeness. All things – all the words of being – speak of God because they shine within his eternal Word. This Trinitarian distance is that “open” in which the tree springs up from the earth, the stars turn in the sky, the sea swells, all living things are born and grow, angels raise their everlasting hymnody; because this is the true interval of difference, every metaphysics that does not grasp the analogy of being is a Tower of Babel, attempting to mount up to the supreme principle rather than dwelling in and giving voice to the prodigality of the gift. (The Beauty of the Infinite, 248)
This is a little thick, so lets work through it. The ‘analogy of being’ refers to the metaphysical concepts of difference and transcendence. Packed in the luggage of those terms are the two sides of the infinite described above. The triune nature of God is in essence, one of love. We have seen how this love overflows in rich abundance into Creation, showing God’s playfulness and intimacy within unnecessary gift. This is seen in “all the riches of being – all that all things might ever be – in the image and light of His essence.” All creation therefore sings in praise of who God is, for He is intimately united, by choice, and not by force, to all creation. “He is before all things, and in Him, all things consist,” (Col 1:17). “For in Him we live and move and have our being,” (Acts 17:28). Because God is infinite, and is the very space that separates us (‘even in the depths of Sheol, You are there…’), He gives life to all things. He is therefore that “open” space in which trees grow and sway in the wind, angels sing their hymns, and the oceans clap their hands in praise. Hence every metaphysic (paradigm, worldview, theology) that does not understand this, is by nature the tower of defiance and rebellion. To not recognize the ruler of heaven and earth, is to declare autonomy, which will necessarily bring confusion and exile. We cannot mount up to God. However, He can stoop down, and has in Christ. This is that gift that we are to dwell in and give voice to. We dwell in God’s bounty whether we like it or not. It is simply the way things are. We can however choose not to give voice to it. Either we refuse and climb Mount Babel, or we accept, and honor God as God, and give Him thanks.
Here is gratitude, the only word on our tongue fit for the Creator God, who is above all, and in all, and through all. Glory and power and dominion are His forever, and ever, world without end. Amen.
The Lord of all Creation is infinite. This must be so, or else God would have a beginning or an end, and that is nonsensical. There are two sides to this coin. The infinity of God by definition means that God is infinitely above us, beyond us, transcending every thought, concept, imagination, or word we can give. This we know, and have dwelt on already. From this starting point we arrive at our own superfluousness, and the unnecessary nature of Creation.
Infinity also means however, that God is infinitely close to His creation. As far as He is distant, He is also near. In short, He is the distance that separates us. He is the distance that breaks through the Creator/Creature distinction. He is the God who, though being above all, has irrevocably bound Himself to His Creation. He has defined Himself, named Himself, with relation to His people. In Exodus He gives Moses the name by which He will be known, and remembered. “God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations,” (Ex. 3:14-15). Even in the very name of God, He involves His purpose, His people. He is to be remembered throughout all generations as the God of a certain, particular people.
This God identifies intimately with His bride. He puts His reputation on the line, if you will. Here we have a clearer idea why the history of God’s people is so important. It is through God’s relation with us that His glory is made known to the nations. Two things we take from this. One, God uses weakness to confound strength. He uses broken clay pots to conquer the iron and steel of His enemies. The second thing we take from this is that God is not using the history of His bride apart from divine foreknowledge. In other words, He is not simply hoping the story of His grace will fall on sympathetic ears. He will be made known to the nations, and He will bring redemption to the world, placing His enemies beneath His feet. This will happen. And in order to accomplish this, He chooses to use us, the fallen and restored Bride.
This however, is more contextual, and tangential to our discussion of aesthetics, though not unimportant. To reorient us, work through this quote from David Bentley Hart’s book, The Beauty of the Infinite:
This is why consideration of the analogy of being concludes this long meditation on Trinitarian doctrine: the Father forever sees and infinitely loves the whole depth of his being in the Son, illumined as responsive love in the fullness of the Spirit, and in the always determinate infinity of His triune being God begets all the riches of being – all that all things might ever be – in the image and light of His essence; and thus God himself is already his own analogy, his own infinite otherness and perfect likeness. All things – all the words of being – speak of God because they shine within his eternal Word. This Trinitarian distance is that “open” in which the tree springs up from the earth, the stars turn in the sky, the sea swells, all living things are born and grow, angels raise their everlasting hymnody; because this is the true interval of difference, every metaphysics that does not grasp the analogy of being is a Tower of Babel, attempting to mount up to the supreme principle rather than dwelling in and giving voice to the prodigality of the gift. (The Beauty of the Infinite, 248)
This is a little thick, so lets work through it. The ‘analogy of being’ refers to the metaphysical concepts of difference and transcendence. Packed in the luggage of those terms are the two sides of the infinite described above. The triune nature of God is in essence, one of love. We have seen how this love overflows in rich abundance into Creation, showing God’s playfulness and intimacy within unnecessary gift. This is seen in “all the riches of being – all that all things might ever be – in the image and light of His essence.” All creation therefore sings in praise of who God is, for He is intimately united, by choice, and not by force, to all creation. “He is before all things, and in Him, all things consist,” (Col 1:17). “For in Him we live and move and have our being,” (Acts 17:28). Because God is infinite, and is the very space that separates us (‘even in the depths of Sheol, You are there…’), He gives life to all things. He is therefore that “open” space in which trees grow and sway in the wind, angels sing their hymns, and the oceans clap their hands in praise. Hence every metaphysic (paradigm, worldview, theology) that does not understand this, is by nature the tower of defiance and rebellion. To not recognize the ruler of heaven and earth, is to declare autonomy, which will necessarily bring confusion and exile. We cannot mount up to God. However, He can stoop down, and has in Christ. This is that gift that we are to dwell in and give voice to. We dwell in God’s bounty whether we like it or not. It is simply the way things are. We can however choose not to give voice to it. Either we refuse and climb Mount Babel, or we accept, and honor God as God, and give Him thanks.
Here is gratitude, the only word on our tongue fit for the Creator God, who is above all, and in all, and through all. Glory and power and dominion are His forever, and ever, world without end. Amen.
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