On his new Facebook page, my friend Ellis Potter asks an
intriguing question. “Which is more humanizing: The Good, the True and the
Beautiful or the Gratifying, the Affirming and the Empowering? Which set is
more self-centered?” It’s also a timely question since it touches on some of
the swirling eddies of ideas and values that compete for attention in our
postmodern world. Perhaps compete for attention is the wrong way to express
it—it’s more like a series of eddies that suddenly twist into a vortex that
pulls us under before we a fully conscious of the change.
The categories of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful are
profoundly clarifying and helpful. They help us think about reality in a more
full-orbed way, and provide ways of naming things that otherwise would be
difficult to talk about. Just the fact that they have stood the test of time
for over 2 millennia means we must take them seriously. For Christians, of
course, there is an added attraction. Not that they form a trinity, for
certainly they together point to aspects of the being of God rather than
describe separate members of the Godhead. God the Almighty is the essence of
the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Yet there is, I think, a flaw. I stumbled upon it several
years ago when I set out to do a biblical study of the Beautiful. An easy
enough task, as far as that goes, because art, creativity, and comeliness are
themes that are woven throughout the Scriptures. But then I hit a snag. Using
my concordance to identify all the biblical texts in which “beauty” and
“beautiful” appear, I discovered there were very few. I dug deeper and
discovered the Hebrews didn’t talk and think about Beauty: they were concerned
for Glory. A concordance search for “glory” and “glorify” brought an
overwhelming flood of references.
This discussion brings us to a significant difference between
the Greek and the Hebraic worldviews. The Greek categories of the Good, the
True, and the Beautiful are so very helpful, but are also pagan in origin, and
are in the final analysis abstract, cerebral, and impersonal. The Hebrew
categories of the Righteous, the Wise, and the Glorious, on the other hand, are
rooted in the nature of the biblical God, and are always revealed to be
concrete, practical, and personal.
This is not a criticism of Ellis’ good question. It is a
good and insightful question that people should reflect on it carefully. Nor am
I suggesting that the Good, the True, and the Beautiful are categories that we
should somehow avoid. But I would argue that as categories they are in a
crucial way insufficient and incomplete. In the end, the Righteous, the Wise,
and the Glorious contain all that the Greek categories included, but sweep on
past them to be demonstrated and rooted in the revelation of the infinite,
personal God, in creation, Scripture, and ultimately the living Word.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ellis-Potter/274439865939134.
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This entry was posted
at Thursday, November 15, 2012
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Asking questions,
Beauty,
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Glory,
Philosophy,
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