tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578496623140464256.post6285767084482114069..comments2023-05-11T08:00:50.001-05:00Comments on A Glass Darkly: The Good, the True, & the Beautiful?Denis Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04401098607183612613noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578496623140464256.post-13911306333988605702012-11-27T11:39:34.841-06:002012-11-27T11:39:34.841-06:0024/7 Mom:
Thanks for asking, and for your kind wo...24/7 Mom:<br /><br />Thanks for asking, and for your kind words.<br /><br />I was not trying to give some sort of final statement about all this (which would require a book length treatment), but to provoke thinking. And to provoke it in the direction of seeing that though the Greek legacy of thought is rich, full of insight, and helpful, the Hebrew/biblical tradition of thought helps us to see even more deeply into the nature of things.<br /><br />My point was simply that the Greek categories, helpful as they are, still remain abstract ideas that may be applied to persons (she is beautiful, he is truthful, etc) do not require personhood per se. They can be discussed forever simply as ideas. The Hebrew view of life and reality, on the other hand, begin with an infinite personal God as the creator and sustainer of all that is, so that what is "really real" is actually personal. Thus, Wisdom, Righteousness & Glory embrace and contain all that is included in True, Good, & Beauty but places them in a context where they cannot be understood apart from personhood.<br /><br />So, to give an example, using Beauty. Beauty by definition (Websters) is "the quality attributed to whatever pleases or satisfies in certain ways, as by line, color, form..." Or as Aquinas defined it, the "beautiful is that which pleases us upon being seen." Though this is a useful category of thought, beauty is limited from a Christian perspective, since even Christ himself, we are told, "had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him" (Isaiah 53:2), yet John could speak of having "seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only" (John 1:14).<br /><br />This should not be taken to mean Beauty and Glory are in opposition but that one completes and enriches the other.<br /><br />Hope this helps.<br />DenisDenis Haackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04401098607183612613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578496623140464256.post-68725699650893263252012-11-27T11:19:46.375-06:002012-11-27T11:19:46.375-06:00Sue:
I agree with you that these two sets—the Gree...Sue:<br />I agree with you that these two sets—the Greek Good, True & Beauty, and the Hebrew Righteous, Wise, and Glory—should not be placed in opposition. The Greek insight arose, it seems to me, from natural revelation through careful reflection on God’s word revealed in what he has made. The Hebrew insight embraces and includes this, and does not deny or oppose it, but at the same time adds another dimension of richness because it arises from God’s word concerning himself revealed in Scripture and Christ. This added dimension includes personhood.<br /><br />I would note that Calvin Seerveld, long a professor of aesthetics and author, most famously, of Rainbows for a Fallen World, a superb book, if I read him correctly, seems to disagree in his A Christian Critique of Art and Literature. Speaking of Plato’s idea of Beauty, Seerveld argues, “Plato's dogma of Beauty, apriorized, universalized, Christianized, naturalized, homogenized! however you serve it up, even in the respectable American transcendentalist Emerson: Platonizing thought on Beauty is a tradition of men which (mathematically) misreads the divinity of God visible in creation...” His thinking is stimulating even when I disagree with his conclusions.<br /><br />I would agree with Clyde Kilby: “To believe in God involves accepting Him as the sovereign perfection, not only of truth and goodness but also of beauty, thus establishing the highest possible conceptions of excellence. Whatever the difficulty of actual application, the standards remain, and the believer orients himself toward them.” And, I would add, the biblical or Hebrew worldview provides a deep understanding of the Good, True, and Beautiful not simply as intellectual categories but as fully lived and personalized virtues expressed as Righteousness, Wisdom, and Glory.<br /><br />Thanks for joining the conversation.<br />Denis<br />Denis Haackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04401098607183612613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578496623140464256.post-8582989821050259652012-11-25T23:40:00.745-06:002012-11-25T23:40:00.745-06:00Hi, it's good to have a few minutes to catch u...Hi, it's good to have a few minutes to catch up on your blog. As always, I come away thinking more deeply than I have for several days. <br />I'm not sure, though, that I'm finding a significant difference between "good" and "righteous", "beautiful" and "glorious, or how "true" and "wise" are disconnected. The discussion intrigues me, but I want to make sure I understand your usage of the terms.24/7 Momhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00166841629485557878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578496623140464256.post-47016573515661248332012-11-21T20:40:02.850-06:002012-11-21T20:40:02.850-06:00Denis, it bothers me to see these categories place...Denis, it bothers me to see these categories placed in oppositional sets, as if we must choose one and reject the others. It seems to me that a redemptive perspective encourages us to bring them into dynamic interplay rather than drawing abstract lines between them. Embodied in the trenches of life, they often fruitfully coexist, enriching, tempering, and informing each other. Affirmation and truth may intertwine to bring healing to a broken heart. Empowerment and righteousness may fuel the righting of grievous injustices. Beauty IS gratifying when it is rooted in the glory of God. <br /><br />The question that comes to my mind is, in the moment of application, are these values-in-action shot through with love of God and love of neighbor? Surely they all bear that potential.Sue @ Grace Cornernoreply@blogger.com