objective” question by explaining that there are two categories of beauty: beauties that are “more palpable and explicable” and those that are “hidden and secret.” 2 The former category would include such beauties as scenes of nature and musical chords, the pleasing nature of which can be explained mathematically or scientifically as a product of order in the universe. Jonathan Edwards attempted to deal with the “subjective vs.

The skeptical philosopher David Hume wrote, “Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them.” But the idea that beauty is subjective - “in the eye of the beholder” - is a radical departure from the classical view that beauty is accessible, knowable, and nameable. “Beauty, as it were, is a by-product of love, of life in its full sense, of life in love and freedom.” 1 Does Objective Beauty Exist? “Love is to make things that are right and fitting, to help our fellow-man, to make this world more beautiful, more harmonious, more suitable for human living, more suitable for expressing that inner beauty and love for which all men are searching - even if, in despair, mankind often breaks it down, even if, in sin, we often destroy beauty and create ugliness,” Rookmaaker wrote. Rookmaaker said art itself can be a vehicle for carrying out Christ’s commandment to love others. Such is the power of art and beauty that Christian art scholar H.R. Good art enables us to appreciate true beauty. That’s why it’s easier to recall the tune and lyrics to a theologically rich hymn than to remember the points of a sermon. Art is powerful in penetrating our minds and spirits. But artistic truth should be taken seriously as well. Most Christians are accustomed to truth being communicated propositionally (in a three-point sermon, for example). What we call art is the physical expression of aesthetic principles. Should Christians Care about Aesthetics?Īesthetics is the study of how beauty both embodies and points the way to truth. To answer this question we must cultivate an understanding of the biblical worldview of aesthetics - whether objective beauty actually exists and how it might be known through the moral order and through nature. There seem to be two camps: those who believe that the value of Christian movies is primarily their effectiveness as a tool for evangelism and those who believe they are an art form, valuable for their own sake, that can reveal God’s truth in profound ways. LifeWay Christian Store’s recent decision to pull the film The Blind Side from its shelves because of profanity, violence, and immoral behavior has ignited a debate in Christian circles about the role of art and beauty, and Christians’ place in consuming and creating art.

Art & the Bible by Francis A. Schaeffer