Beauty of the Cosmos and Beauty Crucified. Two Theses

Abstract

This paper presents two theses concerning beauty. The first thesis affirms the universal appeal of beauty as cosmos. Harmony, order, regularity, symmetry are the constant elements of classical beauty acknowledged by all, along with a sense of economy, of the proportion between the means and the end, without waste. The second thesis deals with another beauty which interrupts the harmony. This can be called beauty crucified. It is counterintuitive and paradoxical. It is God’s Word revealing itself in the astounding anomaly of a bush burning without being consumed, and in the life that rises from a gruesome death. These two theses do not aim to be antithetical, for both kinds of beauty are at home in the world. The two forms or meanings of beauty may, therefore, appear to be difficult to reconcile. But the article concludes by suggesting that Paul Tillich, writing on holy waste, may offer one way of understanding the ongoing validity and importance of both theses.