{"title":"Beauty","authors":"Crispin Sartwell","doi":"10.4324/9781003070757-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003070757-1","url":null,"abstract":"Our language is replete with adjectives of appreciation: a beautiful woman, an adorable baby, a lovely person, a gorgeous sunset — all descriptions of our awareness of a beauty not of our making. True beauty, no matter what its kind or nature, is not our creation, but the creation of God. All beauty, whether supernatural or natural, is a reflection of the glory and grandeur of God himself. God is beauty, just as he is omnipotence (all power), omniscience (all knowledge), goodness, truth, wisdom, justice, mercy, and love. All of God’s works, his creations, partake of his nature. All beauty emanates from the God who is Beauty. God, wishing to share the riches of his divinity, poured forth love in creation. He began with the establishment of order and beauty in the universe. From nothing, he created the Heavens, and the seas, and the earth; the sun, the moon, and the stars; and all the creatures of the earth, sea, and sky — and he saw them, loved them, and pronounced them good (see Gn 1:1-31) — partakers of all of his own goodness and splendor. Created things reflect their maker, as is poetically expressed in Scripture: “the stars shone in their watches, and were glad; he called them, and they said, ‘Here we are!’ They shone with gladness for him who made them. This is our God; no other can be compared to him!” (Bar 3:34-35). We should easily be able to go from created wonders to the Creator of wonders. The beauty of the universe, its order and harmony, have opened our eyes to the discovery of the laws of nature. Perceptive scholars and scientists admire what they have seen, and are inspired to respect the created world and its creatures, and thus their Creator. For all of us on earth, the splendor of creation, such as a mountain meadow or a glorious sunrise or an arching rainbow, delights the eye and mind, and with equal ease should lift the soul to contemplation, recognition, and love for so good and glorious a Maker. Truly God “is greater than all his works” (Sir 43:28). He is, indeed, the “author of beauty” (Wis 13:3). God’s work of creating an ordered and glorious universe was but a prelude to his creation of humanity to enjoy the outpouring of his love. He created us as the image of himself (see Gn 1:26-27), intended to reflect attributes of the Divinity. We are made to show and communicate God’s glory, to share with him his own truth, goodness, and beauty, and destined him for immortality and the joy and friendship of the Blessed Trinity. Jesus told us that his “good and faithful servant[s]” would “enter into the joy of [their] master” (Mt 25:21) and promised that he himself would call them: “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mt 25:34). Beauty","PeriodicalId":248133,"journal":{"name":"Six Names of Beauty","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128894152","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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