By Dr. Charlie W. Starr

Beauty appeals to the imagination. In part that means it appeals to our senses (like sight and sound). One of the qualities of good art is that it shows rather than tells. Art doesn’t tell us that we should be brave. It shows us courage so profound that it is beautiful. A movie like Braveheart shows us uncompromising courage. The Matrix shows us bravery born from belief. The Blind Side shows us courageous love. In the beauty of story, we experience in our imaginations what might otherwise be spoken to our reason in the phrase, “be courageous.”

Beauty and Glory

But in addition to appealing to our senses, art also appeals to our sensibilities. There is a beauty to the way Shakespeare’s Macbeth described his belief in the futility of life when he said it is “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” (Act 5, Scene 5). David beautifully described the courage of faith in a moment of danger or dread: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me” (Psalm 23:4, King James Version).

We call the sensibility that allows us to recognize and appreciate beauty the aesthetic sense. It’s a kind of inborn attraction to beauty in the world put there by God to draw us to him. This is one application of Ecclesiastes 3:11: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men” (NIV). The aesthetic sense can be improperly educated and distracted, but this is all the more reason Christians need to know how to make and talk about art.

Consider another of David’s psalms: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1). This psalm echoes the idea that God draws us to him through beauty in the world.

Consider the word glory. What do you think about? Commonly we think of either renown (like an athlete winning glory on a field) or a shining, brilliant appearance, both of which are biblical uses of the word. The second definition fits the concept of beauty we’re discussing. While the Bible talks about beauty (31 verses in the NIV) and finds even some spiritual importance for beauty (Philippians 4:8; 1 Peter 3:4), the concept of glory is far more common. But I think they are connected. God’s appearances are associated with glory (Exodus 24:17; Luke 2:9). We often look at sunsets or rainbows or autumn trees and, like David in the psalm, see the glory of the Lord. Isn’t at least part of what we’re seeing God’s beauty? As I said, I think that’s why we have an aesthetic sense.

Beauty and Truth

Truth calls us to God through reason. Beauty calls us to God through imagination. If we can see God in the heavens and the beauty of the world, then it’s also clear that beauty appeals to more than just our five senses. Our aesthetic sense allows us to see what begins with sight but takes us beyond it. (This is also why Peter can talk about the importance of spiritual inner beauty in 1 Peter 3:4.) I don’t think this is the only purpose of beauty. In a past article I said that art (and so the beauty it creates) is intended to entertain and enrich us as well as enlighten us. Beauty is meant for pleasure—it’s there for us to enjoy. But it is also given to us by God to draw us to himself.

Just as music is meant to appeal to our ears (not eyes), and paintings to our eyes (not ears), so truth is meant to appeal to our reason and beauty to imagination. But they certainly overlap each other.

When philosophy achieves truth, it gives us ideas that are real. When literature achieves beauty, it gives us a vision of the real. Art, when it is good, is about showing us these visions. Again, this is not art’s only purpose, but it is its most important purpose in relation to the glory of God.

* This article originally appeared in the April 17, 2011 issue of The Lookout. 

Dr. Charlie W. Starr teaches English, humanities, and film at Kentucky Christian University in Grayson, Kentucky. www.charliewstarr.com