Check out David Taylor’s new article on “Beauty” and the Gospel in Christianity Today: A Holy Longing:Beauty is the hard-to-define essence that draws people to the gospel. From the intro:
The saying, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” suggests that attempting to say anything concrete about the nature of beauty is a futile task. As soon as one person deems something beautiful, ten others will show up deeming it ugly. But theologians of the early and medieval church did not assume beauty was subjective. Borrowing from neo-Platonic philosophy, they believed that for something to be beautiful, it must also be good and true, with God reigning as the ultimate source of beauty. Today’s church can be thankful for people like David Taylor, who connect such esoteric reflections to the church’s mission. As the arts pastor for 12 years at Hope Chapel, a vibrant congregation in Austin, Texas, Taylor helped believer artists make the connection between worship, creativity, and community. Here, Taylor makes a similar connection between beauty and gospel proclamation to answer this year’s cvp question, “Is our gospel too small?”