Theology of Aesthetics

Dr. David McWilliams made a wonderful point in study one day regarding music, worship, etc. Developing a theology of aesthetics should be done and could help us out tremendously in a day when there are so many differing opinions on how to do worship.

He said in study as we took notes:

Someone needs to work out a theology of aesthetics - what is and what is not beautiful. Is beauty purely subjective? I do not think so. We worship God in the beauty of his holiness. We should be able to recognize beauty. Could not the character of God define beauty? Liturgy should reflect that beauty. Our liturgy should be shaped by a recognition that worship is covenant renewal. The truth that Scripture indicates covenant renewal in liturgy is what separates the reformed community from revivalist approaches to worship.

There are some things that are axiomatic when you come to worship. It is axiomatic that you adore him. Worship is dialogue. It is axiomatic at the call to worship that comes from God, that we respond with adoration. It is also axiomatic that when we have come to do all, that we confess our sins. And then God speaks to us through the assurance of pardon. In preaching, he speaks to us. In giving our offerings, we respond to him. So worship is dialogue. When that basic principle is forgotten and we inform our worship with what people want rather than what is required of us when we come into the presence of God, then worship goes awry and it is not definable in terms of biblical worship. So there two things: aesthetics, and the idea of covenant renewal and dialogue.

The third thing is connection with the past. I am appalled with the church and especially Presbyterians who have had idea of covenant continuity are unconcerned with what our fathers have thought about worship. I am not saying that we christinate the past. It does not have to look exactly like it did in Geneva. But we need to be informed by that past. And our children need to know that there is continuity in our worship and the worship that has gone before us, especially in the reformed churches.

Baby boomers, and early gen x’s have virtually ruined worship. One of the things I see in my own congregation; those who are about 21 years old; when they are exposed to God honoring worship they do not want this other approach. They are sick of the fluff and they want content and substance. That is very encouraging to me and that is the opposite of my generation. So someone needs to work out an ongoing and thorough going theology of aesthetics.

What makes something beautiful? We can look at the plastic arts and we see something applicable to music, liturgy, and other forms of art. Look at a building and you say there is something wrong with that building. It lacks harmony and complexity. Consider the things you study in music theory. I refuse to believe that a deliquesce in an art museum planked by a cross in urine is equally art and beautiful. The junkyard in Geneva and the lake Geneva are not equally beautiful. I cannot believe that in aesthetics there is much subjectivity. I believe there is much objectivity in beauty. There are many examples in the created order. Look at the geometric shapes we find in nature.