Photo: Pexels – Lucas

In a recent post I introduced the American theologian and pastor Jonathan Edwards, and gave the first reason I love and appreciate his thought. Here’s the second post in the series. It’s worth saying up front that I am indebted to a wonderful book that I have been savouring in recent weeks – ‘Jonathan Edwards on the Experience of Beauty’ by Louis Mitchell.

God as the source and goal of beauty, our joy and happiness, and love

Edwards addresses the great longings of the human heart – our search for beauty, love, and joy. I don’t think I’m the only one who longs for these things. And we don’t just want to see beauty – though that would be a start. CS Lewis wrote:

We do not want merely to see beauty… We want something else, to be united to the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.

CS Lewis, The Weight of Glory

That is why all the glimpses of beauty that we have in this life don’t ultimately satisfy – they point us towards something else:

The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.

CS Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Edwards helps us to see that in our quest for beauty, love and joy, it is actually the Triune God whom we are seeking. In fact, Edwards has been described as ‘the first Protestant theologian of beauty.’ (Mitchell, ix).

‘Consent between beings’

It’s worth noting that in his examination of beauty, Edwards was engaging in the philosophical discussion of the time (as we always are). But his ideas continue to be relevant and important today because they are biblical, experiential and rational – indeed, one might say that they are a fusion of all three (and of course, if an idea is truly biblical then it will by definition fit with experience and reason – for God created all three).

Along with many others of his time, Edwards views beauty as being ‘consent or agreement between beings.’ The things that we often think of as being beautiful – a view, a person, an idea – are forms of ‘secondary beauty’. These are indeed beautiful (and the natural world is to be savoured for its beauty), but they are shadows of something else.

Far more beautiful are the relationships of consent or agreement between sentient beings – and above all, between spiritual beings. It’s worth noting that Edwards uses the word ‘consent’ differently to how we use it today. We tend to use the word in a minimalist way – the lowest level of commitment required. Edwards means quite the opposite – a maximal relationship of commitment, delight and unity: in its highest form, love.

When you stop to think about it, this view of beauty chimes with our experience. You can meet an outwardly beautiful or impressive person who is very ugly in the way they relate to other people. By contrast, you can meet an outwardly ugly or unimpressive person who relates to others in a deeply attractive way.

As already mentioned, the highest form of consent between beings is love; and the supreme, ultimate example of beauty – of consent between spiritual beings – is the love between God the Father and God the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit:

If God is excellent (beautiful) there must be a plurality in God; otherwise there can be no consent in him

Miscellanies 117

God is… the foundation and fountain of all being and all beauty…

Nature of True Virtue, Yale 8, p550

The Holy Spirit – love and beauty

In fact, for Edwards the Holy Spirit is love, and the Holy Spirit is beauty:

The Holy Spirit is the act of God between the Father and the Son infinitely loving and delighting in each other. Sure I am, that if the Father and the Son do infinitely delight in each other, there must be an infinitely pure and perfect act between them, an infinitely sweet energy we call delight

Miscellanies 94

Mitchell writes:

For Edwards, God’s Holy Spirit is beauty. For Edwards, beauty is not so much a thing or an idea as it is a divine person in relation. Beauty has a personal identity.

Mitchell, page 12

Beauty and happiness

The Triune God is supremely beautiful; and supremely happy – and the two go together:

There is an infinite fullness of all possible good in God, a fullness of every perfection, of all excellency and beauty, and of infinite happiness.

End for which God created the world

All this may be very new and unfamiliar to you – it may even seem strange and unsettling that ultimate beauty is ‘consent between spiritual beings.’ But look at it this way: How does it make you feel when you think of the Trinity – when you think of the love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father, as revealed for example in John 5 or John 17? Does it not fill you with joy and wonder? Is it not ultimately more satisfying than seeing a beautiful view or person (wonderful as they are, in their right place)?

Edwards writes:

The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives or children, or the company of earthly friends are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean.

The Christian Pilgrim

There is much more that could be said – about how we see beauty revealed in Christ, in the Church, in eternity – but that will have to wait for future posts. Or why not get hold of one of the books recommended below?

Why we need this today

As I said at the start of this post, we are all longing for beauty. And yet we often look in the wrong places. And we are confronted by so much in the world that is ugly. So I am grateful to Jonathan Edwards for directing me to the source of all beauty, and the one who is supremely beautiful.

I also find it profoundly helpful to see that beauty is first and foremost found in relationship between beings rather than in an object or being. Indeed, this concept of beauty chimes with the theme of ‘gospel culture’ which pervades this blog.

Finally, because the Triune God is the source and ultimate object of beauty and happiness, we have a great and unbreakable hope – that one day, when all the ugliness is removed, all that will remain is the enjoyment and sharing in the life of this supremely beautiful God. Truly the dream that CS Lewis envisaged will be realised – to ‘be united to the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.’

Taking it further

I’ve recently been enjoying Jonathan Edwards on Beauty by Owen Strachan and Doug Sweeney.

For a deeper but wonderful exploration of Beauty in the thought of Jonathan Edwards try Jonathan Edwards on the experience of beauty by Louis Mitchell.

You can access most of Jonathan Edwards’s writings for free online – at http://edwards.yale.edu