Aesthetic: valuing an object of consideration as worthy of attention, reflection, and invokes a response of delight such that the observer has the expectation that others ought also to respond with delight. This is a very important distinction and is called universal subjectivity and is the opposite of the flippantly used adage, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
Christian Aesthetic: exactly the same as Aesthetic with the addition that the object of consideration has an inherent property reflecting an element shared in the Beautiful. This aesthetic has its validity in the objective reality of God’s Beauty as shown in his presence and Glory.
Determining if an object of consideration meets the defining criteria for a Christian Aesthetic
(Criteria for my Aesthetic Theory is developed slowly over the course of this blog - from Oldest to the Newest posts)
1. Judging a work of man to determine its Christian Aesthetic is related to the art work alone. Judging the aesthetic value is removed from the artist's biographical or historical context.
2. The terms Beautiful and Art must be separated. The concepts of each overlap, but the understanding of each must be isolated apart from the other.
3. Beautiful is related to the nature of God as described in scripture. It is part of the qualities of God that are intangible, that lack a predicated description. Beautiful is part of His Glory as seen in his presence and in visions of His throne and His creation.
4. In the study of phenomenology, aesthetic judgments, as experiential knowledge, is prior to ethical judgments or knowledge. In a Peircian study of Epistemology, Aesthetics would fall under the category of firstness for experiential knowledge. It's importance therefore is foundational to other modes of knowledge. Aesthetics would be considered foundational in an Architectonic System of experience. Similarly, my theory proposes that an aesthetic experience of God is the first experience you have of God's Holiness and Presence. It is our first response -- which connects to God's statement that the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom -- they are related.
4. Art is a term related to a man-made object whose purpose is to generate an aesthetic response. This refers to all the "arts" -- dance, music, literature, film, paintings, sculpture etc.
5. In Aristotlian logic, the extension of the Beautiful is greater than the extension of art. Therefore some objects of art may be described as sharing in the Beautiful. The Beautiful is not necessitated on art. Therefore the little adage "Creation is God's Art" is incorrect by definition. Art is man-made exclusively. Beautiful has a greater logical extension than art. Think of a ven diagram set. The Beautiful has a larger circle set than art and the smaller circle of art is only partially overlapping the larger circle.
6. In determining the value of an art object there are several primary criteria that the object must pass:
a. The object must have some inherent element that shares in the Beautiful (to be considered Christian Aesthetic). b. The object must illicit a response that invokes delight. c. The response of delight must be such that the observer ought also to assume others will have a similar response of delight.
7. An observer of art may look to the object's metaphors, or archetype symbols, to determine whether the work passes for a Biblical parallel of reflection. An artwork generally mirrors or reflects qualities that are worthy of attention. Qualities include - Beautiful, Good, Justice, Hope etc. Metaphorical imagery and symbols should parallel Biblical images, not invert them; unless there is an obvious purpose for such like bold allegory, ironic humor etc.
8. The color palette used in the artwork should reflect the actual color palette of our Lord as seen in his Creation. Using other dyes and colors that are intentionally "artificial" suggests that there is a weakness or one-upping by man on the Lord's work. Some stylists try to falsify colors or reinvent them and the tone of the work is that it is seeking a more "beautiful" that is defiant to nature.
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