Theological Aesthetics

In "The Beauty of God in Cairo and Islamabad: Rowan Williams as Apologist," Greg Clarke outlines the way in which Rowan Williams utilizes a 'celebratory' (Rowan's language for aesthetics) approach to his apologetic work (essay found in 'On Rowan Williams' 2009) He draws on both the influence of Balthasar and the work of Hart to elucidate the context from which Rowan is working.

Hart states, "True beauty is not the idea of the beautiful, a static archetype in the 'mind' of God, but is an infinite 'music,' a drama, art, completed in-but never 'bounded' by-the termless dynamism of the Trinity's life."

Contemplation is concerned with revelatory understanding of the beauty of the infinite (the Trinity). This is why both Balthasar and Williams understand themselves as 'kneeling theologians.' Which is to say that revelation did not stop with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus but only truly began there. By way of the Spirit we are led into the depths of God's inexhaustible glory. As we contemplate God through prayer we are opening ourselves to the work of the Spirit and through the grace of God alone we are able to 'understand' the dynamic form of the Godhead (which is real beauty). As we re-imagine the life of the infinite we come to understand the dramatic context through which God is God. By praying through Jesus, or standing with Him if you like, we see into the artistic outpouring of love that is the life of the Trinity. As this beatific vision is contemplated and something of it is understood our lives are caught up in the drama of the Trinity. This is why we must grow to understand what God looks like (a theological aesthetic) in order to imagine and enact what our lives are to look like, namely saintliness.