Some Cursory Thoughts on Christian Aesthetics

My friend Kevin commented on my November 9th post regarding the October Luther-Aquinas conference and my thinking afterwards about aesthetics more generally in the Church's worship. Kevin asked an important question about the space in a Chrsitian aesthetic for personal charism. How do individual gifts, personal dispositions, and preference fit into the artistics forms we use for worship and devotion?

In my response to his query, I reflected on a "cultural-linguistic" model of the Church, and the consequent implications of that view for aesthetics. In brief, such a model means that Christianity and its distinctive culture / language is "intratextual;" it draws in the world and interprets it rather than the other way around. Furthermore, this means that the individual is constituted by the Church and its distinctive "grammar" and its set of distinctive cultural practices.

Such a view stands in tension with the common view of the Church as an organization that is constituted by individuals, with their personal preferences for general fellowship. In this predominant view, Christianity is one among many "religions" which are more or less only private dispositions which motivate one to behave in particular ways. While I want to recognize and affirm the unique gifts that God bestows on persons, I also want to emphasize that for Christians, the Church has logical priority since it is the culture & language that gives them the mediate forms through which they can "experience" the world to begin with.

As Luther says, the Church is our "Mother" who "bodies forth our faith." Our way of being in the world is shaped by the proclamations and practices of the Church.

This view means that the Church is not a juridical authority that impinges upon our prior individuality, quashing or malforming our personal gifts. Rather, the Church gives us our individual gifts, and guides us in the ways of life. The Holy Spirit works through the practices of the Church, and guides our personal charisms into their fullest expression. The artist, the worshipper use their gifts and express themselves, but at their fullest when within the givenness of the language of the Church.