Re-enchanted by beauty. On aesthetics and mysticism
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies May 31, 2016 DOI: 10.4102/hts.v72i4.3462 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Citations | 23 |
| Key points | Argues that theology's privileging of conceptual knowledge has sidelined aesthetics and produced a disenchanted theology, while aesthetics has increasingly assumed theology's formative role in social discourse. Proposes that aesthetics, centred on beauty with goodness and joy as corollaries, is a legitimate and distinct source of knowledge, and that theology can be reinvigorated and re-enchanted by learning from the aesthetics of mysticism. |
Abstract
The article investigates the potential of mysticism to revitalise theology. It firstly traces howaesthetics was understood in theology and provides reasons for this view. It then investigateshow the predominant epistemological approach in theology privileged conceptual knowledgeand relativised aesthetics as being subjective and therefore unreliable. It gives special attentionto this epistemology by spelling out how the intellectualisation of contemporary theologyintensified the process of obfuscating and sidelining aesthetics. In a third part, the article spellsout the consequences of this position by analysing how theology is becoming a disenchantedenterprise. The article then investigates how aesthetics often is taking over the role of theologyand its formative role in social discourse. It focuses on the epistemological nature of this turntowards aesthetics, arguing that aesthetics with its profound notion of beauty (with goodnessand joy as its corollaries), is increasingly reappraised as a legitimate, but different kind andsource of knowledge. The article then argues how aesthetics can reinvigorate theology as asource of knowledge together with conceptual knowledge. It ends by investigating howtheology can be re-enchanted by learning from the prominent role and invigorating forms ofaesthetics in mysticism.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |