Beyond theological aesthetics: Aesthetic theology

Abstract

In this text, I explore what I have termed “aesthetic theology”. After noting the transference of religious content, function, etc., to art in Modernity, an act that has made art a locus theologicus once again, I analyse one of the main consequences of this phenomenon: art is progressively being considered through what was once purely theological categories, thus giving rise to aesthetic theology. The implication is that some of the solutions that have arisen from theological debate might be useful in the philosophy of art. I also suggest that aesthetic theology can provide theology with a generalized way of reasoning based on aesthetic judgments—judgements formed by postulated consensus instead of forced judgements formed on conceptual grounds. I defend that the formulation of religious judgement has always been of the former sort, such that aesthetic theology may prove itself a useful tool for theologians in developing their thinking about, depiction of, representing, or approaching God.