Abstract
All Things Beautiful: An Aesthetic Christology is a meditation on both Christ and the arts. Chris E. W. Green, Professor of Public Theology at Southeastern University and Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of St Anthony in the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches, offers a dialogue between Christ and the arts as an attempt to construct an “ecumenical aesthetic Christology” (p. 2). Taking the different seasons of the church year—Advent, Ascension, and Ordinary Time, for example—as starting points for his reflections, Green argues that by wrestling with both art and theology, one can come to a much deeper understanding of the significance of Jesus Christ.
The book is laid out over an introduction, ten chapters, and a conclusion, accompanied by complete endnotes, a bibliography, and three indices (names, subjects, Scripture). Each chapter title teases the upcoming subject matter. In Chapter 2, “All Things Beautiful in His Time: Christmas,” Green offers, among other things, an exploration of time. In Chapter 6, “A Most Unspectacular Passion: Good Friday,” Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is unpacked. The book is not simply an attempt to show what various works of art say about Christ; rather, Green is also interested in the meaning of the art on its own and the way this impacts Christological reflection. Typically, Green contends, art is analyzed but not interpreted, while Scripture is interpreted but not analyzed. But who is to say, he asks, that art cannot also be interpreted, and, in so doing, reveal something of who God is?
All Things Beautiful features a recurring focus on conflict. Green’s approach is to wrestle deeply with both artistic representations and the identities of Christ in order to construct his Christology. Green’s argument assumes that “in aesthetic experiences, as in religious or mystical ones, we encounter a reality we know we did not create and cannot control, a reality that does not violence to us, but ‘menaces’ use with the call to change” (p. 12). Ultimately, he attempts to find the places in which both art and Christ call us away from complacency: what can be found that is profoundly unsettling? Chapter 3, for example, features a contrast between the myth of the American frontier (as exemplified in the characters of actor John Wayne) and the revelation of Christ’s identity at Epiphany. On one hand, this myth of manifest destiny confronts North Americans with the unsettling truth of Enlightenment assumptions about progress, conquest, and dominations embedded in the structures of society. On the other hand, the theophany of Christ is predicated on his submission to things outside of his control, such as his mother, John the Baptist, and even the star above Bethlehem (p. 46). Christ’s identity is continuously shown to be a threat to the world, something that causes us discomfort and so challenges us to change. What is particularly exciting in this book is that Green shows us that the arts themselves exhibit a similar ambiguity in their meaning. By wrestling with the arts, we can practice ways to wrestle with the incomprehensibility of the Christ experience.
All Things Beautiful is not simply about Christology. At times, it feels like this is a book about Jesus. At others, it seems to be a reflection on the arts. By the end, it is clear that it is meant to be both, and that it does so with confidence. For the reader, it also does this with beauty. It is a work of art in and of itself. It reads like a novel by Marilyn Robinson or Michael Ondaatje. It is meant to be read slowly, carefully. It is meant to be looked back over once finished to see how all the pieces fit together. It is meant to find Christ in beauty and beauty in Christ.