Visual Beauty: A Forgotten Way of Knowing

When I recall the first few years of my life, my deepest memories are divided between two subjects that touched me deeply. In one set of memories I see beautiful images of the California landscape along with artwork that delighted me. In the other, I can picture my church and religious education. For many years, these parts of my life ran parallel to each other,  seldom touching. This disconnect had always made sense to me; like most Christian kids, I intuitively understood that there was a huge difference between lovely images and religious activities. Although artwork and picturesque scenery made life more joyful, they touched me in a different way than hearing a sermon. Besides, these subjects belonged to completely separate parts of life: visual beauty was found in art museums while my relationship with God was associated with church and Bible studies. I didn't begin to understand the deep connection between visual beauty and the Christian faith until I started to study art history.

When I began skimming through art history books at age eleven, I was surprised to learn that for the first 4,000 years of art history, visual beauty had been inseparably linked to the divine. From the Egyptian pyramids to the Pantheon, almost all ancient and medieval artwork was made for religious purposes. Most religions believed that there was something about visual beauty that connected them to the divine. Christianity was no different. As I scanned through pictures of elaborately decorated cathedrals, catacombs, and religious icons, it became clear that early Christians considered beauty a central part of their relationship with God. In fact, believers were willing to spend lavish amounts of time and money to make their places of worship beautiful. The evidence from this textbook left me with only one possible conclusion: early Christians believed that beauty brought them closer to God.

As it turns out, there is a huge amount of theological evidence to support this view. From the very beginning, Christians have understood that beauty is inseparably linked to God because God, in His very nature, is beautiful. As early as the third century, theologians like St. Augustine and Gregory of Nyssa argued that beauty is not simply a descriptive quality like round or delicious, but it is a property which comes from God and leads back to Him. In fact beauty is so intimately linked with God's character that many Church Fathers considered “Beauty” to be a name for God (Carnes, 2017, 6:54). Today, theologians consider beauty to be one of the three transcendentals, which means that it is a transcendent property of God Himself. In her essay on theological aesthetics, Dr. Jenifer Newsome Martin describes the transcendentals by writing, "In the Christian tradition…[transcendental properties] like Goodness, Truth and Beauty do not simply have to do with philosophical systems or abstract ideas…but are understood primarily to be predicates or divine names of God” (Martin, 2023, para. 8). Throughout the Christian tradition, beauty has been understood as a property of God which gives the viewer an experience of Him. The beauty that we experience in landscapes and art galleries is not a mere reflection of God’s glory but an encounter with God Himself.

However, over the last five hundred years, many believers have begun to place less emphasis on beauty. Although most Christians believe in the transcendentals theoretically, visual art has been pushed to the background of Protestant and Catholic culture. Growing up, I experienced this phenomenon firsthand because my family was heavily involved in church ministry. Although I was exposed to a wide variety of Protestant churches, I was often dismayed at the lack of artwork in these buildings. When I became Catholic as a teenager, I found that, although the Catholic Church places great value on the arts, there is still less artwork in Catholic homes and churches than there was in previous eras of history. Unfortunately, most Protestant churches, and some Catholic churches, are now decorated with plain walls rather than images and banners. The lack of artwork in modern churches shows that western Christians no longer believe that beauty is a way to encounter God, or at least not one that rivals sermons or scripture.

Although this shift was motivated by many factors, it can partially be traced to the rise of rationalism, which challenged traditional ideas about what it means to know and encounter God. During the Enlightenment, the philosopher René Descartes promoted rationalism by proposing that reason is the only way to know the truth. Descartes believed that “knowledge of the world is acquired through the use of reason, not based on the unreliability of the senses.” (Wasson, 2020, para. 8). In other words, humans can only know the truth through their intellect because emotions, senses, and intuition can be deceiving. This idea quickly spread across Europe through the writings of Descartes and other rationalist philosophers.

A few decades after Descartes, the British philosopher John Locke applied rationalist ideas to Christianity by arguing that Christianity is inherently rational (Shelley, 1982, p. 315). In An Essay On Human Understanding (1690) Locke argued that humans can know God purely through the use of their intellect. He believed that the existence of God is “[t]he most obvious truth that reason discovers” (p. 613). The historian Bruce Shelley (1982) describes John Locke’s rationalist theology by writing, “Mystery is almost gone. Emotions are unbecoming. Locke’s God is the product of rational proof” (p. 315). Locke’s and Descartes's ideas quickly seeped into many Christian contexts though the German theologian Christian Wolff, who introduced rationalism to the Lutheran Church (Aveling, 1911, sec. I). In fact, in 1867 John F. Hurst, who was a prominent bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, wrote an entire book detailing the history and prominence of Christian rationalism. He writes that rationalism, “Having well neigh run its race in the land of Luther…has crossed the Rhine into France and the Netherlands, invaded England, and now threatens the domain of Anglo-Saxon theology” (p. 1). Today, the spirit of rationalism is most evident in Protestant contexts, which emphasise personal belief as the sole pathway to knowing God. The influence of rationalism is evident in church services in which "[i]mmense quantities of data–biblical, theological and spiritual–form the staple, and all of it urged upon the faithful in an earnestly hortatory fashion” (Howard, 1997, p. 21). Although many Christians have criticised Locke’s extreme ideas, the spirit of rationalism continues to influence the Protestant church, heavily affecting how believers see beauty.

Although reason is an important part of a relationship with God, overemphasising intellectual knowing has caused Christians to devalue beauty because visual beauty does not help us to know God rationally. Because of rationalism, many Christians have concluded that visual beauty is not a way of knowing God because it does not engage the intellect. Instead of teaching about the faith, looking at something beautiful elicits a purely emotional and spiritual response. Because of these arguments, many Christian denominations have pushed beauty to the sidelines. However, knowing God with the intellect is not the only way to enter into a relationship with him. Since humans have a heart, soul, and mind, there are many ways for us to know God. In the book of Exodus, God emphasises this point by instructing the Israelites to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (ESV, 2001, Det. 6:4-7). In this commandment, God states that having a relationship with Him means knowing Him with our whole self, including our emotions and soul.

Although emotional and spiritual ways of knowing God have been devalued in the modern world, there is a rich Christian tradition that affirms the dignity of these ways of knowing. The Christian contemplative tradition offers an alternative way of knowing God. This tradition focuses on experiencing the Lord rather than understanding Him intellectually. It is not “knowledge” in the traditional sense of the word, “but a non-cognitive” encounter with him which is based on a loving relationship (O’Keefe, 2024, p. 233). The Center for Action and Contemplation describes this type of knowing as a “much more holistic, heart-centered knowing, where mind, heart, soul, and senses are open and receptive to the moment just as it is” (n.d., sec. 2). Although beauty may not give the viewer intellectual gratification, this transcendental allows believers to know God contemplatively by making us desire God, giving us a direct encounter with Him, and immersing us in mystery. Encountering God through visual beauty is an experience that goes beyond the mind by allowing the heart and soul to encounter God’s very Self.

To understand the phrase “contemplative knowing”, it is important to know a bit about contemplative prayer. Christianity has a long tradition of non-conceptual prayer which can be traced back to biblical passages that emphasise experiencing God’s majesty and mystery in the silence of one's soul. In 1 Kings 19:12, Elijah encounters the Lord, not in the wind, the fire, or the earthquake, but in the “sound of the low whisper” (1 Kings 19:12). Likewise, the Psalms tell us again and again to meditate on the Lord, instructing us to “[b]e still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). After Christ’s resurrection, these verses were put into practice by early desert fathers like St. Macarius who prayed by reciting simple verses of scripture and meditating on the name of Jesus rather than focusing on rigorous theological study (Merton, 1971/1969, pp. 30-31). In the centuries that followed, holy men and women like St. Teresa of Avila and St. Dominic followed in their footsteps by practicing a “prayer of silence and listening” (Stagnaro, 2012, p. 122). Through contemplative prayer, these men and women came to know God in a way that was much deeper than rational deduction. Today, we call this type of prayer contemplation. Instead of involving an action like reading, speaking, or meditating, contemplation is simply resting in the presence of God. In his book on Dominican prayer practices, Angelo Stagnaro (2012) tells the reader, “Contemplation involves literally doing nothing and thinking nothing and, instead, allowing God to show us his love” (p. 122).

The difference between contemplative and rational knowing can be difficult to understand, so it is best to think about these “ways of knowing God” like a relationship with a friend. There are several different ways to get to know a new friend. On a rational level, people get to know each other through good conversations. However, there is also an aspect of friendship that is deeply spiritual, physical, and emotional. It is important to meet physically: to share smiles, look at each other, and sit together. If two individuals were to communicate only over the phone, their relationship would not be as rich as friends who share moments together. Similarly, Christians must learn about God rationally and experience him contemplatively to have a full relationship with Him.

Although contemplative knowing is difficult to define, there are a few characteristics that distinguish this form of knowing God. First, contemplative knowing engages the heart: it is a loving encounter that comes from a deep desire for God. It is also a direct experience of God rather than an intellectual experience. Lastly, this form of knowledge does not help us “understand” God but is an experience that embraces mystery and ambiguity. Visual beauty allows us to know God contemplatively because it teaches us to desire God, gives us a direct encounter with reality, and leads us into deep mystery.

Visual beauty draws us into a contemplative encounter with God by teaching us to love Him. A prominent theme in the writings of Christian contemplatives is that contemplative prayer is sustained by a deep love of God. Although knowing God rationally can be a form of love, contemplative experiences are sustained by love in a special way. In their writings, Christian contemplatives often describe their encounters with God as a moment of loving attention toward Him rather than a method or formula. The Spanish mystic St. Teresa of Ávila compared her contemplative experiences to a loving relationship, calling contemplation “an intimate sharing of friends” (as cited in O’Keefe, 2024). When instructing her fellow nuns about contemplative prayer, St. Teresa (1997/1588) told them that “[t]he important thing is not to think much but to love much” (4.1.7). St. Teresa emphasises that knowing God contemplatively means loving Him deeply (O’Keefe, 2024, p. 34). In his book Happiness and Contemplation, the German theologian Josef Pieper (1904/1908) makes a similar point. Pieper writes that contemplative knowing is distinguished from other forms of knowing because “it is a knowing which is inspired by love” (p. 72). Ultimately, contemplative knowledge comes from a loving relationship with God.

Visual beauty allows us to know God contemplatively because it prompts us to “fall in love” with the Beautiful One. Throughout the Western philosophical tradition, beauty has always been inseparably linked to attraction and desire. From the very beginning, Plato, Aristotle, and other philosophers noted that humans are instinctively attracted to beautiful things. In his discussion on beauty in the Summa Theologica, St.Thomas Aquinas (1485) points out that humans instinctively recognize beautiful things because beauty gives us pleasure, defining beauty as “that which when seen gives pleasure” (Aquinas, I, Question 5, Article 4, Reply to Objection 1). Similarly, in Rhetoric, Aristotle (2004/circa 4th century BC) defined beauty as that which we desire for its own sake (1.9.35). Likewise, “Plato, Plotinus, Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, Pseudo-Dionysius, Aquinas, Dante, Ratzinger, von Balthasar: all entangle the phenomenon of beauty with the phenomena of love and desire” (Martin, 2023, para. 7). According to these philosophers the nature of beauty is to attract. The connection between beauty and desire is so ingrained into human culture that these words are almost synonyms. In fact, in modern English, the words “beautiful” and “attractive” are often used synonymously. Through His identity as the Beautiful One, God attracts us to Himself, sparking a heartfelt desire for Him.

Many works of literature take the connection between beauty and desire to the next level by linking visual beauty with romantic attraction. From Shakespeare to Fitzgerald, the trope of “love at first sight” appears over and over again in literature. Countless romantic relationships start when one character recognizes the physical beauty of another. The most famous example of this is Shakespeare’s (2011/1597) Romeo and Juliet where Romeo falls passionately in love with Juliet when he sees her at a party. Struck by her beauty, Romeo impulsively declares, “I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” (Shakespeare, 1.55). Even the British moralist Jane Austen (1813/2008) admits that beauty sparks romantic desire. In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Bingley falls head over heels for Jane when he sees her at a ball, calling her, “the most beautiful creature I ever beheld” (Austen, p. 13). In the modern day, people often dismiss this trope as sappy and superficial. However, this pattern gets at something very true about human nature: we cannot help loving the beautiful. Beauty sparks desire, making us “fall in love” with a beautiful object or person.

Ultimately, visual beauty makes the viewer fall in love with Christ, the divine Bridegroom who is the source of all Beauty. As the ancient theologian Cabasilas said, “...it is the Bridegroom who has smitten them with this longing. It is he who has sent the ray of beauty into their eyes” (as cited in Ratzinger, 2002). Although we can only see glimpses of perfect beauty in this world, every sunrise and painting makes us fall in love with God a little bit more because it gives us a greater desire for perfect beauty. Like the bride in Song of Solomon, believers are transfixed by the beauty of the Bridegroom and instinctively drawn toward Him into perfect union. Beauty helps us to know God by making us love and desire Him.

In addition, visual beauty helps us to know God contemplatively because it draws us into a direct encounter with Him. According to Josef Pieper, contemplative knowledge comes from a direct experience with God (pp. 73-75). This theme is evident throughout the practice of Christian contemplative prayer. The goal of contemplation is to have a direct encounter with God by resting in his presence. This type of prayer does not involve words or images but consists of sitting in silence and awareness of God's love (Stratigano, 2012, p. 125). By cultivating awareness of God’s presence, Christians experience a contemplative encounter because their souls commune with God directly rather than communicating though words. While scripture and theological training are an essential starting point in our prayer life, Christians encounter God more directly through contemplative prayer because they do not rely on these intellectual tools.

Contemplation gives Christians an experience of God that is much deeper than intellectual knowledge. Josef Pieper (1958/1979) explains that contemplation is direct experience with God because it “is a form of knowing arrived at by…intuition” (pp. 73-74). He explains that intuition is a “perfect form of knowing” because it is the "knowledge of what is actually present” while thinking about God is merely the "knowledge of what is absent” (p. 74). In other words, contemplation is an actual experience of God, whereas spiritual study is merely thinking about Him. This distinction is also supported by the great theologian St. Thomas Aquinas who drew a distinction between experiencing (intellectus) and thinking (ratio). He pointed out that while thoughts and propositions can be untrue, intuition cannot (as cited in Peiper 74). Ultimately, all thoughts must be tested against experience which is a higher form of knowledge (Pieper, p. 74).

In the same way, beauty is a direct encounter with God because it draws us into an encounter that is experiential rather than rational. In his address The Feeling of Things, the Contemplation of Beauty, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (2002) argued that an encounter with beauty brings a “more real, more profound knowledge than mere rational deduction” (para. 11) because it is a first-hand experience with the Beautiful One. To illustrate this point Ratzinger recalls his experience at a Bach concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein. When the music had ended, he and his companion were so overcome by the beauty of the music that they exclaimed, “‘Anyone who has heard this, knows that the faith is true’” (para. 13). Ratzinger noted, “The music had such an extraordinary force of reality that we realised, no longer by deduction but by the impact on our own hearts, that it could not have originated from nothingness…” (para. 13). An encounter with beauty is one of the most powerful ways that we can encounter God because it cuts through logic and goes straight to our heart. A profound experience with beauty is like a contemplative experience because it is a silent and wordless communion with God in the depth of the heart.

Another important aspect of a contemplative experience is that it allows Christians to revel in the deep mystery of God’s character. Contemplative knowing has always been linked to embracing the unknown. From the very beginning, Christian contemplatives recognised that God is a mystery far above human comprehension. This belief was influenced by Apophatic theology, which is an ancient theological tradition that emphasizes human’s inability to understand God (Jacobs, 2017, 0:30). Influenced by this idea, contemplative men and women acknowledged that God, like each human person, is an infinite mystery; they thought of God as a friend rather than a proposition which can be solved (O’Keefe, 2024, p. 35). Instead of focusing on knowing things about God, Christian mystics practised recognizing God’s presence so that they could know God through relational experience (Brother Lawrence, 1973/ 1692, pp. 30-32). In the same way, visual beauty promotes a contemplative understanding of God because it inspires the viewer to ask deep questions about their faith and allows them to experience something that is unexplainable.

One of the biggest barriers to experiencing God apophatically is the heady and empirical thinking that flourishes in Western culture. In the past century, many authors and philosophers have lamented that Westerners do not know how to engage with mystery because modern culture has become far too cerebral. Arthur Brooks, a Harvard professor and acclaimed author who studies brain science, theorises that Westerners cannot tolerate mystery because we overuse the rational problem-solving part of our brain. Brooks (2026) explains that the two hemispheres of the brain perform different functions. He compares the activity of the left hemisphere to computer programs which can follow directions and solve problems but cannot ponder deep questions. The left hemisphere governs the “‘how to’ and ‘what’ questions, the answers to the technological stuff, the problems that we are trying to solve” (0:05). On the other hand, the right side of the brain ponders deeply meaningful questions that do not have straightforward answers (0:21). Unfortunately, many modern people do not experience a healthy balance between these two hemispheres because most of the activities that we perform exercise the left hemisphere of the brain. Daily tasks, STEM learning, and online entertainment force the brain to solve immediate problems rather than ponder mysterious questions (Sullivan, 2025, 2:29). As a result, the brain has become very adept at solving problems, but many people find it difficult for us to dwell in wonder.

Overstimulation of the “problem-solving” half of the brain prevents us from knowing God contemplatively because it keeps us from dwelling on mystery. In his book The Shattered Lantern, the theologian Richard Rolheiser (1994) explains that one of the biggest barriers to wonder is conceptual “solving” and understanding. He writes, “When…we seek to understand in a conceptual way, when we seek to possess something, and when we seek to control our relationship to things so as to remain secure, we never fully attain the sheer gaze of admiration” (p. 85). So often, our impulse to understand prevents us from experiencing the mystery of God. However, looking at beautiful images can undo this damage because it stimulates the right side of the brain (Sullivan, 2025, 5:20). Beauty compels humans to ask unanswerable questions and confronts them with unexplainable experiences. In the face of something profoundly beautiful the viewer is forced to ask “Why do I feel this way?” “Why is this beautiful?” and “How can there be so much beauty in a broken world?” Although science can describe why the setting sun creates beautiful colors, no one can explain why humans are deeply drawn to these experiences. Ultimately, there is no way to understand beauty. It can only be experienced.

Visual beauty also leads viewers into child-like wonder and questioning. In the Bible, there are countless examples of people being moved to wonder by natural beauty. In Psalm 8, King David recounts how the beauty of the natural world prompts him to consider his place in the universe and wonder at God’s love. He writes, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (Psalm 8, 3-4). The beauty of creation causes humans to revel in the mystery of their existence. In an interview, the naturalist Marcelo Gleiser (2012) discussed how the beauty of his childhood home sparked questions that he explored throughout his career. As a child, Gleiser was mystified by the breathtaking beauty of the Rio coastland and longed to know how this beauty was “all possible” (3:12). The beauty of his homeland inspired questions about the origin of the universe that lead him to seek answers in the Jewish faith, creation myths, and evolutionary science. Like many other scientists and thinkers, Gleiser experienced how beauty sparks lifelong curiosity.

However, beauty does more than simply inspire questions. It also leads believers into the very heart of mystery. Instead of providing straightforward answers, beauty forces humans to dwell on an experience that they cannot understand. Although Marcelo Gleiser went on to study natural science for his whole career, writing over seven books on the origin and meaning of the universe, he is still awed by the beauty of the cosmos. Today, Gleiser continues to study the natural world, believing that “science [is] not so much about finding all the answers but actually about courting with the mystery of the unknown” (5:23). After years of questioning, Gleiser understood that the beauty of the universe is not a problem to solve but a mystery to relish. The biblical character Job came to a similar conclusion after asking the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” After losing his children, servants, and all of his possessions, Job questions the Lord in anguish. His foolish friends try to answer his questions with “long-winded speeches” (Job 16:3). However, instead of giving him a straightforward answer, God directed Job’s attention to the beauty of creation, asking him, “Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand…Do you give the horse strength or clothe its neck with flowing mane?...Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom?” (Job 38:4; 39:19-20; 39:26). God's awesome beauty reminds Job that there are some things that humans can never understand. In humility he cries, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know…but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:3-6). In the end, Job learns to trust God though his pain, humbly dwelling in the mystery of his life and circumstances.

Taking inspiration from this passage, the Christian filmmaker Terrence Malick put this concept into action in his film The Tree of Life (2011). This movie, which has been described as more of “a prayer set to music” (Cusey, 2011, para. 1) than a story, centers around Jack O’Brian as he grieves the death of his brother and struggles with his own sinfulness. As he struggles, Jack asks God, “Where were you? Did you know? What are we to you?....Why should I be good if you aren’t?”. However, like the book of Job, these questions are never answered in a conventional manner. Instead, Malick intermixes beautiful scenes of creation, heaven and nature throughout the story. One of the most memorable sequences of the film is a representation of the creation of the world. Throughout the film, Malick artfully scatters stunning sequences which show the cosmic story. The last scene shows a heaven-like seascape intermixed with the Apocalypse, leaving the viewer with a strange mix of satisfaction and nagging questions. These beautiful scenes do not answer Jack's questions, but it makes the viewer understand that the will of God is so much bigger than human experience and understanding. Beauty reminds us that we cannot understand God, His will, or even our own lives; we can only experience it and marvel at God’s majesty.

When I first discovered that beauty was very important to early Christians, I was surprised because visual artwork did not seem to fit within a rational understanding of God. After all, looking at a beautiful piece of artwork like Michelangelo's Pietà does not give someone a better intellectual understanding of God’s character. However, the early Christians understood that visual beauty affects more than our minds. Although artwork and nature may not increase our knowledge about God, they give us an experience of Him that sinks deep into our heart and soul. Because beauty is attractive, these direct experiences of God give the viewer a deep longing for Him. At the same time, visual beauty forces the viewer to enter into an apophatic mystery that they can never fully understand. Through experiences of beauty, Christians begin to long for their creator with their whole hearts as they are immersed in the deep mystery of God.

Unfortunately, many Christian groups have forgotten how important it is to know God contemplatively. Beauty has been pushed aside from the Christian life because it does not give us an intellectual understanding of God like spiritual books and teaching. The lack of artwork in the Christian life is a deep loss to the Christian community because it prevents believers from having a contemplative relationship with God. Although it is very important to know God intellectually, this is only one part of a deep relationship with him. To know Him completely, we must know him with our heart and soul as well as our minds. Beauty helps us to gaze in wonder at His mystery and ask deep questions about our faith. It allows us to love God with our whole hearts as we are drawn to the beauty around us. It allows us to experience God deeply and directly. Without this contemptive knowledge of God, we will not be able to know Him fully.

This understanding is so important to the Christian life that in his theological masterpiece The Glory of the Lord, Hans Urs von Balthazar (1983/1961) says, “We can be sure that whoever sneers at [beauty’s] name… can no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to love” (vol. I p. 18). Balthazar points out that, without the contemplative understanding of the world which beauty promotes, we will not be able to encounter God or each other in a way that is authentic and open to mystery. Ancient believers recognized that visual beauty is a path to a different and ultimately deeper way of knowing God. The beauty that we see all around us is an invitation to know our Creator contemplatively.

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