Seeing Beauty Well

by Jeff Mammen

"From the swirl of a galaxy to the intricate design of a snowflake, beauty allures us to the transcendent. When I walk into the lobby of a grand hotel, the beauty of the design feels like an invitation into our Father’s love. In the moments we pause long enough to appreciate the beauty all around us, we capture a glimpse of the beauty that will one day fill the earth."

Photo credit: Andrea Rico

Truth, goodness, and beauty are known as the Transcendentals—properties of being that have a profound impact on our understanding of existence and the world around us. Unfortunately today beauty is considered by many a waste of time. In modern times, the utility or usefulness of a person or an object is often conflated with its value. That’s why we have difficulty seeing and appreciating beauty.

“You’re enrolling in a fine art photography degree program? How will you use that?”

Beauty isn’t meant to be used. The ancients held that beauty is an objective quality of nature. Greek philosophers, like Plato, recognized that beauty is not simply a subjective preference but a reflection of the underlying reality, a sign of the order and harmony of the cosmos. Beauty is meant to grab our attention and to cause us to wonder about creation and delight in it.

Consider our difficulty when we refer to beautiful people. We’re far too familiar with how the beauty of a woman gets used and exploited in society.

Last week, I walked our Logic II/III students through what I think is the second most grievous story in the Bible (the murder of Jesus being the first). In 2 Samuel 13, Amnon became obsessed with his half-sister, Tamar, because of her beauty. The power of her beauty consumed him to the degree that he would end up consuming her.

Amnon plotted with his servant to trap Tamar by feigning sickness. When their father, David, unwittingly lured her to his bedroom to take care of her half-brother, she realized Amnon had entrapped her in order to violate her. Attempting to escape, she appealed to her dignity and his: “What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel” (v13a).

But dignity was the farthest thing from his mind. He raped her. Then the Scripture says that Amnon “hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her” (v15a). He went from awe over her beauty to hatred and discarded her like a dirty rag.

Why on earth did I walk our students through this tragic story?

I want them to wage war against our culture’s agenda against beauty. Our culture teaches men to objectify women as something to use and conquer. I want our students to honor the glory of women as image bearers of God who have intrinsic dignity and worth. I especially want our young men to make their female peers feel their honor and respect for them, in contrast to how much of our society makes them feel like mere objects of desire.

I want to show our students that a virtuous person looks at beauty—whether in a woman, an ocean sunset, or art—and delights in it, rather than controlling or consuming it.

At a dinner with friends, our waitress winsomely shared her story of her ethnicity and how she became a waitress. After she left with our order, we shared how we enjoyed listening to her, and I added, “She’s pretty.”

I caught myself. Why did I say that? Am I objectifying her? Doesn't commenting on her looks diminish her? Am I walking down the road of consuming beauty with my desires?

The Scriptures notices the beauty of people, stating that “Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance” (Gen. 29:17) while David “was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome” (1 Sam. 16:12). But the Scriptures also speak of a woman’s moral and virtuous beauty. “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight” (1 Pet. 3:3-4).

Given that measure of beauty, did our waitress’ winsome story somehow enhance her beauty in my eyes? Perhaps I actually saw her beauty rightly and let my appreciation for it not be limited to the physical but also to the virtuous.

Think of a dear friend. Doesn’t your friend’s virtues—love, faith, forgiveness, patience, etc.—compel you at times to admire the beauty of how God made your friend? The longer Trisha and I have been married, the harder time I have demarcating between her outer and inner beauty. That line gets blurrier over time because the glory of her inner beauty pierces through her exterior and paints her whole being in light.

So, what are my options when I see a woman’s beauty? I can either: 1) pretend I didn’t see it, 2) possess it for myself, or 3) praise it as a wonder of God’s creation.

In the church, we’ve been trained to believe the first two options are all we’ve got. What a denial of beauty’s purpose! From the swirl of a galaxy to the intricate design of a snowflake, beauty allures us to the transcendent. When I walk into the lobby of a grand hotel, the beauty of the design feels like an invitation into our Father’s love. In the moments we pause long enough to appreciate the beauty all around us, we capture a glimpse of the beauty that will one day fill the earth.

Join me and our students and let’s tend to beauty well. Let’s see beauty in all its forms—in art, virtue, meaning, redemption, and love, as well as in physical aesthetics. And let it draw our eyes upwards to the God who has manifested this beauty in His Son and His salvation. Let beauty beckon us to worship its Source. And as one of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s characters from The Idiot said, “Beauty will save the world!”

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Pastor Jeff Mammen partners with Donum Dei Classical Academy as our Chaplain and Family Liaison. He has served as a pastor since 2003 and brings to the Academy years of pastoral experience specifically focused on the discipleship and spiritual formation of a diverse congregation.