Beauty, Ugliness, and Black Theology: A Theological Aesthetics for Black Experience

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that theological aesthetics speaks powerfully to black experience in light of this very situation. It does so, I find, through the Beauty of the Cross. While the Beauty of the Cross constitutes its own tradition developed through art, architecture, liturgics, and devotion, I use it to gesture broadly to the cruciform character of beauty in theology. The Beauty of the Cross shows how a theological account of beauty necessarily encompasses ugliness. I draw out the implications of this dynamic with regard to three doctrinal areas and related debates in black theology: theological anthropology, soteriology, and eschatology. I aim to show the utility of theological aesthetics for black experience, and center it as a vital resource for black theology.

Repository attribution: Jeania Ree V. Moore. Beauty, Ugliness, and Black Theology: A Theological Aesthetics for Black Experience. Black Theology Papers Project, 1(1), issue year 2015; article page publication date 2024-02-29. Original: source article. DOI: 10.52214/btpp.v1i1.12459. Original PDF reproduced without changes under CC BY 4.0. No endorsement is implied. Copyright (c) 2019 Jeania Ree V. Moore | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0