{"id":2507,"date":"2013-03-06T11:04:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-06T11:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/art-historian-says-benedicts-way-of-beauty-will-continue-to-flower\/"},"modified":"2013-03-06T11:04:00","modified_gmt":"2013-03-06T11:04:00","slug":"art-historian-says-benedicts-way-of-beauty-will-continue-to-flower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/03\/art-historian-says-benedicts-way-of-beauty-will-continue-to-flower\/","title":{"rendered":"Art historian says Benedict’s ‘way of beauty’ will continue to flower"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Rome, Italy, Mar 6, 2013 \/ 04:04 am (CNA<\/a>).- Pope Emeritus Benedict's emphasis on beauty as a means to encounter truth and grow in faith is one of the \u201cgreatest seeds\u201d planted during his pontificate, says art historian Elizabeth Lev.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIn his way of beauty, he says the true way of humanity is this beauty we have in the image and likeness of God,\u201d Lev, a faculty member at the University of St. Thomas' Rome Program, told CNA in February.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cOver the course of his pontificate, and even as cardinal, he has implemented these seeds, these stepping stones for us to follow, to understand the nature of beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tLev, who studied renaissance art at the University of Chicago and who did her graduate work in baroque art at the University of Bologna, writes for Inside the Vatican, First Things, and Zenit.<\/p>\n

\tShe said that Benedict has taught that though beauty can at first be \u201cfrightening\u201d or overwhelming, it ultimately \u201cleads us out of ourselves to something great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tLev reflected that over the course of his life, Benedict has \u201cseen real ugliness,\u201d yet \u201crecognizes this is not the full truth of humanity. During his childhood he experienced the ugliness of the Nazi regime and the second world war in his homeland, and as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he had to deal with clergy abuse files.<\/p>\n

\tIn addition to teaching, Lev is a tour guide in Rome. She has seen that in encountering \u201creal authentic beauty,\u201d people are opened to the truth. Observing this, she said that \u201cPope Benedict's words have become clearer to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tIn his 2005 work \u201cOn the Way to Jesus Christ,\u201d Benedict wrote that \u201cbeauty wounds, but that is precisely how it awakens man to his ultimate destiny\u201d and that \u201cbeauty is knowledge\u2026because it strikes man with the truth in all its greatness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tLev said that she has seen people struck by the beauty of St. Peter's Basilica or St. Mary Major, and that this encounter with beauty helps them see the changes they need to make in how they live their life.<\/p>\n

\tThis is what Benedict meant, when in the same work, he wrote that \u201cpastoral ministry\u2026must arrange for people to encounter the beauty of the faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tLev has seen those who come to Rome and while not Catholic or even Christian, \u201care receptive to beauty and are in that world willing and happy to listen to the truth behind it, and see it as a goodness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThen there are those who are not interested in beauty and convinced they couldn't care less, but they find themselves slowly seduced by beauty. That's a real joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tLev also discussed Benedict's Nov. 21, 2009 address to artists at the Sistine Chapel. At that time he expressed a desire to \u201crenew the Church's friendship with the world of art.\u201d Lev believes this friendship will \u201ccontinue to flower\u201d through coming pontificates.<\/p>\n

\tShe said Benedict's teaching about \u201cauthentic truth and beauty\u201d was an effort to \u201cdevelop a discernment\u201d about what is beautiful and what is not.<\/p>\n

\tIn his address to artists, Benedict distinguished between an \u201cillusory and deceitful\u201d counterfeit of beauty which deprives the onlooker of \u201chope and joy,\u201d and authentic beauty, which brings him \u201cout of himself\u201d and draws the viewer to \u201cto towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cBeauty, whether that of the natural universe or that expressed in art, precisely because it opens up and broadens the horizons of human awareness, pointing us beyond ourselves, bringing us face to face with the abyss of Infinity, can become a path towards the transcendent, towards the ultimate Mystery, towards God,\u201d Benedict said.<\/p>\n

\tReflecting on Benedict's words, Lev concluded that \u201cwe will see a growth\u2026of friendship between art and the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rome, Italy, Mar 6, 2013 \/ 04:04 am (CNA).- Pope Emeritus Benedict's emphasis on beauty as a means to encounter truth and grow in faith is one of the “greatest seeds” planted during his pontificate, says art historian Elizabeth Lev.<\/p>\n

\t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe"],"yoast_head":"\nArt historian says Benedict's 'way of beauty' will continue to flower<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rome, Italy, Mar 6, 2013 \/ 04:04 am (CNA).- Pope Emeritus Benedict's emphasis on beauty as a means to encounter truth and grow in faith is one of the “greatest seeds” planted during his pontificate, says art historian Elizabeth Lev. ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/03\/art-historian-says-benedicts-way-of-beauty-will-continue-to-flower\/\" \/>\n<meta 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