Notre Dame and Holy Week
Yesterday's post was intended to plant thoughts about Holy Week by connecting it with the stock market. The thread turned out to be a a rant against relativism. Then came the news about Notre Dame.
Notre Dame will be touted as a French national symbol and one of the great treasures of the whole world (Muslim countries included?). But, of course, it's primarily a Catholic thing. The building of the cathedral - from the 12th through the 14th centuries, was intended to glorify God - period.
Nothing wrong with French people's affection for it, or calling it a common treasure for the people of Europe and the world at large. As such it's been a huge tourist attaction - and rightly so. But let's make sure we don't overlook its status as a cathedral where Catholic liturgies are celebrated.
In that, we can connect Notre Dame to Holy Week. But we can also connect it to relativism. We might have done that by simply listening to some of the comments people made while the fires still blazed. A consistent theme was that the cathedral was beautiful.
Yesterday we pointed out that relativism would insist that anything you claim to be beautiful can only be said to be beautiful for you. Others may agree, of course. But all that adds is that it's beautiful for them.
Applying this to Notre Dame, if wer're relativists, we would have to say that all the comments about the beauty of the place simply mean that those who made the comments consider Notre Dame to be beatiful for them. There's no objectve standard which we could reference to make the claim that it's beautiful period - without reference to any individual's opinion.
However, it's safe to say that almost no one who commented about the beauty of Notre Dame would subscribe to this idea. When they called Notre Dame beautiful, they meant it was beautiful. In other words, the object itself - the Cathedral of Notre Dame - could be called beautiful without reference to anyone's personal opinion. The beauty of Notre Dame was not based on a relative standard. Rather it was based on an objective one.
Hence, we found at least one thing in the world - Notre Dame - that could be said to be objectively beautiful. Relativists, take note!
As we wind our way through Holy Week, we'll find examples of objective true and false, right and wrong, beautiful and ugly, none of which are reliant on what you or I feel or think about them. Crucifixion of Jesus actually happened. That's true, not false. This of killing an innocent man was wrong, not right. That should be clear to everyone, as clear as Notre Dame being beautiful.
Finally, here's an example of beautiful during Holy Week. Jesus Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice to His Father on behalf of you and me. He did this in reparation for the offenses we commit against God - Who is All-Good and worthy of our love, not our sins. In doing so, He made it possible for us to someday enjoy eternal happiness in heaven.
Now, bear with me here. You may not be religious. If you are, you may not be Catholic or even Christian. Whatever you are, you may not agree with this characterization of Christ's Crucifixion as a Sacrifice made on our behalf - you and me. But if we assume that it is true, can we then agree that His Sacrifice can be considered an objectively beautiful thing?
Notre Dame will be touted as a French national symbol and one of the great treasures of the whole world (Muslim countries included?). But, of course, it's primarily a Catholic thing. The building of the cathedral - from the 12th through the 14th centuries, was intended to glorify God - period.
Nothing wrong with French people's affection for it, or calling it a common treasure for the people of Europe and the world at large. As such it's been a huge tourist attaction - and rightly so. But let's make sure we don't overlook its status as a cathedral where Catholic liturgies are celebrated.
In that, we can connect Notre Dame to Holy Week. But we can also connect it to relativism. We might have done that by simply listening to some of the comments people made while the fires still blazed. A consistent theme was that the cathedral was beautiful.
Yesterday we pointed out that relativism would insist that anything you claim to be beautiful can only be said to be beautiful for you. Others may agree, of course. But all that adds is that it's beautiful for them.
Applying this to Notre Dame, if wer're relativists, we would have to say that all the comments about the beauty of the place simply mean that those who made the comments consider Notre Dame to be beatiful for them. There's no objectve standard which we could reference to make the claim that it's beautiful period - without reference to any individual's opinion.
However, it's safe to say that almost no one who commented about the beauty of Notre Dame would subscribe to this idea. When they called Notre Dame beautiful, they meant it was beautiful. In other words, the object itself - the Cathedral of Notre Dame - could be called beautiful without reference to anyone's personal opinion. The beauty of Notre Dame was not based on a relative standard. Rather it was based on an objective one.
Hence, we found at least one thing in the world - Notre Dame - that could be said to be objectively beautiful. Relativists, take note!
As we wind our way through Holy Week, we'll find examples of objective true and false, right and wrong, beautiful and ugly, none of which are reliant on what you or I feel or think about them. Crucifixion of Jesus actually happened. That's true, not false. This of killing an innocent man was wrong, not right. That should be clear to everyone, as clear as Notre Dame being beautiful.
Finally, here's an example of beautiful during Holy Week. Jesus Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice to His Father on behalf of you and me. He did this in reparation for the offenses we commit against God - Who is All-Good and worthy of our love, not our sins. In doing so, He made it possible for us to someday enjoy eternal happiness in heaven.
Now, bear with me here. You may not be religious. If you are, you may not be Catholic or even Christian. Whatever you are, you may not agree with this characterization of Christ's Crucifixion as a Sacrifice made on our behalf - you and me. But if we assume that it is true, can we then agree that His Sacrifice can be considered an objectively beautiful thing?
Comments