(Recorded Course) The Philosophy and Apologetics of Beauty with Bill Donaghy

Join this philosophy and theology course for young men and women that explores the beauty in creation, humanity, art, and God’s masterwork in each of us. Learn how the expression of true beauty brings us closer to God.

How to get the most out of The Philosophy and Apologetics of Beauty with Bill Donaghy:

1. Remember your Socrates! "... The object of education is to teach us to love what is beautiful." 

As important as the intellect is to read reality and to process and internalize the Truth of God and His creation with its "ratio" or reason, it is rather the "intellectus" or receptive understanding which more properly exposes the heart to God's Beauty. It is our receptivity to the beauty of God that most expresses the mysterious ache of being human. When the open heart is touched then the authentic encounter with the Living God takes place. True education flows from this place. It urges on a faith seeking understanding (fides quarens intellectum). "You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.” (St. Augustine of Hippo, Confessions) 

2. Reflect on the wise words of the last three popes:
"Every expression of true beauty can thus be acknowledged as a path leading to an encounter with the Lord Jesus… (A) formation in the via pulchritudinis (way of beauty) ought to be part of our effort to pass on the faith." (Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 167)
"Nostalgia and longing impel (man) to pursue the quest; beauty prevents him from being content with just daily life. It causes him to suffer... we could say that the arrow of nostalgia pierces man, wounds him and in this way gives him wings, lifts him upwards towards the transcendent.” (Pope Benedict XVI, August 2002, Rimini Meeting) 
"'You made us for yourself, Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.' In this creative restlessness beats and pulsates what is most deeply human - the search for truth, the insatiable need for the good, hunger for freedom, nostalgia for the beautiful..." (St. John Paul II)
Total Classes: 6

Duration: 55 minutes 

Prerequisite: None

Suggested Grade Level: 9th to 12th grade

Suggested Credit: 1/2 semester Philosophy

Instructor: Bill Donaghy

Instructor Email: bdonaghy@tobinstitute.org

Course Description: The last four popes have made explicit reference to the aspect of Beauty as a path leading to God for the modern heart. This course will take up that invitation made most recently by Pope Francis himself who wrote, "Every form of catechesis would do well to attend to the 'way of beauty’… Every expression of true beauty can thus be acknowledged as a path leading to an encounter with the Lord Jesus.” (Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 167) Mr. Donaghy will accompany students in walking this Way of Beauty, proposing the necessity of cultivating a contemplative gaze on the beauty of reality (creation and the human person) as the “arrowhead of evangelization” for moderns today. Through lecture, guided meditation and instruction on the varied beauty of creation, and human endeavors to capture and convey the Beautiful through a variety of artistic works, we will culminate in the beauty of the human person, God’s masterwork, through the light of St. John Paul II’s theology of the body. 

Course Outline:

Week 1: The Lost Art of Wonder

a. An introduction to the art of being human; a creature created for its own sake and invited to “choose the better part”: contemplation of the Divine Beauty of God in the world.


Week 2: Taste and See the Goodness of the Lord

a. A lecture on the sacramentality of creation and the nurturing of a sacramental vision of reality.


Week 3: A Terrible Beauty is Born

a. A reflection on the attraction and distraction of visible beauty; the challenge of seeing things as icons of the Infinite or idols grasped in the moment. Prudence, wonder, reverence, stewardship.


Week 4: The “End” of Beauty

a. A lecture on the power and purpose of eros on the Way of Beauty; integration, sublimation, transformation. Cf. St. John Paul II’s TOB audiences, etc., and Pope Benedict XVI’s works.


Week 5: The Apologetics of Beauty and the Art of Accompaniment

a. Entering the Great Conversation. How a heart and head knowledge of great art and literature allows us to tap into the deepest questions of humanity throughout the ages.


Week 6: The Beauty of Holiness: How Beauty Will Save the World 


a. Reflecting on Beauty and the saints as an "arrowhead of Evangelization.” The Beauty of prayer and the spiritual life, liturgy and the discernment of vocation.

Course Materials:

  1. Leisure Basis of Culture, Josef Pieper. Publisher: St. Augustine's Press; 1 edition (1707) ASIN: B01182H6WS

  2. Letter to Artists, St. John Paul II. https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/letters/1999/ documents/hf_jp-ii_let_23041999_artists.html

  3. Various other readings (provided free online or as PDF files) from C.S. Lewis’s The Weight of Glory, Tolkien’s Silmarillion, Fr. Thomas Dubay, Von Balthasar’s Heart of the World, etc.

Homework:

  1. Assigned readings and short essay assessments will be given.

  2. Lectio Divina style reflections on assigned poems, video pieces, sacred art, and literature will be given. (The theological substance and philosophical vocabulary of our study of Beauty is expected to be applied)

  3. A project “Appreciating a Masterpiece” will be assigned or a comparative creation of a work of Beauty will be assigned, either musical, literary or visual (painting, sculpture).

 An answer key is not provided for this course.