“ADORN THE CROSS WITH ROSES”? JUSTICE AND HUMAN DIGNITY, BEAUTY AND HUMAN FLOURISHING

What does beauty have to do with justice, justification, and salvation? Can the world be saved by beauty? In this contribution, some theological and rhetorical convergences and differences between the discourse on human dignity and the discourse on human flourishing are explored. The role of beauty...

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Main Author: N. Marais
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of the Free State 2020-11-01
Series:Acta Theologica
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/4941
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author N. Marais
author_facet N. Marais
author_sort N. Marais
collection DOAJ
description What does beauty have to do with justice, justification, and salvation? Can the world be saved by beauty? In this contribution, some theological and rhetorical convergences and differences between the discourse on human dignity and the discourse on human flourishing are explored. The role of beauty, in these discourses, is a pivotal concern – especially as often justice and human rights shape the theological discourse on human dignity. A key proposed argument in this analysis is that justice is to human dignity what beauty is to human flourishing, and that these shape or mould the theological language with which salvation – the good news of the gospel – is articulated. The argument concludes by proposing that both forensic language and aesthetic language are born from the fold of Christian soteriology, and that not only the more static, forensic language of human dignity is required to speak about salvation, but also the more pliable, artistic language of human dignity.
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spelling doaj-art-3626a028c6f145a9994373d064ada10d2025-02-11T09:45:56ZengUniversity of the Free StateActa Theologica1015-87582309-90892020-11-0110.38140/at.vi.4941“ADORN THE CROSS WITH ROSES”? JUSTICE AND HUMAN DIGNITY, BEAUTY AND HUMAN FLOURISHINGN. Marais0University of Stellenbosch What does beauty have to do with justice, justification, and salvation? Can the world be saved by beauty? In this contribution, some theological and rhetorical convergences and differences between the discourse on human dignity and the discourse on human flourishing are explored. The role of beauty, in these discourses, is a pivotal concern – especially as often justice and human rights shape the theological discourse on human dignity. A key proposed argument in this analysis is that justice is to human dignity what beauty is to human flourishing, and that these shape or mould the theological language with which salvation – the good news of the gospel – is articulated. The argument concludes by proposing that both forensic language and aesthetic language are born from the fold of Christian soteriology, and that not only the more static, forensic language of human dignity is required to speak about salvation, but also the more pliable, artistic language of human dignity. https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/4941Human flourishingSalvationHuman dignityRhetorical theology
spellingShingle N. Marais
“ADORN THE CROSS WITH ROSES”? JUSTICE AND HUMAN DIGNITY, BEAUTY AND HUMAN FLOURISHING
Acta Theologica
Human flourishing
Salvation
Human dignity
Rhetorical theology
title “ADORN THE CROSS WITH ROSES”? JUSTICE AND HUMAN DIGNITY, BEAUTY AND HUMAN FLOURISHING
title_full “ADORN THE CROSS WITH ROSES”? JUSTICE AND HUMAN DIGNITY, BEAUTY AND HUMAN FLOURISHING
title_fullStr “ADORN THE CROSS WITH ROSES”? JUSTICE AND HUMAN DIGNITY, BEAUTY AND HUMAN FLOURISHING
title_full_unstemmed “ADORN THE CROSS WITH ROSES”? JUSTICE AND HUMAN DIGNITY, BEAUTY AND HUMAN FLOURISHING
title_short “ADORN THE CROSS WITH ROSES”? JUSTICE AND HUMAN DIGNITY, BEAUTY AND HUMAN FLOURISHING
title_sort adorn the cross with roses justice and human dignity beauty and human flourishing
topic Human flourishing
Salvation
Human dignity
Rhetorical theology
url https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/4941
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