C. S. Lewis thought that God meets us in experiences which have no proper English names. Lewis gave to such experiences the name 'Sehnsucht,' a German term rooted in 'sehnen' (to long for, to yearn after) and 'sucht' (sickness, passion, rage). 'Sehnsucht' thus means a passionate longing. 'Gottesehnsucht' (God-longing) identifies the place where this longing is meant to rest--in God Himself. "For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things." Psalm 107:9
Monday, March 06, 2006
Goodness, Truth, and Beauty
A comment or two about the "Articles and Posts Worth Reading" to the left. The Dave Brown paper on Lewis expounds the notion of "sehnsucht" which underlies this blog. The blog posts by Peter Leithart and Greg Wilbur get at the conviction that beauty ought not be divorced from goodness and truth. Leithart applies this to aesthetic aspects of aplogetics; Wilbur states it in his "Artistic Credo" and then wonderfully applies the need for beauty in looking at music's role in worship and creating covenant community. I encourage everyone to check them out!
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