The true beauty
Article summary proposed by the Contacts review with LLM assistance
This posthumous article by Olivier Clément, an unpublished text written in 2005 when the author was ill, takes the form of a theological meditation on beauty. Clément develops the idea that true beauty is not symbolic but revelatory: it unveils the transfigured reality of the world, Christ as the "Land of the Living," according to the inscription on the mosaic of the Chora church in Constantinople. The article distinguishes between a Christianity of mastery, responsible for the destructive unification of the planet, and a Christianity of transfiguration yet to come, capable of renewing the creation of beauty. The theological contribution lies in the articulation between aesthetics and eschatology: works of beauty — icon or painting by Cézanne — no longer refer to a myth, but directly manifest the world of God.
This article has not been translated yet — it is available in its French version here.
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