Beauty, path of peace
Article summary proposed by the Contacts review with LLM assistance
This article is an unpublished meditation by Olivier Clément, written around 1995, devoted to the role of beauty as a path toward inner peace and peace among peoples. Clément distinguishes two forms of beauty: a beauty of possession, linked to domination and violence, and a beauty of communion, capable of awakening humanity to universal brotherhood. This second form, which he describes as paradisiacal, is expressed in the contemplation of things, faces, and art. The article gives a central place to the Eastern Christian tradition, defined as a "Christianity of beauty," in which the icon, the liturgy, and the philokalia bear witness to an ontological and personal beauty oriented toward deification. Drawing on Dionysius the Areopagite, Dostoevsky, Malraux, and various world artistic traditions, Clément proposes a theology of transfiguring beauty as the foundation of an authentic and universal peace.
This article has not been translated yet — it is available in its French version here.
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