Abstract

This thesis leverages the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar and others to explore beauty’s essential role in one’s spiritual life and how it can come to be viewed as central to one’s relationship with God. According to Balthasar, beauty, glory, and love are inseparably linked, and when beauty is restored to the rank of a transcendental, on par with truth and goodness, God's love can be experienced in a new and empowering way. The thesis explores the possibility that beauty is accessible to all and is not reserved for the few. The perception and experience of beauty is a skill that can be learned by training our physical and spiritual senses. The thesis explores how beauty can be found everywhere, in the microcosm and the macrocosm, in sadness and joy, in art and in nature. It also explores the possibility that, from a Christian perspective, the pinnacle of beauty, where it is most visible and most transformative, is in the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ and culminates in Christ’s kenotic self-giving on the cross.