The Biblical Role of Beauty in Spiritual Formation Applied to the Christian High School Classroom

Abstract

This thesis develops a conceptual framework for understanding the relevance of beauty in the spiritual formation of contemporary high school students, and then this thesis surveys some practical applications of that framework. Chapter 2 defends the objectivity of beauty as necessary to hermeneutics and worldview. Chapter 3 surveys the literary features of the Bible and the Hebrew and Greek lexemes that are translated to mean something approximate to beauty. These surveys stress the importance of beauty to an accurate understanding of God’s attributes. Chapter 4 argues that beauty has moral implications. In this argument, the chapter asserts: (1) beauty is a gift of common grace, and (2) holiness is the beautiful and proper response to grace. The final chapter offers an overview of some ways that this framework can be applied to the classroom through the methods of the teacher, the culture of the school, and the practice of spiritual disciplines.