A Beautiful Jesus?

April 25, 2011

Justine Toh has written an excellent opinion piece in the National Times that the editors titled 'God must be beautiful - it runs in the family'

I love the way she concludes the piece as she builds on the ideas of Prof Stephen Moore who argues in his book 'God's Beauty Parlour and Other Queer Spaces in and around the Bible' that there is a tendency to remake Christ to "ensure minimal disturbance to the status quo". Dr Toh writes:

"Beauty often makes us tremble at its sight. But in the context of our makeover culture, a physically attractive Christ who fulfils rather than challenges the beauty ideals of Western culture seems rather suspect. If, as Moore suggests, a good-looking Christ focuses our attention on outward rather than inward transformation, and personal rather than collective change, then perhaps our tendency to airbrush Him into perfection is an effective way to keep the real man (the real God?) at bay."

Dr Justine Toh lectures in cultural studies at Macquarie University.

The full article can be read HERE

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