Aesthetic Goods and the Nature of Religious Understanding

This chapter considers what kind of understanding is required if the religious or spiritual life is to be ordered not only to moral, but also aesthetic goods. It addresses three questions. First: how might aesthetic goods contribute to spiritual well-being? Second, what must the spiritual or religious person understand if their life is to be directed to these spiritually significant aesthetic goods? And finally: how is this understanding to be realized if its object is as described in our response to this second question? The chapter proposes that a deeper appreciation of the spiritual significance of aesthetic goods yields a new and fruitful perspective on the bodily and perceptual character of religious understanding.