Edited excerpt(s) taken from Music to the Glory of God by Humphrey Dobson © 2024. Used by permission of Shepherd Press, www.shepherdpress.com.
Beauty is an objective reality given by God, but how do we describe what is beautiful and distinguish it from what is ugly? Let’s now look in more detail at how we can assess beauty.
You have probably heard someone say he or she likes a particular piece of music because ‘it makes me feel good’. This is not an objective description of the quality of the music, but it could tell us a lot about his or her taste. It also points to an important truth – good music should not be judged by our feelings, but by using our minds.
R. C. Sproul once wrote: ‘I am convinced that if we look in the Scriptures we’ll see that God is a God of beauty. He’s the ultimate foundation of beauty, and his character is beautiful. Part of the task of man is to mirror and reflect the character of God. That means we are called to produce art and that that art be excellent.’ Dr Sproul taught that Western civilization has recognised four ‘transcendent norms of beauty’: proportion, harmony, simplicity, and complexity.
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