True knowledge is being struck by the arrow of beauty that wounds man: being touched by reality, ‘by the personal presence of Christ himself’, as [Nicholas Cabasilas] puts it. Being overcome by the beauty of Christ is a more real, more profound knowledge than mere rational deduction. Of course we must not underestimate the importance of theological reflection, of exact and careful theological thought; it is still absolutely necessary. But to despise, on that account, the impact produced by the heart’s encounter with beauty, or to reject it as a true form of knowledge would impoverish and dry up both faith and theology. We must rediscover this form of knowledge—it is an urgent demand of the present hour. |
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