The last arguement Keller offers is one from the human longing for beauty. He writes:
"Doesn't the unfullillable longing evoked by beauty qualify as an innate desire? We have a longing for joy, love, and beauty that no amount or quality of food, sex, friendship, or success can satisfy. We want something that nothing in this world can fill. Isn't that at least a clue that this 'something' that we want exists? This unfulfillable longing, then, qualifies as a deep, innate human desire, and that makes it a major clue that God is there" (135).
Many of us have heard the "God-shaped hole" argument. In Augustine's words to God, "Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee."
What's interesting/different here was Keller's connection of this longing with the experience of beauty. In Keller's mind, the experience of beauty causes one to long for the divine; beautiful things, one might say, are pathways to God. (This reminds me of another Augustinian prayer, "Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you...")
If Keller is right (I think he is), art is religious. Why is it that Christians are so often suspicious of beauty (the arts) and makers of beauty (artists)? What are ways that the arts can be better incoporated into the life of the church?
