This course serves as an introduction to Dr. Johnson's groundbreaking work on the theologies of beauty and the imagination. It will help you recover beauty as a real, knowable feature of the world. You'll begin by clarifying what beauty is and why it is neither mere taste nor private preference. Through a careful account of the subjectivity and objectivity of beauty, you'll learn to name personal response while recognizing that harmony, proportion, splendor, and fittingness provide public criteria. Then you'll practice “how to see beauty”: exercises in attentive looking, contemplative pacing, and verbal precision that slow perception so that students actually perceive, not just see.
The second half of the course offers concrete “rules of the imagination” that enable you to supply images before abstractions, prefer apt analogies, order comparisons from near to far, and test imaginative claims against reality. Finally, you'll translate philosophy into pedagogy with accessible routines for bringing beauty into the classroom and for training imagination in every subject. Learn to curate objects of study with high “radiance”; craft prompts that ask students to compare, analogize, and personify responsibly, and assess with rubrics that reward attentiveness, proportion, and appropriate expression.
Lessons
Lesson 1: What Is Beauty?
Lesson 2: The Subjectivity and Objectivity of Beauty
Lesson 3: How to See Beauty
Lesson 4: Imagination
Lesson 5: Rules of the Imagination
Lesson 6: Discernment, Discipleship, and Vocation
Lesson 7: Beauty in the Classroom
Lesson 8: Imagination in the Classroom
Note: you will need to sign up for a free ClassicalU account (if you don't already have one) before you can complete your purchase.
$50 for lifetime access
Note: you will need to sign up for a free ClassicalU account (if you don't already have one) before you can complete your purchase.
Loving this content? The synchronous course The Wisdom of Possibility: A Theology of the Imagination and The Father of Lights: A Theology of Beauty delve deeper into these domains.
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I highly recommend Wisdom of Possibility. You'll want to buckle up for this fast-paced ride through varied terrain through some lands perhaps you've only partially explored.
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Beauty draws all of us but sometimes it seems to defy our attempts to look closely at what it is we are drawn to. The words seem to slip away as we reach for them. The Father of Lights class is an opportunity to engage with the theology of beauty in a way that is rigorous yet accessible. The classroom community and Johnson's skilled teaching make this class a perfect place to encounter and explore the beautiful and deepen our worship. I highly recommend it.
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Dr. Johnson’s 12-week online course “The Wisdom of Possibility: the Practice of Thinking Through the Imagination” offers up a virtual gourmet buffet for any person hungry to explore a deeply Christian and highly intelligent theological treatment of the creative impulse so central to human experience.
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What is meant by one who says “It is a beautiful day!”? There is no doubt that it is said with a kind of delight and joy, perhaps even that the beauty is what engenders the joy. What makes the day beautiful? What is beauty and why does its very essence call a response in the human self? Why is beauty a mystery? Is beauty only experienced with the physical senses or is it a spiritual experience, or all of this? These questions, and so much more are reasons to dive deep into in the Father of Lights: A Theology of Beauty.
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The Wisdom of Possibility course was a delightful dive into the beautiful and true wonders of God as understood in theology and literature. Johnson shared an impressive grasp of theological and literary ideas, imparting Christian wisdom regarding imagination with pastoral interest in the lives of his students. I found the teaching rich, joyful, and practical. This course was a feast for the mind, with much to savour and digest for years to come.