The Ethics of Beauty challenges common Western ideas about the relationship between beauty, goodness, and truth. [1]From the perspective of Eastern Orthodoxy, the division of the church around the year 1000 A.D. over the unauthorized actions of the Roman Pope in adding what is called the “filioque” to the Nicene Creed without an ecumenical council initiated a process of division that ultimately led to the Reformation and the numerous Christian denominations we see today. [2] From a philosophical perspective, influenced by Augustine and later Thomas Aquinas, Western philosophy and theology subsequently developed what might be considered a “truth-first” approach to knowledge, including knowledge of the Good and the Beautiful. In the eyes of the Orthodox, this aspect of Western culture has resulted in the West’s intellectual, moral, and artistic decadence.
As a Presbyterian pastor and, therefore, student of Calvin and the Reformed tradition, I often noticed that our disputes focus not so much on liturgy but on fine distinctions of theology. This tendency has spread to the massive differences among Protestant groups on moral matters, most notably abortion, which the church has always condemned. These endless disputes may be connected to a misguided “ Truth-First” approach to spiritual matters.
In the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions, the church somehow takes precedence over any particular theological system, several of which can exist simultaneously within the greater church. In Protestantism, the tendency is to split over these kinds of disputes. But its very nature embodies a truth-first approach to faith.
Beauty First Worship
Perhaps even more importantly, the lack of a common liturgy creates significant theological and cultural vulnerability in many Protestant churches. One aspect I find restful about attending liturgical churches is that wherever I am on any given Sunday morning—whether the church is Anglican, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, or a variant—I hear almost the same liturgy and, generally speaking, sermons on the same texts. With three readings, regardless of the quality of the sermon, I’ve heard an Old Testament text, a Psalm, a Gospel text, and usually a text from one of Paul’s letters. Finally, there’s also a communion service with a liturgy tied to the ancient liturgies of the church.
As a young pastor, I spent much time designing church worship services. As a former lawyer, I want things to be “logical.” I spent a great deal of time being sure that the worship service flowed logically. Then, when we began to develop what we call “contemporary worship,” There was a need to redesign worship services again, with the need for a “time of worship” near the beginning. [3]
When I first began attending an Eastern Orthodox service, I noticed some differences that I initially found disconcerting. For one thing, the service had a large amount of repetition. Things were said over and over again. It was a long time before I realized that this repetition was gradually drawing the congregation into an experience of the living God through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Then there was the incense, the icons, genuflections, and crossings. For a good Protestant, this can be a bit disconcerting. It was for me. Then I realized that Orthodox services deliberately draw the congregation into a physical experience of God. We smell the incense, visualize the icons, and cross ourselves; in other words, the Orthodox service does not merely appeal to the head but also to the body and emotions, what the ancients would’ve called “the heart.”
As a Protestant, I am accustomed to sermons being the center of the entire worship service. Pastors spend a lot of time preparing sermons, which can be between 30 and 40 minutes long. In liturgical churches, it’s rare to have a sermon longer than about 15 minutes. The center of the worship service is not a pastor, preaching a sermon, but the entire liturgy itself, especially the Lord’s Supper. The sermon is only a portion of the whole, not necessarily the service’s most important feature. Remarkably, I remember more of these 15-minute sermons than most of the 40-minute sermons I hear. I think holding yourself to fifteen minutes helps pastors and priests be succinct and focused in what they say.
Beauty-First Worship Space
For most of my professional career, under the influence of the “Megachurch Movement,” especially the views of Willow Creek, pastors with whom I’ve been familiar and churches I’ve known have been very reluctant to create traditional worship spaces. In evangelical churches today, it is common to have screens, a stage, a Praise Band, and other features in worship areas. The worship area resembles a setting for a rock concert. The reason is both cultural (“people feel more comfortable”) and practical (the setting is appropriate for the way the worship is designed).
In Orthodox churches, the entire church is opulently decorated with icons. An altar is behind a screen, where the priest conducts many worship service activities. Typically, Eastern Orthodox churches have a very traditional Orthodox architecture. When you’re in an Orthodox church, you don’t wonder for one moment whether you’ve drifted into a rock concert or you’re in a church. You’re definitely in a church.
I’ve had the opportunity to visit an Orthodox congregation in Austin, Texas, one of the most secular cities in America. It is filled with young people, all worshiping in a facility I was warned never to create. I’m not sure my earlier views were correct. Perhaps more importantly, the absence of beauty in many Protestant churches exemplifies a truth-first approach to religion. A service surrounded by art, highly crafted handiwork, and lovely vestments is a beauty-first worship service.
Truth in a Beauty-First Church
Lest you think that somehow, these beauty-first worship services lack intellectual content, each of the churches I visited has had bookstores filled with theological books that one does not usually see even in evangelical churches with bookstores. It is customary to find copies of Athanasius’ On the Incarnation in an Orthodox bookstore. Thus far, I haven’t seen any copies of the Left Behind Series or other mass-market Protestant literature. Perhaps more to the point, it’s unusual for the sermon not to include some theological discussion of the passage as it relates to Nicene faith. In addition, vast amounts of the liturgy are taken from the Bible.
Even the process of becoming a member is saturated with the Bible, the Orthodox tradition, Orthodox theology, and Orthodox worship. One member of an Orthodox church that I have come to be friendly with has a five-volume set of the history, tradition, theology, and worship of the Orthodox Church. It’s well over 2000 pages long. He read it as he became a member of the church. He’s the very same person who loaned me a copy of The Ethics of Beauty, upon which these blogs are based. Before becoming Orthodox, this person and his wife had been active members of more than one Reformed congregation. Both of them are highly educated, and they did not find the Orthodox beauty-first approach lacking concern for either truth or goodness.
Social Implications
In closing this week’s blog, I want to highlight the connection between a Beauty-First approach to theology and creating a beautiful society. I’ve had the opportunity to travel widely in both capitalist and Marxist countries. One of the things I find striking is the ugliness present in much of Western society and a significant portion of what we observe in the communist world as well. Somehow, an intellectual focus on Right Philosophy and Right Theology can blind leaders to the necessity of building a wholesome society where people can thrive. From this focus, we ultimately derive the scientific, materialistic, and technological focus that drives our culture.
I may talk more about this next week, but a Beauty-First approach is almost inevitably organic. It rejoices in the “small garden.” It believes that families are more important than political units. It believes that small businesses where people can use their talents and abilities are superior to great corporations, in which most people are simply units of production. It believes that society should not be overly “master planned,” but space should be given for the gradual emergence of an order created by beauty-seeking individuals. One of the essays in The Ethics of Beauty draws on the work of Jane Jacobs and his entitled “The City as a Liturgy.” The idea is that a thriving form of city is a joint movement of its citizens, freely undertaken, following a form or pattern of life that leads to human flourishing.
The liturgies we follow each week in church should be designed to build in church members a form or pattern of life that leads to human flourishing. This form or pattern of life cannot help but impact how they view their families, neighborhoods, cities, and larger political entities. It cannot help but impact how they view their businesses and economic life. We will not build the City of God in its entirety in this world. But we can make a beginning.
Copyright 2025, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved
[1] Tomothy Patisis, The Ethics of Beauty (Maryville, MO: St. Nicholas Press, 2020). The ethics of beauty is a long book, almost 750 pages, and somewhat difficult to follow for a layperson. I am going to try to unpack the importance of its ideas for laypersons. I do not recommend it for those unwilling to read a book on ethics from an Eastern Orthodox perspective.
[2] In the West, we speak of the Holy Spirit as proceeding from the “Father and the Son” (filioque). As approved by the Council of Nicaea, the Nicene Creed (325 A.D.) spoke of the Spirit as proceeding from the Father. No ecumenical council ever approved this; the Pope authorized the addition on his own authority. The Orthodox believe this was a theological mistake and an error of church organization: no pope can modify the church’s dogma. I believe they are correct on both counts.
[3] Contemporary worship often includes a “worship time” featuring several songs at the start of the service. Band members and attendees have told me that this period is designated for worship, whereas the sermon is considered the time for teaching. However, the Orthodox tradition would strongly disagree with this idea. They believe that the entire liturgy constitutes worship, and in this regard, they are correct.