Susan Stinson - Jonathan Edwards conference: Beauty, Christine Dixon

01:43 pm: Jonathan Edwards conference: Beauty, Christine Dixon
I was at a Jonathan Edwards conference this weekend, which had the theme on Jonathan Edwards on Beauty in Art, Nature and God.

Beauty was central to Jonathan Edwards's theology, and, although most of what I understand of it is from listening to scholars lecture, it's something I love about his thought. He writes of God as the supremely beautifying being, constantly creating beauty. He defines beauty (he distinguished between secondary and primary beauty) as cordial consent of being to being.

I love that. If beauty is consent of being to being, it's in motion. It's in relation to others, not static.

Also, one of the speakers this weekend quoted Jonathan Edwards as saying: Beauty leads to the self transcendent and enlarging practice of virtue.

I want to go there. Self transcendent and enlarging practice of virtue. I'd love to follow paths of beauty to ask that of myself.

When we were discussing this after one of the papers, I said, "As a fat woman in a culture which denies my beauty, although I continue to assert it, I have a question about Jonathan Edwards's use of corporal beauty."

That felt good. I hadn't ever spoken as part of the group at a Jonathan Edwards' conference before; I've only been listening. I've realized, after the past two weekends, that one of the things writing and researching this novel has been about for me is integration: trying to get to more internal wholeness, and let the edges of more of the things I care about touch each other, cordially, and to find the beauty in that frission or melting or transformation or exchange.

The paper was "'The Splendour of a Constant Eternity': The Heart and Beauty in the Trinitarian Theology of Augustine of Hippo and Jonathan Edwards," and it was quite gorgeous. It was by Christine Dixon, whom I had never met, and who died on her way from Australia to deliver it at the conference. I want to say here that her work moved me very much, and, in her death, which those who knew her were visibly feeling deeply, I saw -- again -- a welling of our common humanity, everybody's, and what I can only, or anyway, want to, call, again, beauty, the beauty of someone working as hard as she can with the tools and effort and patience she can muster and the help she can find, to approach what matters most to her. To us. The beauty of working hard, too, from where I am, and, at least at this one point, to have our work meet. To be self transcendent and enlarged in the practice of virtue as we try, and keep trying, until there is a place to stop. I'll be thinking of Chris, who I did not know, and her family and friends.

Comments

From:	daisydumont
Date:	October 6th, 2008 07:28 pm (UTC)

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the kind of integration you describe here is a lifetime job. i started consciously working on it about 10 years ago. some days i feel closer, some i don't at all. but it's such an important goal.

ms. dixon died on the way there? how sad. i'd like to have heard her talk about that paper.

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From:	susanstinson
Date:	October 6th, 2008 10:18 pm (UTC)

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It's interesting trying it, that for sure.

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From:	susanstinson
Date:	October 6th, 2008 10:19 pm (UTC)

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"that's" not "that"

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From:	purejuice
Date:	October 6th, 2008 09:52 pm (UTC)

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thank you for this. i always love it when you talk about edwards.

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From:	susanstinson
Date:	October 6th, 2008 10:19 pm (UTC)

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I return the brownie salute.

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From:	rhonwyyn
Date:	October 7th, 2008 12:49 am (UTC)

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I found your blog from the FA feed. You're the first Christian* voice in FA that I've come across. I have wondered how FA intersects with Christianity. Or rather, how to "evangelize" FA to my Christian brothers and sisters.

It seems like in the Church, thin==holy/godly. The Bible does not speak to individuals' ideal size. However, it does say that we are "beautifully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14) and created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). God created us individually, so if He wanted us to be thin, He would have made us that way. Unfortunately, the Church has bought into the "but you need to be HEALTHY" excuse to push thinness as ideal and God-glorifying.

I would be interested to know if there are any born-again Christians who are/have addressed fatness/FA. They are definitely needed to speak the truth.

*Using the term loosely because I do not know your theology yet; I've only just read this entry.

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From:	rhonwyyn
Date:	October 7th, 2008 01:01 am (UTC)

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Um, okay. So I've read through your info and interviews and such, and I see that I totally misunderstood your interest in Jonathan Edwards! (That is, you're interested not because of a faith in Christ but because of the reasons you stated in your interview on RainbowNetwork.com.) So I take back the part about you being a Christian voice in FA because it doesn't seem like that's who you are or why you write. (I hope I'm not digging myself into a hole here!)

Everything else, though, stands as written. In fact, if it would help your research for your book, I'd be glad to share with you my experience of growing up fat within a Christian culture.

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From:	susanstinson
Date:	October 7th, 2008 01:11 am (UTC)

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Don't worry! I'm a confusing person!

I'm rushing (trying to finish a letter of recommendation with a deadline of tonight), what I'd say is that, while I've been writing a novel about Jonathan Edwards which has immersed me in the Christian thought and history, my work around fat liberation does not reflect such themes.

But, because I've been around the movement a long time, I think I know of a book you might love:

Loved on a Grander Scale: Affirmation , Acceptance and Hope for Women Who Struggle with Their Weight, by Neva Coyle, who is a born again Christian. It's out of print, but there are copies available at the link I provided for next to nothing, and, while the book isn't recent, I really think it might be helpful.

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From:	susanstinson
Date:	October 7th, 2008 01:18 am (UTC)

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PS Neva Coyle's earlier books were Christian diet books, but she changed her position to size acceptance. I haven't read Loved on a Grander Scale, but someone I trust has recently, and that's why I'm recommending her to you.

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