The Aesthetics of Tradition and the Styles of Theology

This article attempts to bridge the post-Vatican II “conservative–liberal” divide in theology by appealing to the interpretive category of aesthetics. It delineates two aesthetical sensibilities toward Catholic tradition in the contemporary Church—a classical sensibility and a developmental sensibility for the traditionally beautiful. Regarding both as authentically Catholic, the author explores the differing styles of theology that issue from each aesthetics, and argues for the need on the part of each style to appreciate the efforts of the other to capture the beauty of tradition.