Laura Cerbus | University of Divinity (original) (raw)
Laura Cerbus is a PhD candidate at Trinity College Theological School (University of Divinity, Australia), where she is researching the work of the Holy Spirit in relation to beauty and the creation.
Supervisors: Scott Kirkland, Rachel Davies, and Mark Lindsay
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Papers by Laura Cerbus
Scottish Journal of Theology, 2024
In the last century, beauty has not often found itself enlisted in struggles for justice. As Alex... more In the last century, beauty has not often found itself enlisted in struggles for justice. As Alexander Nehemas recounts, beauty's severance from goodness and truth in the modern period renders beauty dangerous, its charm easily wielded as an instrument of oppression in the hands of the powerful. While some scholars have argued for a return to the pre-modern metaphysics that binds beauty to truth and goodness, the abuse of beauty is not simply a modern phenomenon, and its resistance requires more than a pre-modern solution. Beauty is eschatological; thus its abuse points to a failure to order it properly to its eschatological end. This article will argue that the abuse of beauty can be resisted not by spiritualising beauty, but by ordering physical beauty to its eschatological end. This end is most clearly seen in the ascended Christ, with his beautiful body that is human, wounded and hidden.
Conference Presentations by Laura Cerbus
Premodern theologians developed the metaphor of ascent as a compelling picture of Christian trans... more Premodern theologians developed the metaphor of ascent as a compelling picture of Christian transformation. However, within recent theological concerns for the creation, this account has been problematized. Given the climate crisis and the underlying denigration of creation, ascent, as a movement away from creation, is dismissed as a fruitful metaphor. This paper seeks to re-imagine ascent to allow us to retain the richness of our tradition's ascent imagery without leaving the created world behind. To do so, I will expand the scope of creaturely transformation to aesthetics and will attribute this transforming ascent to the work of the Holy Spirit. I will argue that creaturely transformation understood primarily as a process of beautification, undertaken by the Holy Spirit, imagines a way for the whole creation, human and non-human, to ascend towards God.
Scottish Journal of Theology, 2024
In the last century, beauty has not often found itself enlisted in struggles for justice. As Alex... more In the last century, beauty has not often found itself enlisted in struggles for justice. As Alexander Nehemas recounts, beauty's severance from goodness and truth in the modern period renders beauty dangerous, its charm easily wielded as an instrument of oppression in the hands of the powerful. While some scholars have argued for a return to the pre-modern metaphysics that binds beauty to truth and goodness, the abuse of beauty is not simply a modern phenomenon, and its resistance requires more than a pre-modern solution. Beauty is eschatological; thus its abuse points to a failure to order it properly to its eschatological end. This article will argue that the abuse of beauty can be resisted not by spiritualising beauty, but by ordering physical beauty to its eschatological end. This end is most clearly seen in the ascended Christ, with his beautiful body that is human, wounded and hidden.
Premodern theologians developed the metaphor of ascent as a compelling picture of Christian trans... more Premodern theologians developed the metaphor of ascent as a compelling picture of Christian transformation. However, within recent theological concerns for the creation, this account has been problematized. Given the climate crisis and the underlying denigration of creation, ascent, as a movement away from creation, is dismissed as a fruitful metaphor. This paper seeks to re-imagine ascent to allow us to retain the richness of our tradition's ascent imagery without leaving the created world behind. To do so, I will expand the scope of creaturely transformation to aesthetics and will attribute this transforming ascent to the work of the Holy Spirit. I will argue that creaturely transformation understood primarily as a process of beautification, undertaken by the Holy Spirit, imagines a way for the whole creation, human and non-human, to ascend towards God.