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Divine maximal beauty: a reply to Jon Robson

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2013

MARK IAN THOMAS ROBSON
MARK IAN THOMAS ROBSON*
Affiliation:
Head of Philosophy, St Robert of Newminster RC School, Washington, Tyne and Wear, NE38 8AF, UK e-mail: robson.m1@sunderlandlearning.net
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Abstract

In this article I reply to Jon Robson's objections to my argument that God does not contain any possible worlds. I had argued that ugly possible worlds clearly compromise God's beauty. Robson argues that I failed to show that possible worlds can be subject to aesthetic evaluation, and that even if they were it could be the case that ugliness might contribute to God's overall beauty. In reply I try to show that possible worlds are aesthetically evaluable by arguing that possible worlds are maximally rich representations of possible events. I further argue that nothing in God's being can be aesthetically non-evaluable since God must be maximal beauty – a beauteous maximality which needs no ugliness. Finally I show in what sense Christ's heavenly scars can be beautiful.

Type
Articles
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , June 2014 , pp. 199 - 215
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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