We were excited to participate this past Friday night in a combination art show and lecture on the topic of Beauty at Kirk’s childhood church, Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Newark, Delaware. About 80 people came to the event where six local artists—including Kirk’s mother and brother—painted 3 canvas panels based on a quote from Catholic theologian, Hans Urs von Balthasar. The artists created some great pieces based on three ideals—the True, the Good, and the Beautiful—which according to Balthasar, form a dance where all three are important.

“We no longer dare to believe in beauty and we make of it a mere appearance in order the more easily to dispose of it. Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance. We can be sure that whoever sneers at her name as if she were the ornament of a bourgeois past — whether he admits it or not — can no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to love.”

—Hans Urs von Balthasar, Seeing the Form, published in 1982.

Kirk did about a 40 minute lecture on the topic of Beauty and then fielded about 20 minutes of questions. This content was similar to a lecture he did in Rock Hill, SC. Listen to that audio here.

We want to thank EP Church of Newark, DE, the artists and the attendees for making this event a great success.