Theater of Glory

Theater of Glory

Outside Reading: Belden Lane/Ravished By Beauty 

November 21

The Genevan Reformer, John Calvin, used the metaphor of theater to describe the ravishing beauty of God in the natural world. In the beginning of his Institutes, Calvin distinguished between two books of revelation: the book of nature and the book of Scripture. He believed that both books, when read side-by-side, offered a fuller, more complete, understanding of God’s glory. Nature, as the theater of God’s glory, is the stage on which the human mind contemplates divine beauty. Calvin supported theater in Geneva as a medium for conveying the gospel message and alluring the human soul into God’s grand story. In this theater, God plays the lead role and the rest of creation is summoned to a common praise. This act of praise is what sustains order in the cosmos and mirrors the Creator’s love for His creatures. The stability and well-being of the world depends on the creature’s praise of God’s beauty. If the world is God’s theater, the church is his orchestra. The purpose of the created world is twofold: to delight and instruct. Nature is both a school of affliction and a school of desire. “It disrupts the ego, redirects misplaced longings, and teaches radical trust.”(64) Theology always leads to doxology. Calvin viewed creation as the trinity’s invitation to join in the divine dance. All creatures are called to participate in the joy of their Creator and become united with Beauty Himself.