Bringing beauty back: Reflections on Dr. Tanner's fall 2024 Faith & Reason lecture

PHC’s new International Politics and Policy professor, Dr. Gregory Moore, initially went to college to study art. In his mid-20s, he became a Christian and set art aside. But after Dr. Kristina Tanner’s Faith and Reason Lecture on Tuesday, he felt God pulling him back. “I’m going to do art again,” he said, “but I’m going to do it for God’s glory this time.”

Tanner’s lecture was titled “Beauty is Transcendent(al): A Call for Worship Music Excellence in Today’s Church.” It discussed the church’s historical role in producing beauty and sounded a call for worship that reclaimed this majestic reverence.  She also rejected the notion of beauty as a subjective virtue, referring frequently to “the objectivity of beauty” and explaining that “God has made beauty objective—but also wide.”

Tanner’s lecture was not immensely controversial. As junior Isaac Torcellini explained, “A lot of what’s talked about is pretty easy for us as classical students to listen to and say ‘I agree with that.’” 

Nevertheless, there were several points from it that profoundly touched the students and faculty present. Freshman Alaethia Delich explained that the lecture’s topic “was so pertinent” for her entire class “because the topic of beauty had specifically been something coming up in many freshmen debates.” It was also relevant for her personally.  

Over the past few days, Delich had pondered a difficult question. “Can I trust God to give me a future where I can find joy—do I actually trust God?” “I found my answer was ‘No, I didn’t,’” she said. The Lord used this humble recognition and Tanner’s lecture to speak deeply to Delich. “I realized that it’s not that we need to trust God to give us things that make us happy,” she said. It’s that “I needed to trust Him to make whatever the outcome was beautiful.”

PHC’s Professor of Government Dr. Roberta Bayer was also moved by Tanner’s presentation of beauty. She was touched by its connection to music and emphasized music as an avenue toward evangelism: “Music is such a means of teaching the faith,” she said. “Music is the reason I’m saved.” By singing in a church choir throughout her younger years, Bayer found herself in awe of the beauty of the Lord. She was living proof that beauty in music can pull the soul toward Christ. 

But what is beautiful music? Tanner referenced Scripture and stressed the importance of the Good and the True, but her response still left space for debate over this challenging question.  “There’s not going to be a consensus reached,” said senior Caitie Anne Banks, “and I think that’s a good thing.” Torcellini added that “there are different articulations of music that are communicating different things, and we can find beauty in that.” 

Alumna Elizabeth Russell (’22) carried this rationale a step further. “If a song opens the door to the worship of God, and I refuse to walk through that door because I think that it’s not my style or that it could be more doctrinally clear,” she said, “then that’s on me for not taking that opportunity—for not entering into worship of God.” First and foremost, beauty in worship was about the heart.

To Delich, Tanner’s Faith & Reason lecture was far more than a one-time message. It did not close with “a period but a comma,” she said. It was a beginning to greater growth. It was the first step in bringing beauty back to where it truly belonged. 

This story was originally published in PHC's student-run publication The Herald.

 Patrick Henry College exists to glorify God by challenging the status quo in higher education, lifting high both faith and reason within a rigorous academic environment; thereby preserving for posterity the ideals behind the "noble experiment in ordered liberty" that is the foundation of America.