Chatting with David Field over the weekend on an Oakhall event, it seems that Christian aesthetics is a sorely underdeveloped field of study.
He is convinced, and I expect he's right, that there is such a thing as objective beauty - that it is possible to correctly judge album X as more praiseworthy than CD Y.
David reckons that a checklist of however-many points is necessary (but not sufficient) in judging the worth of a piece of art/music/drama, the first two points of reference being:
1. Does it honour God?
2. Does it promote an unframed lie?
The first point is self-explanatory - meaning that the majority of death metal and anything associated with Trent Reznor cannot be beautiful.
The second denounces anything that presents a lie as truth, unless it is in the context of exposing/showing up the lie for what it really is.
