Functional But Not Beautiful

Trevin Wax wrote a great critique about Francis Chan's new book Erasing Hell, which is a response to Rob Bell's Love Wins. What I like about the article is not so much about what it addresses in Chan's book, but about how it addresses a great gap in current Western Christianity. That gap being the disconnect between Truth and Beauty. In reality, these two are linked like mountains and majesty. In practice, however, we seem to describe the mountains without being swept away by their exhilarating majesty. Wax says this about Chan's book:

What is needed is a response that takes into consideration the beauty of Truth. We’ve got the truth portion down when it comes to propositions. What is needed is a beautiful and compelling portrait of Truth – the Person. God is inherently beautiful, but many times, we don’t do well at drawing out the inherent beauty of Truth with a capital T.

His conclusion:

Erasing Hell is functional, but not beautiful. From a functional point of view, I recommend it. But I think we need to be pushed on the beautiful side of this equation as well. The gospel shouldn’t shut down our imagination, but rather fuel it and direct it toward the beauty that is inherent to the truth. We need more than analysis; we need artistry.