ABSTRACT
This returns us to the question of why it is that beauty has to such a large extent been denied a place in the Christendom of modernity. Is it so unimportant that it is simply ignored? Is it a threat to be repressed? How does the denial of beauty intersect with the escalation of violence, and with issues of gender? How can spirituality, in particular the spirituality of Quakerism, address these questions? The theologian Edward Farley (2001) gives a short sketch of three basic
reasons for the denial of beauty of Christendom. Insightful as is his contribution, he does not connect his insights on the denial of beauty with either gender or violence. In this chapter I shall begin to make these connections, and also indicate how the issues raised interlock with basic principles of Quaker spirituality. In addition I shall suggest a fourth reason for the denial of beauty, namely the fixation upon belief which has come to characterize Christendom. These four reasons, together with their interconnection with gender and violence, will set the agenda for the chapters that follow, in which I shall try to bring them into dialogue with the ambiguities and openings of Quaker thought informed by the broader currents of Christian spirituality.
