Beauty Will Save the World: Rediscovering the Allure and Mystery of Christianity

Brian Zahnd

Brian Zahnd issues a challenge to Christians to discover new vitality through reenvisioning, reimagining and reforming the church according to the pattern of the cruciform.For thousands of years artists, sages, philosophers, and theologians have connected the beautiful and the sacred and identified art with our longing for God. Now we live in a day when pragmatism and utilitarian “morals” have largely displaced beauty as a value.

The church is no exception—even salvation is commonly viewed in a scientific and mechanistic manner and presented as a plan, system, or formula. We have technology, convenience, security, and a measure of prosperity, but where is the beauty?In Beauty Will Save the World, Brian Zahnd presents the argument that this loss of beauty as a principal value has been disastrous for Western culture—and especially for the church. The full message of the beauty of the gospel has been replaced by our desires to satisfy our material needs, to empirically prove our faith, and to establish a Caesar-style kingdom in our world.