Back
Philippe Jourdan Bishop Philippe Jourdan was born in Dax, France. He studied mathematics and physics at the Paris University, graduated École des Ponts et Chausées as an engineer, studied at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. He was ordained a priest in 1988 and worked at Paris University as a chaplain. In 1996 he was appointed the General Vicar of the Catholic Church in Estonia. In 2005 he was ordained Bishop in Tallinn. He is one of the last Bishops appointed by John-Paul II and the first resident catholic Bishop in Estonia after World War II.
Lecture: The Beauty of God -- the Beauty of Man
Monday, 26th of October 10.00 am
This presentation is based on points 1160-1162 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and on Pope John Paul II’s Letter to Artists. What does it mean that “beauty will save the world”? Is beauty the way to God or is it the way to man? Searching for beauty, do we find ourselves loo or do we find something higher -- something that never degrades, but instead always elevates us?
These are the kind of questions we will try to answer, bearing in mind that in the Christian perspective the tradition and foundation of sacral art is the incarnation of God, the definitive act whereby the distance between matter and spirit was overcome.
Isn’t the quest for beauty also the quest for the value of man? Is it possible that after the horrors of the 20th century, after Auschwitz and Gulag, beauty can help man to reconcile himself with his nature and to replace his self-loathing with love?
d e e
a v a