Mount Saint Mary College continued its semester-long celebration of the 800th anniversary of the birth of St. Thomas Aquinas, an influential philosopher and Dominican priest, with a lecture titled “What is Beauty?” on Wednesday, March 19.
The talk, given by Sarah Maple, assistant professor of Religious Studies, delved into several questions through a Thomistic lens: Is beauty a permanent quality, or is it decided by the individual opinions that encounter it? Is beauty necessary for us to enjoy our lives? Does beauty make demands of us?
“Our experience of beauty reveals the mystery of our being,” Maple noted. “This includes an understanding of universal human experiences, but also a deeper personal and individualized revelation of being.”
She added, “We need to consider examining our own attachments to what we think is beautiful and become open to the objective reality of being introduced to the divine beauty of the persons of God.”
Maple is a painter and theologian who holds advanced degrees in Ethics and Comparative Religious Studies from Drew University, and a Masters of Theological Studies from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family Studies at the Catholic University of America. She wrote her Ph.D. in the Institute for Theology, Imagination, and the Arts at the University of St Andrews with joint supervision from the University of Oxford, Blackfriars Hall.
Since Fall 2019, Maple has taught undergraduates at the Mount. As a visiting professor, she teaches on Theology, Beauty, and Culture to graduate students at the University of Notre Dame and New York’s Major Seminary.
The talk, sponsored by the Mount’s Catholic and Dominican Institute (CDI), was the second of four to be held this semester in honor of the intellectual tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas. Subsequent talks in the series will be offered by two other members of the Mount’s Division of Humanities: John Hofbauer, associate professor of Philosophy, and Robert Miller, associate professor of Religious Studies. A previous talk, “Why Aquinas is Still Relevant after 800 Years,” was given in January by Charles Zola, assistant vice president for Mission, associate professor of Philosophy, and CDI director.
CDI promotes the Mount’s heritage of St. Dominic, advances the Dominican charism of study and service, provides a forum for discussion of contemporary ethical issues, and enhances Catholic and Jewish dialogue.