David Bentley Hart on Creation

I just received in the mail David Bentley Hart's intimidating tome, The Beauty of the Infinite: the Aesthetics of Christian Truth. I was flipping through the book with excitement (because I'm a nerd) and foreboding (because I'm lazy and the book is massive) when I ran across this little nugget in the extensive table of contents.

II. Creation

1. God's gracious action in creation belongs from the first to that delight, pleasure, and regard that the Trinity enjoys from eternity, as an outward and unnecessary expression of that love; and thus creation must be received before all else as gift and as beauty.

Well stated, wouldn't you agree? Creation as, first of all, "gift" and "beauty" as opposed to say creation as, first of all, "product" or "mechanism" or "artifact."

There is a general suspicion of beauty among modern people. Even despite myself, I find it difficult to think of beauty as a (or the) primary aspect of the world, but I think Hart is right to assert that Creation should be understood by Christians as an unnecessary and beautiful gift of the God to be received by his creatures.

Moreover, I can't help but speculate that this view of creation is the best antidote to gnosticism. The notion that the physical world is something to be loathed and, if possible, escaped is shown to be preposterous if the Creation is, first and foremost, a gift of a perfectly loving God.