Beauty for Truth’s Sake, by Stratford Caldecott

Beauty for Truth’s Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education, by Stratford Caldecott is a little gem of a book.  It is a mere two hundred pages and introduces the reader to the cosmic worldview of the liberal arts, as understood by Pythagoras in Ancient Greece and the theologians of the medieval era.  He maintains that it is only through a recovery of a cosmic worldview and the re-entwining of science and art that the dryness of 21st century education can be re-enchanted.

Caldecott begins by outlining the significance of the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music) in the liberal arts.  One reason 21st century education is deteriorating is it has separated the quadrivium into different disciplines.  In the medieval era, these were studied in connection with one another: arithmetic is the skill of counting, geometry is counting in space, music is counting in time, and astronomy is counting in space and time.  The goal of this study was to achieve a higher appreciation for the order of the universe and a greater understanding of the beauty of its Maker.

In the second chapter, “Educating the Poetic Imagination,” Caldecott argues for the importance of retraining the heart to perceive a connected beauty in both science and art.  Science should, at least in part, be taught as a form of poetry.  Mathematics should be taught with some stress on the symbolic.  If we cannot imagine how this can be, it is because we have been taught for decades that science and art are separate disciplines.  Caldecott argues otherwise.

Over the next three chapters, Caldecott presents an overview of the Pythagorean and medieval understanding of the symbolic nature of arithmetic and geometry.  He places significant emphasis on how the medieval understanding of mathematics connects to the theology of the Trinity.  He also applies the science of harmony to astronomy and the construction of medieval architecture.

In the final chapter, “The Liturgical Consummation of Cosmology,” Caldecott maintains that prayer and worship—particularly in the form of liturgy—is the ultimate expression of universal order.  Students may study the interlocking order of the cosmos through the quadrivium, but they participate in that cosmic order when they pray and worship.

Beauty for Truth’s Sake is a glimpse of a liberal arts education in its full potential.  It is a bite-size introduction to the medieval understanding of cosmic order and how this informs theology.  Caldecott is careful to clarify that a mere time-jump back into the medieval era will not be sufficient to revive the 21st century educational drought.  Instead, he advocates for a change of perspective to the interplay between science and art, as perfected in the medieval period.  Beauty for Truth’s Sake will challenge the reader’s perception of education and open his eyes to the potential of the liberal arts.