A SIMPLE THEOLOGY OF BEAUTY Part 1
The phenomenon of makeup, and jewelry is a much disputed topic among modern day Nigerian Christians. This is odd, because this isn’t that big of an issue in worldwide Christianity, at least as far as I know. Even those that use it may not know exactly the place for it in the Christian life, we just know it is a great way to beautify oneself. There are as many opinions as there are people on this matter, but they are similar enough that we can categorize them into two camps. I can’t say I’ve represented every view, but I can generalize a majority under these camps. In this first part, I will explain the opinions represented in the first camp and state the problems I find with their view. We will cover the second camp in the next part and then my view on the matter, the theology of beauty I’m proposing, will then be stated in the last part. As we are all flawed in our wisdom, I encourage you to ask questions in the comments section, point out any errors you think I made and state your opinions, who knows? Your view may be an entirely new way of looking at this topic. The first camp is what I call the “Purist” camp. Their belief, in however way they say it, implies this or something similar to this: Using makeup or jewelry is tantamount to associating and fraternizing with the world system, makeup covers your “natural” beauty and shows a worldly counterfeit, and jewelry makes you seem like a worldly person simply because they wear the same or similar items, and by rejecting the beauty God gave you, favoring “false” beauty instead, you are guilty of covetousness. I wouldn’t say most of my more conservative Christian friends are in this camp, and there are less extreme views in this camp that allow for some uses of makeup and jewelry, but I do know there are a lot of genuinely committed Christians who truly believe this. It’s a view that has some appeal on first glance, and the consequence of this being true is that it asks a question that can strike fear in the heart of believers: Are you sure you’re not betraying Jesus by doing this? But the thing is, if you look closer, at the view itself and at the scriptures, as surprising as it may be, this view doesn’t hold much water in the face of scrutiny. First of all, makeup and jewelry have one major purpose, to beautify a human being, this is the same purpose for clothes, shoes, perfume (beautifying your scent) and food (a healthy diet makes a healthy and therefore beautiful person) and a whole lot of other things we have or do, so to object it for the sake of “natural, God given” beauty is a category error, natural does not necessarily mean untouched and unmodified, if you don’t maintain your health, skin and so on, it will deteriorate, yet you can still call your skin natural even when you apply man made products to it.
Secondly, in the scriptures, there is not a single commandment saying “thou shalt not use makeup and jewelry” either in the Old or New Testaments. Rather the opposite is often true. Women in ancient times (and yes ancient times includes the time of Jesus and the New Testament) used makeup as quite a normal and often necessary thing in their day to day lives, and they used jewelry that if used today would earn you the dislike of a lot of Christians in this country. They used nose rings, and even up to five earrings can appear on one ear, if they could afford it. Joseph lived in Ancient Egypt, and was in the ruling class, who used quite the amount of Jewelry and make up, and Joseph is a man, not a woman, his brothers didn’t even recognize him. There’s also the description of the woman in the Songs of Solomon, and Queen Esther, who learned makeup and cosmetics for a year before she was allowed into the King’s presence, feel free to check these things later, and for more examples. My point in relation to this camp is this: Beauty is not found in some abstract concept called “natural beauty” or even in the individual person itself, the Christian concept of beauty is found somewhere else, in someone else, and this itself reorients our view of what fraternizing with world means. In the next part, we’ll cover the other camp and how they miss the point entirely, even if they are right to some extent.