"In a world that moves more on calculation and stops at the surface, we must celebrate more the ability of amazement". It was said by mgr. Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Papal Council for Culture and the Council for Coordination of the Papal Academies, as he opened the thirteenth public session of the 7 Papal Academies, focussed on: "The universality of beauty: a comparison of aesthetics and ethics". "Aesthetics and ethics, a subject that has been troubled for centuries went on Ravasi , is in fact a consistent starting point, not just for the biblical revelation, but also for the great Greek-Roman culture". "In Hebrew recalled the Biblicist , the word that means good and beautiful is one and the same word": "in a world that is defaced by ugliness and nastiness", we must "rediscover beauty in doing good too". However, in the Bible, there is also the "contemplation of beauty", because "the combination of aesthetics and ethics does not cancel the quintessential quality of beauty". From this perspective, pointed out Ravasi, "for the Bible, beauty is also a theophany, an epiphany of God". In other words, in the Holy Scriptures, "there is no aestheticism which is an end in itself", because "true aesthetics can never exist without a search for its foundation". "Living in the Bible ended Ravasi is a way to do theology, to enter God’s splendour".
