Moral Psychology and the Aesthetic Turn in Christian Ethics

In the last fifteen to twenty years, there has been a significant increase in scholarship on aesthetics in Christian ethics. Call this “the aesthetic turn.” Much of the literature in this area claims (or relies on the claims) that (1) engaging with beauty/art positively affects moral judgments, attitudes, and behaviors; (2) these effects are greater than the effects of engaging with arguments on moral judgments, attitudes, and behaviors; and (3) these effects are stable over time. Whereas the first claim enjoys robust empirical psychological support, the second and third do not. For this reason, Christian ethicists should incorporate empirical inquiry into the second and third questions into their research agenda.