Beauty will Save the Polis

In a secular-materialist worldview Beauty is merely a matter of personal opinion, rather than public good.  It is seen as a luxury which is great for those that can afford it, but truly serving no practical utility.  This is the mentality that gives us hospitals, libraries and (perhaps worst of all) schools that are ugly concert buildings in which the drive to "saving some money" always triumphed over aesthetic concerns. 

We Christians, like the ancient Hebrews and ancient Greek philosophers before us, believe that humans are not mere "meat machines", but that we have a soul, and that feeding and nourishing the soul is every bit as important to human flourishing as feeding and nourishing the body.

If we classical Christians are correct about this, it should follow that communities that actually do "go above and beyond" the bare necessities of our material existence and invest in beauty will actually be healthier, stronger, and - finally - even wealthier than communities that treat us merely as organisms needed food and shelter in order to survive.    

Like other Classical Christians I've affirmed lately my trust that, "Beauty will save the world," and here is one case where investing in beauty actually revitalized a community and created a virtuous cycle of improving the local public health, quality of life and 'commonweal.'