Abstract
This chapter advances two distinct arguments for spiritual perception, the first of which builds from Hans Urs von Balthasar’s theological aesthetics in order to claim that beautiful phenomena expose the inadequacy of holding that the world exclusively consists of physically perceptible entities. Instead, the entrancing features of beautiful objects teach one to perceive in a newly attentive manner that ultimately goes beyond the physical register. The second argument draws from the aesthetically charged position Theodore the Studite articulates against Byzantine iconoclasts, whom Theodore resists by claiming that the divinity of Christ shows itself through Christ’s person and can indeed be seen. Whereas Theodore deploys his Christological argument primarily for a defence of the veneration of icons, this chapter maintains that the logic of his position can be extended to claim that spiritual perception is required of Christian theology.