The Way of Affirmation

Charles Williams, in his famous work The Figure of Beatrice distinguishes between two ways for Christians to approach the world. Is the entire world an image of the Father? Or is the world a distracting sea of false images distracting from our conception and sight of the sole source of our pleasure: God? The Way of Affirmation, the latter view, sees the entire world as pointing to God. The pleasure we find in "things" is Godly pleasure, when experienced correctly. Dante takes this view to its furtherst conclusion, following the image of God in the eyes of Beatrice whilst spiralling upward through the nine celestial spheres. Ascetics take the other opinion. Williams includes a poetic account of renunciation by Dionysius the Aereopogite

Both are pious ways of seeing the world. Both center on God as the center of the universe, and both are difficult for man to live out well. However, the Way of Affirmation appears neglected in modern day Evangelical protestantism. This is disturbing, because I think that the way of Affirmation is a powerful tool in creating beautiful art, which will aid in spreading the kingdom of God on earth. Dante's Comedia is the most powerful testimonial to this, and is, in itself, a full catalog of the Way.

Something I'll be wondering about from now on is how the two ways relate to different theologies. Is any theology adaptable to either one? I'm not sure.