The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth"The Beauty of the Infinite" is a splendid extended essay in theological aesthetics. David Bentley Hart here meditates on the power of a Christian understanding of beauty and sublimity to rise above the violence -- both philosophical and literal -- characteristic of the postmodern world. The book begins by tracing the shifting use and nature of metaphysics in the thought of Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Lyotard, Derrida, Deleuze, Nancy, Levinas, and others. Hart pays special attention to Nietzsche's famous narrative of the will to power -- a narrative largely adopted by the world today -- and he offers an engaging revision (though not rejection) of the genealogy of nihilism, thereby highlighting the significant interruption that Christian thought introduced into the history of metaphysics. This discussion sets the stage for a retrieval of the classic Christian account of beauty and sublimity, and of the relation of both to the question of being. Written in the form of a "dogmatica minora," this main section of the book offers a pointed reading of the Christian story in four moments, or parts: Trinity, creation, salvation, and eschaton. Through a combination of narrative and argument throughout, Hart ends up demonstrating the power of Christian metaphysics not only to withstand the critiques of modern and postmodern thought but also to move well beyond them. Strikingly original and deeply rewarding, "The Beauty of the Infinite" is both a constructively critical account of the history of metaphysics and a compelling contribution to it. |
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... Gregory's thought that makes all the dif- ference . After all , one who hesitates to accept Mühlenberg's high estimate of Gregory's originality might wish a closer comparison to Plotinus , who did speak of the One as infinite ; 49 ...
... Gregory's spiritual treatises concern mystical union with God ; Gregory's sense of God's absolute transcendence , the argu- ment runs , precludes the idea of union . This is certainly Mühlenberg's conten- tion.60 C. W. MacLeod agrees ...
... Gregory's universalism , though , is a subordinate issue ; what is of in- terest here is the light it casts on Gregory's larger vision . That is to say , Gregory's understanding of the infinite never dissolves into abstraction ...
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The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth David Bentley Hart Limited preview - 2004 |