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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 59
... endless pilgrimage within itself — or toward evil — which is nothing but a parasitic and umbratile privation of the good , an abyss mimicking the true infinite ; but in either case one moves , one changes : all is traversal . In each ...
... endless sequence of finite instances the soul's ascent to God is not a departure from , but an endless venture into , difference . The distance between God and creation is not alienation , nor the Platonic chorismos or scale of being ...
... endless transformation into what God brings near ; the human soul , assumed into Christ , is a theion striving ever ... endless commentary , an endless series of particular perspectives , on God's unextended eternity , which is ...
Other editions - View all
The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth David Bentley Hart Limited preview - 2004 |