The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth

by David Bentley Hart

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2003

Overview

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.

Key Features

• Surveys historical trends of metaphysical thought
• Examines the nature of beauty and its place in Christian theology
• Explores the potential for Christian thought in modern metaphysics

Contents

Introduction

• The Question
• Terms Employed
• Beauty
• Final Remarks

Dionysus against the Crucified

• The City and the Wastes
• The Veil of the Sublime
• The Will to Power
• The Covenant of Light

The Beauty of the Infinite

• Trinity
• Creation
• Salvation
• Eschaton

Rhetoric without Reserve

• The War of Persuasions
• The Violence of Hermeneutics
• The Optics of the Market
• The Gift of Martyrs

Top Highlights

“What this book interrogates, then, is the difference between two narratives: one that finds the grammar of violence inscribed upon the foundation stone of every institution and hidden within the syntax of every rhetoric, and another that claims that within history a way of reconciliation has been opened up that leads beyond, and ultimately overcomes, all violence.” (Page 2)

“Is the beauty to whose persuasive power the Christian rhetoric of evangelism inevitably appeals, and upon which it depends, theologically defensible?” (Page 1)

“The truth of no truths becomes, inevitably, truth: a way of naming being, language, and culture that guards the boundaries of thought against claims it has not validated.” (Page 7)

“An attempt to explain the world of appearances according to a ‘truer’ world of substances and principles? All of this, as it happens, and more.” (Page 8)

“Christian thought has no stake in the ‘pure’ rationality to which dialectic seems to appeal—the Christian ratio, its Logos, is a crucified Jew—and cannot choose but be ‘rhetorical’ in form; but it must then be possible to conceive of a rhetoric that is peace, and a truth that is beauty.” (Page 6)

Praise for the Print Edition

David Bentley Hart has written one of the most thrilling works of Christian reflection to come along in years. . . . This is theology as high adventure, and the excitement continues after the last page is turned.

—National Review

I can think of no more brilliant work by an American theologian in the past ten years.

—William C. Placher in The Christian Century

An elegant, erudite treatment of basic themes in Christian theology, metaphysics, and contemporary cultural criticism. David Bentley Hart has written a book that is both radical and orthodox. The Beauty of the Infinite sets the standard for postmodern theology.

—R.R. Reno

David Bentley Hart’s book shows great patristic and philosophical learning. That is rare enough. Still more rare is the book’s compellingly complete theology of beauty. Hart shows that the sublime aesthetic of the market — this age’s chief principality — can be disrupted by (and perhaps only by) the gospel’s radiant beauty. This book makes a major contribution to bringing that disruption about.

—Paul J. Griffiths

Product Details

• Title: The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth
• Author: David Bentley Hart
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Print Publication Date: 2003
• Logos Release Date: 2018
• Pages: 462
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Philosophical theology; Aesthetics › Religious aspects--Christianity
• ISBNs: 9780802829214, 9780802812544, 080282921X, 0802812546
• Resource ID: LLS:BEAUTYINFINITE
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T19:12:15Z

About David Bentley Hart

David Bentley Hart is an Eastern Orthodox theologian and philosopher. He is visiting professor at Providence College, having previously held the Robert J. Randall Chair in Christian Culture there. Hart previously taught at the University of Virginia, the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), Duke Divinity School, and Loyola College in Maryland. He was trained at the University of Cambridge and the University of Virginia.

(From Theopedia.com. Freely redistributable under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.)