The Beauty of the Infinite and over 360,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon’s new wireless reading device. Learn more

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
Sorry!
More Buying Choices
32 used & new from $21.98

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Beauty Of The Infinite: The Aesthetics Of Christian Truth
 
 
Start reading The Beauty of the Infinite on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

The Beauty Of The Infinite: The Aesthetics Of Christian Truth (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The rather prosaic question that initially prompted this long, elliptical essay in theological aesthetics, stated most simply, was this: Is the beauty to whose persuasive..." (more)
Key Phrases: analogical interval, supreme rhetoric, ontological univocity, New York, Gregory of Nyssa, Holy Spirit (more...)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

List Price: $36.00
Price: $23.76 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $12.24 (34%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Upgrade this book for $7.20 more, and you can read, search, and annotate every page online. See details
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

22 new from $21.98 10 used from $23.40

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Kindle Edition $19.01 -- --
  Hardcover -- -- $39.53
  Paperback $23.76 $21.98 $23.40

Frequently Bought Together

The Beauty Of The Infinite: The Aesthetics Of Christian Truth + Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies + In the Aftermath: Provocations and Laments
Price For All Three: $55.84

Some of these items ship sooner than the others. Show details

  • This item: The Beauty Of The Infinite: The Aesthetics Of Christian Truth by David Bentley Hart

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies by David Bentley Hart

    Usually ships within 13 to 14 days.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • In the Aftermath: Provocations and Laments by David Bentley Hart

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

In the Aftermath: Provocations and Laments

In the Aftermath: Provocations and Laments

by David Bentley Hart
5.0 out of 5 stars (4)  $13.60
The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami?

The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami?

by David Bentley Hart
4.2 out of 5 stars (18)  $11.20
Story of Christianity: An Illustrated History of 2000 Years of the Christian Faith

Story of Christianity: An Illustrated History of 2000 Years of the Christian Faith

by David Bentley Hart
5.0 out of 5 stars (6)  $10.19
Love Alone Is Credible

Love Alone Is Credible

by Hans Urs von Balthasar
4.4 out of 5 stars (5)  $7.16
Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church (Contemporary Greek Theologians Series, No 4)

Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church (Contemporary Greek Theologians Series, No 4)

by John Zizioulas
4.9 out of 5 stars (9)  $22.00
Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A splendid book. . . . Hart’s prose is trenchant but often beautiful." -- Janet Martin Soskice in Times Literary Supplement

"I can think of no more brilliant work by an American theologian in the past ten years." -- William C. Placher in The Christian Century

"This magnificent and demanding volume should establish David Bentley Hart . . . as one of his generation’s leading theologians." -- Geoffrey Wainwright in First Things


Product Description

"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. The 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.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (October 31, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 080282921X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0802829214
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #59,069 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #35 in  Books > Nonfiction > Philosophy > Aesthetics
    #83 in  Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Theology > Philosophy
    #84 in  Books > Nonfiction > Philosophy > Philosophy of Religion

More About the Author

David Bentley Hart
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Visit Amazon's David Bentley Hart Page

Inside This Book (learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence:
The rather prosaic question that initially prompted this long, elliptical essay in theological aesthetics, stated most simply, was this: Is the beauty to whose persuasive power the Christian rhetoric of evangelism inevitably appeals, and upon which it depends, theologically defensible? Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
analogical interval, supreme rhetoric, ontological univocity, infinite gesture, determinate infinity, trinitarian taxis, eternal utterance, tragic theology, divine apatheia, infinite music, parenthetical page numbers, metaphysical nostalgia, being among beings, metaphysical totality, divine distance, ontological violence, trinitarian perichoresis, divine rhetoric, infinite display, divine malice, metaphysical solace, cosmic violence, analogical expression, tragic wisdom, theological vantage
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Gregory of Nyssa, Holy Spirit, Jacques Derrida, Emmanuel Levinas, John Caputo, The Anti-Christ, Christian God, Gilles Deleuze, Jesus of Nazareth, Friedrich Nietzsche, University of Chicago Press, Cur Deus Homo, God's Word, Gregory the Theologian, Hans Urs von Balthasar, University of Minnesota Press, Indiana University Press, The Logic of Sense, Walter Kaufmann, Gianni Vattimo, Johns Hopkins University Press, Michel Foucault, Vintage Books, Alphonso Lingis
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:



Books on Related Topics (learn more)
 
The Bride of the Lamb by Serge Nikolaevich Bulgakov
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Beauty Of The Infinite: The Aesthetics Of Christian Truth
64% buy the item featured on this page:
The Beauty Of The Infinite: The Aesthetics Of Christian Truth 4.8 out of 5 stars (4)
$23.76
Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies
24% buy
Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies 4.2 out of 5 stars (28)
$18.48
In the Aftermath: Provocations and Laments
6% buy
In the Aftermath: Provocations and Laments 5.0 out of 5 stars (4)
$13.60
The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami?
4% buy
The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami? 4.2 out of 5 stars (18)
$11.20

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

 

Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
30 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Pregnant with erudition and spiritual depth...., January 27, 2005
By Happy Buyer (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
David Bentley Hart's The Beauty of the Infinite is a veritable Tour de Force! Like the the great theological masterpieces of old, Dr. Hart draws his readers into what may be called "The Great Conversation," as he displays an easy familiarity with with Christian writings "ever ancient, ever new." According to Dr. Hart, God the Thrice-Holy Trinity reveals and manifests Himself as the all-transcendent Essence of Beauty, and the infinitely potent Energy through, with, and in Whom all creation -- both visible and invisible -- is made beautiful. My recommendation: buy TWO copies -- one for the shelf, and one to keep always within reach ... this one's a modern classic of metaphysics, philosophical theology, and Christian mysticism.

(It is unfortunate, however, that Amazon.com continues to list the paperback as "out of print," when it clearly IS in print, and moreover, quite available. I got my copy at Newman Bookstore in Washington, DC: (202) 526-1036.)
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Dense and Breathtaking, December 19, 2008
It took me several months to finish this book. Hart argues for getting beauty back as a theological category. Reformed and the more intellectually rigorous evangelicals are the ones who will likely read this book. That is good. Those are the ones--and I am reformed--who need to see beauty in theology. Hart uses the latest vocabulary from postmodern philosophy. the reader is urged patience in this regard. The first section of the book (the first 150 or so pages) is incredibly hard to read. Hart assumes that his readers are intimiately familiar with Nietzsche, Derrida, and Levinas. I wasn't.

Hart argues that the Trinity is the answer to the postmodern problem of *differance.* Where postmoderns see the world--and language--as chaotic and violent because of the inherent difference of reality, Hart sees the Trinity as a sublime answer to differance. The Trinity can accommodate differance because the Trinity can posit a reality that is both diversity without confusion, otherness without violence. This is the hardest part of the book. What Hart is saying is that postmoderns--and most Calvinists, ironically--assume that any difference in reality is necessarily violent. Hart shows how the Trinity solves the problem of linguistic violence.

The rest of the book after that is relatively easy to read. Hart divides his book into Trinity-Creation-Salvation-Eschatology categories. This is where his Eastern Orthodoxy is evident and provides a welcome relief to the strictly judicial categories of the West. The section on salvation literally sang! The last 200 pages were a brilliant tour-de-force.

This book has the potential to re-write American theology. It also can unify across confessional lines without watering the unity down into the usual WCC garbage. Let's hope that Hart writes more.
Comment Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
49 of 66 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Christian aesthetics vs. postmodern, October 31, 2004
This book takes on and even takes in to a great extent the work of Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze and many others in the postmodern lineage and compares them to the likes of Gregory of Nyssa and St. Augustine. In doing so, Hart shows what duffers our "postmoderns" are. Revealing a truly gigantic erudition, Hart does what many Christians have wanted for several decades running now. He shows that our great classical tradition doesn't end with "postmodernism" any more than humanity itself ends just because some teenager decides to dress up as a Goth. Humanity may end for that teenager, but it doesn't end the entire human race or the rest of civilization's covenant with the Almighty. Unless you've read this book, you cannot consider yourself to be educated. Unless you've read this book, you might consider the French and German postmoderns to be truly intelligent. They are symptoms of dying societies that have lost touch with the most profound wisdom and substituted for it some paradoxes that can easily sweep up those who are enthusiastic about minor fads because they lack a broader perspective. David Bentley Hart provides a powerful perspective that will allow genuinely erudite people to regain their culture. I am deeply grateful to him.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars dense and complex
this work is dense and complex; I'm still hopeful the reward will be commenserate.
Published on July 1, 2005 by Gerald L. Harper

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   



So You'd Like to...


Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.