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...)

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.

See all Editorial Reviews

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

Customer Reviews

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: [phone].)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dense and Breathtaking, December 19, 2008

By	Jacob of Sterlington (Louisiana) - See all my reviews

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.

49 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christian aesthetics vs. postmodern, October 31, 2004

By	Bob Swain "Seattle" (Seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth (Hardcover)

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.