So, I finally order a copy of David Bently Hart's, The Beauty of the Infinite. Even after the first fifteeen pages I am beginning to understand why it is so praised. I found these thoughts to be particularly interesting
"What Christian thought offer's the world is not a set of 'rational' arguments that (supressing certain of their premises) force assent from others by leavening them, like the interlocturs of Socrates, as a loss for words; rather, it stands before the world principally with the story it tells concerning God and creation, the form of Christ, the lovliness of the practice of Christian charity - and the rhetorical richness of its idiom. Making its appeal first to the eye and heart, as the only way it many 'command' assent, the church cannot separate truth from rhetoric, or from beauty" (4).
They shall know we are Christians by our love? Interesting.
2 comments:
That really is a fine book... I read it early last year. I'd love to hear your further thoughts on it as you progress. His stuff on the Trinity and Creation is especially good, once you pass the first part where he critiques recent philosophy, the sublime, etc.
Peace,
Eric
This is why Hart is a pacifist (your quote above).
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