DESCRIPTION
Incisive essays from a master wordsmithWhy has Don Juan become so passé of late? What's the trouble with Ayn Rand? How did the Doge of Venice come to venerate the counterfeit remains of Siddhartha Gautama? Why does the Bentley family's collection of ancestral relics include a bronzed human thumb? And what, exactly, is the story behind Great Uncle Aloysius, who was born a Quaker but died a pagan?
This collection of occasional essays brings us David Bentley Hart at his finest: startlingly clear and deliciously abstruse, coolly wise and burningly witty, fresh and timeless, mystical and concrete - often all at once. Hart's incisive blend of philosophy, moral theology, and cultural criticism, together with his flair for both the well-told story and the well-turned phrase, is sure to delight.
REVIEWS
Paul J. Griffiths
— Duke Divinity School
"David Bentley Hart is the most consistently interesting and provocative theologian at the moment writing in English. What he provokes is thought, and these short pieces provoke more of that than do most tomes."
Brad S. Gregory
— University of Notre Dame
"Bravura brilliance in pellucid prose. Hart here applies his vast erudition, analytical rigor, formidable critical powers, and wicked sense of humor to everything from ancient cultures to Don Quixote to the metaphysics of baseball. This collection glitters with theological, philosophical, literary, and historical insights, masterfully combined by a sage of the early twenty-first century."
R. R. Reno
— First Things
"David Bentley Hart is without doubt today's most brilliant essayist, polemicist, and fabulist. This is a book of marvelous, inventive, and often very wise literary performances. Every item is worth reading for the pleasure of the language, the provocation of Hart's uncompromising convictions, and the instruction that comes from his vast learning."
Simon Oliver
— Durham University
"In exquisite and witty prose, Hart carries us from butterflies to Baudelaire via fairies and the First World War. Prodigious learning in philosophy, literature, history, and theology provides the ingredients for these reflections on culture, religion, science, and morals. . . . With a stunning array of companions, these essays encourage us 'to see, and to seek to see yet more.' "