Get Free Ebook The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, by David Bentley Hart
Many individuals also attempt to get this The Experience Of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, By David Bentley Hart to review. It's since they will certainly always upgrade the brand-new life, not just based upon their life in their age however also in this new growing period. When this book is advised, why you should choose this as soon as possible? This is a sort of book that has great deal with the growth of the life high quality. Even this is an excellent book; you may not really feel so fret about how to understand it.
The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, by David Bentley Hart
Get Free Ebook The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, by David Bentley Hart
The Experience Of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, By David Bentley Hart. Allow's check out! We will often figure out this sentence almost everywhere. When still being a youngster, mommy made use of to order us to consistently read, so did the instructor. Some publications The Experience Of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, By David Bentley Hart are fully read in a week and we need the obligation to sustain reading The Experience Of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, By David Bentley Hart Just what about now? Do you still love reading? Is reading just for you that have responsibility? Absolutely not! We below offer you a new book entitled The Experience Of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, By David Bentley Hart to read.
When you need a book to read now, The Experience Of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, By David Bentley Hart can be an option since this is among the upgraded books to review. It is sure that when you have new point to think about, you require ideas to address t. when you have time to review, the books become one option to take. Also this publication is thought about as brand-new publication, many individuals place their trust funds on it. It will certainly understand you to be among them that are falling in love to review.
Never mind! Now, in this contemporary period, you can get the books from many sources. No have to most likely to guide stores as well as walking the city, you can locate book. Below is the web site that features all exceptional publications to accumulate. You can get it in the soft documents as well as use it to check out. Obviously, your tab and computer becomes excellent gadget to save the book. The Experience Of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, By David Bentley Hart is the very best referral to accompany you in this time. It will assist you accompanying the downtime while holidays.
We share you also the means to obtain this book The Experience Of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, By David Bentley Hart without visiting the book shop. You could remain to visit the link that we give as well as prepared to download and install The Experience Of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, By David Bentley Hart When many people are busy to look for fro in the book shop, you are really easy to download the The Experience Of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, By David Bentley Hart right here. So, just what else you will choose? Take the inspiration here! It is not just giving the best book The Experience Of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, By David Bentley Hart but likewise the best book collections. Below we always give you the most effective as well as simplest way.
Review
"Hart marshals powerful historical evidence and philosophical argument to suggest that atheists—if they want to attack the opposition's strongest case—badly need to up their game."—Oliver Burkeman, The Guardian". . . there is something evangelical about this study: it is at once both the most valuable discussion of the doctrine of God to have appeared for decades, and a witty, often mordant, defence of Christian belief. . . . The Experience of God is still an outstanding addition to the literature on God, not least for its survey of so many of the world’s great faiths. It is also a fine piece of work of Christian apologetics, and a major contribution to debate on science and religion."—Andrew Davison, Times Literary Supplement"Hart . . . recalls believers of all faiths to the best of their traditions, challenges unbelievers to examine their own metaphysical presuppositions, and does these with tremendous gusto. . . . A necessary book."—Michael Robbins, Commonweal"Bracing and eloquent . . . fans of Hart’s winsome prose will not be disappointed . . . a fine work."—Edward T. Oakes, S.J., National Review"Stunning . . . bracing and bold. . . . For provoking deep thought about the profoundest human questions, and for taking an intelligent stand in defense of faith. . . . Hart deserves the gratitude of a large and appreciative audience."—Damon Linker, The Week"A thoroughly entertaining and engaging read. It’s difficult to convey to those who are unacquainted with Hart’s writing the sheer exuberance of his prose and the bite to his wit."—Ryan Marr, Catholic Books Review"Impressive."—David Gibson, Religion News Service"Hart is a phenomenally gifted thinker who recalls believers of all faiths to the best of their traditions, challenges unbelievers to examine their own metaphysical presuppositions, and does these with tremendous gusto. . . . A necessary book."—Michael Robbins, Commonweal"Magnificent. . . . Massively learned and gorgeously written, The Experience of God should entirely transform contemporary debates concerning the validity of belief in the divine."—Mark Anthony Signorelli, University Bookman"Creative and engaging . . . a stunning and provocative achievement."—Kenneth Oakes, Reformation 21"A classic of Christian apologetics."—Francesca Aran Murphy, First Things"Hart is as skilled a rhetorician as he is a theologian, and is able to deliver a punchy verbal image of the God who transcends all images."—Francesca Aran Murphy, First Things"[Hart] retrieves and celebrates the classic Christian understanding of God . . . [with] rigorous logic and a caustic style. . . . His elegant prose and witty invective bring Evelyn Waugh to mind. . . . Hart’s exuberant writing unmasks the false pretensions of secularism."—Sidney Callahan, Commonweal"David Hart can always be relied on to offer a perspective on Christian faith that is both profound and unexpected. In this masterpiece of quiet intellectual and spiritual passion, he magnificently sets the record straight as to what sort of God Christians believe in and why."—Rowan Williams, University of Cambridge"David Hart’s new book is nothing less than astounding. He is liberal, conservative, radical, theological, philosophical, and historical all at the same time – that is his genius. There is no American writing on religion as intelligently, bravely, and originally as Hart."—Conor Cunningham, University of Nottingham"David Bentley Hart’s new book is a feast- stylish and substantial. Bringing together Sanskritic analyses of God’s being with Latin and Greek and Arabic ones, this is a considerable achievement by one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary theology."—Paul J. Griffiths, Duke Divinity School"Writing at a high philosophical level with a sharp sense of humor, Hart argues for an ecumenical Theism. Devastatingly accurate, imaginative, and immensely readable, this is David Bentley Hart’s best book."—Francesca Murphy, University of Notre Dame"Magnificent . . . a book unlike anything done in recent times and one that only Hart could write."—Robert Louis Wilken
Read more
About the Author
David Bentley Hart is an Eastern Orthodox scholar of religion, philosopher, writer, and cultural commentator.
Read more
Product details
Paperback: 376 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press (September 30, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0300209355
ISBN-13: 978-0300209358
Product Dimensions:
5.5 x 1 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.3 out of 5 stars
101 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#29,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
So far I'm loving this book. It's philosophical but not so deep I can't follow it. If you're not into that sort of thing you probably won't like it, but it's great for me. Very enlightening. I love Hart's use of language. Such beautiful word pictures. Really, even if you couldn't follow the train of thought, it's lovely to read if only for the poetic visuals.
DBH has written nothing new here... and that is exactly the point. The whole premise of the book is not that we have some new evidence or philosophy that addresses the modern era, but that the modern era has been impoverished by the loss of ancient wisdom. DBH essentially pulls or stretches wisdom from the ancient past and explains not only how it is relevant, but how it is key to understanding the most fundamental question of history. DBH makes the case not that the popular atheists have the wrong answers, but that the answers they give aren't even relevant.The quote on the front of the book says "A necessary book." This is especially true for those of us (myself included) who are Protestant Christians. While I believe that Protestantism has been a beneficial thing, I also think that sometimes we do not give the ancients sufficient credit. The ideas presented in this book should be taught in every Sunday School. I think there might be fewer people leaving the faith in University if we did.One thing I might add, however, is that for those who do not have a background in Philosophy there are concepts in this book that might seem difficult, or odd. In particular how DBH uses causality in some of his discussions. If you do not understand those concepts I would recommend reading Ed Feser's book "The Last Superstition" first. He gives a good primer on Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas that can set your foundation as such that DBH makes more sense.There are only two issues I have with the book.The first is that he does to Intelligent Design what most people who are opposed to Intelligent Design do; misrepresent it or misunderstand it. I find that unfortunate because, while I believe DBH is correct in stating that Intelligent Design is insufficient compared to ancient philosophy to address the question of the Absolute, most ID proponents would have no problem integrating DBH's philosophy into their worldview. And it seems probable to me that many actually do. ID is not simply about probability and is much richer than it is often caricatured.The second issue is that there is no index entry for "Dolphin, coffee drinking"
My general preamble to Amazon reviews these days starts the same way: I have fallen out of the habit of writing reviews because I think to do a review properly takes the time and energy at this moment in my education I would prefer be spent reading. Nonetheless both the excellence of this book and what in my humble opinion is the poorness of another review, have momentarily called me back. It is of course anyone's right to give a one-star review to a book--even a book I love; in doing so however one would hope cogent reasons other than "I didn't understand it" or vague incriminations of association with a journal one apparently dislikes, would be more than forthcoming. Sadly, such was not the case. That said, I can assure you that my "five-star" rating is not merely serving as a countervalence to the one-star, it is my genuine opinion of the book that would have been given either way. But now that the throat-clearing is done, lets get down to business.Long story short: if you have read Hart and enjoyed his learnedness and witticism in the past, buy this book. If you haven't read Hart but are intrigued: this, or Atheist Delusions, are the places to start. In short: buy this book. Read it, Enjoy it. Pop some popcorn and wait for the fireworks. There really is no second guessing (especially at the affordable price). I was initially expecting something of a sequel to Beauty of the Infinite (which I still consider my favorite of Hart's books, despite its difficulty) but really for those interested I would consider this more akin to Atheist Delusions than anything. Much like Hart taking great pleasures dismantling many of our august myths regarding Christian history, here Hart takes aim at much of the tosh that passes for "talk about God," in the modern arena--particularly in the "God debates" between Fundamentalists and New-Atheists of all sorts. If you were like me, and were confused by the description of the book (Sanskrit? Hinduism? What is going on?) Hart attempts to dismantle--in classical Hart style--all these poor imitations of the Almighty by marshaling the resources of the "Classical theistic traditions" (note the plural, Hart includes Judaism, Islam, several forms of Hinduism, and others alongside Christianity). Here Hart thus takes an interesting--and perhaps controversial, for those of us still riding the avalanche of trinitarian scholarship of the last thirty years--approach by noting many of the conceptual similarities between these traditions and their theological and philosophical attempts to come to a "rational" picture of God. Thus Hart explicitly marshals the language of Thomas (which I'm sure many will recognize from Rahner's criticism of it): "There is an old Scholastic distinction between religious treatises written 'De Deo Uno' [on the one God] and 'de Deo Trino' [on the Triune God]..between, that is, those that are 'about the One God' known to persons of various faiths and philosophies, and those that are about the 'Trinitarian God' of Christian doctrine. I want to distinguish in a similar way between, on the one hand, metaphysical or philosophical descriptions of God and, on the other, dogmatic or confessional descriptions, and confine myself to the former." (4)In doing so, Hart opens with the wonderful line "this is either an extremely ambitious book, or an extremely unambitious book." Which is to to say the goal of the book is such: "My intention," says Hart, "is simply to offer a definition of the word 'God' or of its equivalents in other tongues, and to do so in fairly slavish obedience to the classical definitions of the divine found in the theological and philosophical schools of most of the major religious traditions." As such, Hart wants to clarify just what this "God" is that we should, or should not believe in. He organizes this task around three themes familiar to anyone who has read the subheading to the book: Being, Consciousness, Bliss. Which is to say, how these "moments" or "concepts" implicate, and are implicated by, God: (taking some limited examples from the chapters) our Being as contingency implying an Ultimate non-Contingent, our conscious orientations to the world presupposing in every mundane thought, act, and supposition a reference to the infinite, and indeed a saturation by it--or that the mind and reality should be compatible with each other at all, and (to those familiar with Hart's work on Gregory of Nyssa this will sound familiar) our "bliss" or the ecstatic moments of rapture and joy, our "stretching out" or epektasis into infinity. Thus Hart provides three basic reasons for these terms: 1.) They more or less adequately summarize three concepts by which classical theism represented God (here those with Trinitarian hesitation to Hart's "separation of Treatises" will be relieved to note Hart's extensive talk of the Cappadocians, Augustine, Maximus the Confessor, and Bonaventure's concept of God as Love in Trinitarian form, a la Beauty of the Infinite. Hart has not strayed from his roots) 2.) Represent how humankind's relationship to God can be summarized by concepts and 3.) These three "moments" represent that which, it seems to Hart (quite rightly, I think) cannot be "metaphysically accounted for" by assuming metaphysical naturalism (42-45).Thus, following Beauty of the Infinite's discourse of the "beautiful rhetoric" of Theistic discourse's ability to "illuminate existence," there is here a limited apologetic purpose; Hart repeatedly affirms that he is not attempting to "prove" God, yet he also frequently repeats that authentic theology and apologetics have a fuzzy line, and that part of the task of unburdening us of idols and caricatures of God is also to bring forth the true power of the theistic tradition's actual "picture of God" (for lack of a better term) and how it represents a rationally, emotionally, and aesthetically robust "explanation" (again, for lack of a better term) of reality. This is, of course, not "God-of-the Gaps" here, where God appears in spaces allowed by the aporia of some natural mechanism: "All the classical theological arguments regarding the order of the world" in fact "assume just the opposite: that God's creative power can be seen in the rational coherence of nature as a perfect whole; that the universe was not simply a factitious product of a supreme intellect but the unfolding of the omnipresent divine wisdom or logos." (38)It would be difficult to summarize further without simply spoiling the book, but I will end with a few anecdotal observations of my own. The first is that one of the great surprises of the book is its readability. Atheist Delusions was of course quite readable, but this book represents Hart at his most "purified" and understandable (contra another reviewer, in my opinion); he is of course classic Hart (thus there are still flourishes that will make one reach for the dictionary), but classic Hart, I might say, doing his best Chesterton impression. His lucidness here is uncanny, as his ability to calmly explain and lay out themes one may already have familiarity with. There are--at least there was for me--many "wow" moments when Hart shows you something you have been looking at but did not quite recognize you saw. This is also, in my opinion, Hart's funniest book, with Hart's typically penetrating observation producing (at least for me) some actual laugh-out-loud moments. There is for example (I won't ruin it) a particularly great moment where Hart is tearing into analytic theology by telling a brief story of a coffee-loving dolphin; or there are great one-liners like "I am enough of a romantic to believe that if something is worth being rude about, it it worth understanding as well." Other surprises abound. For example, Hart takes on analytic theology repeatedly (though he is quite respectful of those like Alvin Plantinga, he is almost palpably frustrated by others), and I for one was quite surprised with Hart's extensive engagement with evolutionary and cognitive science literature (some of Hart's book reads very similar to his friend Conor Cunningham's book Darwin's Pious Idea). These are fun new territories to watch Hart turn his immense talents and intellect toward. Further, if I had a complaint about Atheist Delusions it was that Hart, despite his obviously immense learning, is often coy about his sources. I do not doubt the veracity of his claims, but for those like myself who like to hunt down new avenues of reading, the sparse annotations and bibliography were irritating. Here, Hart does follow much the same formula, with very few endnotes trailing his oceans of prose. However he adds a wonderful (and surprisingly fun to read) "Bibliographic Postscript" which is a sort of annotated bibliography (343-350), but reads more like one is having coffee with Hart and he is giving his opinion on sources used, and others which should be read by those interested.But enough of my review, go start reading. Get lost in Hart's beautiful prose and wonderful mind. Even if you end up disagreeing with everything he wrote, I think you will have at least left the encounter having learned quite a bit.
The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, by David Bentley Hart PDF
The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, by David Bentley Hart EPub
The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, by David Bentley Hart Doc
The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, by David Bentley Hart iBooks
The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, by David Bentley Hart rtf
The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, by David Bentley Hart Mobipocket
The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, by David Bentley Hart Kindle
No comments