Books by David Bentley Hart

The introductory history to the Christian faith.

In the two thousand years that have elapsed since the time of Christ, Christians have been as much divided by their faith as united, as much at odds as in communion. And the contents of Christian confession have developed with astonishing energy. How can believers claim a faith that has been passed down through the ages while recognizing the real historical contingencies that have shaped both their doctrines and their divisions?In this carefully argued essay, David Bentley Hart critiques the concept of "tradition" that has become dominant in Christian thought as fundamentally incoherent. He puts forth a convincing new explanation of Christian tradition, one that is obedient to the nature of Christianity not only as a "revealed" creed embodied in historical events but as the "apocalyptic" revelation of a history that is largely identical with the eternal truth it supposedly discloses. Hart shows that Christian tradition is sustained not simply by its preservation of the past, but more essentially by its anticipation of the future. He offers a compelling portrayal of a living tradition held together by apocalyptic expectation--the promised transformation of all things in God.

A stunning reexamination of one of the essential tenets of Christian belief from one of the most provocative and admired writers on religion today

One of America's most eminent contemporary writers on religion reflects on the state of theology "at the borders" of other fields of discourse. The book advances many of David Bentley Hart's larger theological projects, developing and deepening numerous dimensions of his previous work.

From the prolific, profound pen of David Bentley Hart comes this collection of essays, reviews, and columns published in popular journals and newspapers over the past few years, comprising observations on culture, religion, and society at large. In the Aftermath fully displays the virtuosic prose that readers have come to expect from Hart. "Here I want -- at least in part -- to entertain. This is not to say that the pieces gathered here are not serious in their arguments; quite the contrary. . . . I mean only that, in these articles, I have given my natural inclinations towards satire and towards wantonly profligate turns of phrase far freer rein than academic writing permits. . . . I have, at any rate, attempted to include only pieces that strike me as having some intrinsic interest, both in form and in content." -- from the introduction