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Theological Territories: A David Bentley Hart Digest

David Bentley Hart

4.46 · Rating details · 24 ratings · 5 reviews

In Theological Territories, David Bentley Hart, one of America's most eminent contemporary writers on religion, reflects on the state of theology "at the borders" of other fields of discourse--metaphysics, philosophy of mind, science, the arts, ethics, and biblical hermeneutics in particular. The book advances many of Hart's larger theological projects, developing and deep ...more

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Paperback, 420 pages

Published April 15th 2020 by University of Notre Dame Press

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Aug 20, 2020 Jacob Aitken rated it liked it

Shelves: american-religious-history, beauty

Hart, David Bentley. Theological Territories: A David Bentley Hart Digest. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2020.

This collection of essays reveals David Bentley Hart at his extreme best and extreme worst. In other words, it’s like everything else he has written.

Early Notes

Description of phenomenology: it always evokes a prior metaphysical deduction “because it always already assumes a metaphysical premise: that there is a real correlation between the givenness of the phenomena and ...more

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Aug 23, 2020 David rated it really liked it

Shelves: bible-new-testament, theology

David Bentley Hart has been one of my favorite theologians over the past few years: from The Experience of God to The Beauty of the Infinite to The Doors of the Sea and That All Shall Be Saved, I’ve had my mind shaped and challenged by Hart. Those four books, as well as his books on Christian history (Atheist Delusions and The Story of Christianity) are all brilliant. His books of essays and lectures, as all books of essays and lectures are, have always been uneven. Some lectures resonate, some David Bentley Hart has been one of my favorite theologians over the past few years: from The Experience of God to The Beauty of the Infinite to The Doors of the Sea and That All Shall Be Saved, I’ve had my mind shaped and challenged by Hart. Those four books, as well as his books on Christian history (Atheist Delusions and The Story of Christianity) are all brilliant. His books of essays and lectures, as all books of essays and lectures are, have always been uneven. Some lectures resonate, some do not. That said, his book The Hidden and the Manifest, may have hit me more deeply than any other.

All that to say, this set of essays was a mixed bag for me. At no point does he reach the heights of some of his previous works. But is that just because I’m familiar with his work by now and have read his ideas before?

The first section, on theology, is often fantastic. That said, as these are essays and lectures Hart is responding to the work of others. Having not read those works, something is lost in the translation. Its not too big a deal, as Hart’s ideas shine through. One highlight here is in “The Gospel According to Melpomene” Hart illustrates how too much Christian theology comes across sounding like the sort of Ancient Greek tragedy where the scales must be balanced and all made equal as God’s wrath is poured out upon the son to balance love and justice. In response, Hart argues the Gospel overturns the entire model as the resurrection is God’s rejection of the need for blood sacrifice. My favorite essay in this section is “The Devil’s March: Creatio ex Nihilo, the Problem of Evil and a Few Dostoyevskian Mediations”. Here he tackles Ivan Karamazov’s argument against God that is not, as has been said, a total move to atheism but instead the rejection of a God who would build the universe on even one suffering soul. Hart argues Ivan cannot be responded to by some “free will” defense (“hell is locked from the inside”) and that much Christian theology fails to answer Ivan. The answer Hart provides is essentially God is a God of outpouring love, not one who employs violence as a means to an end, and that through this love all will be brought to know God. Again, familiarity with Hart shows that, to him, universal reconciliation is the only theology that not only vindicates God but does not make God a monster.

The second section is he discusses science. Reading Hart excoriate the likes of Daniel Dennett and others never really gets old. This is where Hart is at his best, pointing out the deep flaws in a naturalistic picture of the world: the rejection of metaphysics is irrational and impossible and there are plenty of problems science cannot solve such as the existence of mind.

Then in the third section he writes on the gospel and culture. Here Hart is at his most snarky as he strongly argues against Christian support for the death penalty. One thing Hart has consistently revealed is Christians in the West (and the East too, I suppose) have submitted to a version of Christianity that would be mostly unrecognizable to Jesus and the apostles. Added to his criticisms of the bastardized faith of American Christianity is a picture of what the faith actually is all about. The best essay here is “The Story of the Nameless: The Use and Abuse of History for Theology” as he argues for a distinct Christian view of history that tells the story not primarily of kings and those in power but of the weak and nameless. This story flows from the story of Jesus overturning all power.

A lot more could be said. Again: if you’ve read Hart these ideas are familiar. As I read, I yearn for Hart to write a book of theology that goes deeper into these ideas (though, in some of his previous books, he already has).

Like any book of essays, it is sometimes uneven. I skipped section four altogether as Hart offers some literary criticisms of authors I’ve never heard of nor care about. Then in the final section he discusses the New Testament, mostly issues that arose in his translation.

Overall, not the best book to start on Hart if you are unfamiliar. Not the best book of essays (I’ll take Hidden and Manifest or A Splendid Wickedness). But still fantastic. ...more

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May 16, 2020 Kevin Staley rated it it was amazing

Really enjoyed the variety of subject areas! I have read and studied works in all but one, that being the literature section. The literature section challenged me to expand my reading in that area, so I intend to start by reading the works of those DBH covered in this book.

I continue to enjoy and appreciate DBH's perspectives in philosophy, theology, culture, science, and literature. Even if you dislike some, or all of his writings, IMHO he ought not to be ignored by any person who values though ...more

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Jul 04, 2020 Richard Pütz rated it it was amazing

A must-read to fully appreciate why one must understand that ethics, science, literature, and biblical hermeneutics are a seamless garment of our understanding of the difference in human beings and the difference it makes. We can more easily see why religion, science, and the Divine are one.

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Jun 19, 2020 John rated it it was amazing

A really very good series of essays on theological and related points. I highly recommend everyone read David Bently Hart!!!

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About David Bentley Hart

David Bentley Hart

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David Bentley Hart, an Eastern Orthodox scholar of religion and a philosopher, writer, and cultural commentator, is a fellow at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study. He lives in South Bend, IN.