Overview
Currently it is fashionable to be devoutly undevout. Religion's most passionate antagonists - Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and others - have publishers competing eagerly to market their various denunciations of religion, monotheism, Christianity, and Roman Catholicism. But contemporary anti religious polemics are based not only upon profound conceptual confusions but upon facile simplifications of history or even outright historical ignorance: so contends David Bentley Hart in this bold correction of the distortions. One of the most brilliant scholars of religion of our time, Hart provides a powerful antidote to the New Atheists' misrepresentations of the Christian past, bringing into focus the truth about the most radical revolution in Western history.Hart outlines how Christianity transformed the ancient world in ways we may have forgotten: bringing liberation from fatalism, conferring great dignity on human beings, subverting the cruelest aspects of pagan society, and elevating charity above all virtues. He then argues that what we term the 'Age of Reason' was in fact the beginning of the eclipse of reason's authority as a cultural value. Hart closes the book in the present, delineating the ominous consequences of the decline of Christendom in a culture that is built upon its moral and spiritual values.
Full Product Details
Author: David Bentley Hart
Publisher: Yale University Press
Imprint: Yale University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.30cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.535kg
ISBN: 9780300111903
ISBN 10: 0300111908
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 01 April 2009
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print
Availability: Awaiting stock
Reviews
Hart aims to provide his readers with a persuasive evocation of historical facts, moral judgments, philosophical principles, and theological musings, which may persuade them of the beauty of Christian truth. . . . Atheist Delusions is an honest book, which doesn''t hide the sometimes repulsive truths related to the political or social aspects of historical Christianity. --Mihail Neamtu, Modern Age --Mihail Neamtu Modern Age
Anyone interested in taking the debate about God to the next level should read and reflect on Hart's spirited brief on behalf of Christian truth. -- Damon Linker New Republic (04/23/2009)
Hart aims to provide his readers with a persuasive evocation of historical facts, moral judgments, philosophical principles, and theological musings, which may persuade them of the beauty of Christian truth. . . . Atheist Delusions is an honest book, which doesn't hide the sometimes repulsive truths related to the political or social aspects of historical Christianity. Mihail Neamtu, Modern Age --Mihail Neamtu Modern Age
Surely Dawkins, Hitchens et al would never have dared put pen to paper had they known of the existence of David Bentley Hart. After this demolition-job all that is left for them to do is repent and rejoice at the discreditation of their erstwhile selves. --John Milbank, author of Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology <br>--John Milbank
[A] major work by one of the most learned, forceful, and witty Christian theologians currently writing. --Paul J./i>--Paul J. Griffiths First Things (08/01/2009)
Author Information
David Bentley Hart is visiting professor, Theology Department, Providence College, and author of several books, including In the Aftermath: Provocations and Laments and The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth.
